Traffic accidents happen all of the time but in terms of the damage they cause, they’re not all created equal.

Most of the time, the Police respond, a report is taken, and drivers exchange insurance information to get their respective damage fixed.

Sometimes, the damage is to City property, like traffic poles, so the City collects insurance information to get the damage fixed.

In some of those cases, the drivers may not have insurance or the insurance companies dispute payment for the damages.

In those situations, the City will try to seek a remedy through the court so that the taxpayer isn’t paying for damage that they didn’t cause in the first place.

Sometimes the City wins, and sometimes we lose, but either way it tends to take time to have a case get docketed, heard, and ruled on.

When the City wins, we wait for payment to be received and sometimes we have to initiate collection procedures.

When the City loses, we have to pay for repairs on our own, and sometimes it’s a mixture of both.

If it’s a small job, repair costs can be absorbed in existing budgets.

If it’s a big job, temporary repairs are often made until funds can be budgeted for a permanent fix.

Budgets are tight every year so repairs of all kinds get prioritized.

Sometimes the traffic damage repairs make the first cut, other times they have to wait for another year.

For big jobs, once the funds are available, the engineers have to design the permanent fix.  That can take 6 months to a year depending on how many other projects are underway.

Once the design is complete, by law the City has to competitively bid the project.  That typically takes 3 months or so from the date of advertising to award.

Once a contractor is awarded the project, the contractor will order materials and schedule the work to begin.  That can take another 1-2 months.

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Although that list is long, that’s actually the short version of what has gone on in the repair of the traffic signal at West Main Street and Spaulding Drive.

A serious (and expensive) accident occurred at that intersection in December 2012 — and since then everything that could occur to delay the permanent repair seems to have occurred.

The signal was immediately temporarily patched up to restore traffic function but the pedestrian crossing technology was not able to replaced so it has been “bagged” ever since.

A decision was made that rather than “cut and paste” the intersection back together in a substandard way, the best solution was to start saving up some funds to do a major upgrade to all of the signal equipment in the intersection.

4 years later that permanent, state of the art traffic solution is underway.

The delays were extremely frustrating but it turned out to be the perfect storm of normal delays and a rash of unexpected delays.

As it stands right now, the repair contract was awarded, the contractor has ordered the new poles and signal equipment, the contractor is expected to start prepping the site in July, and when the poles arrive in August, the contractor will get busy completing the installation work.

There’s still plenty of room for more surprise delays but we’re hopeful that we’re getting close to the end of a long and frustrating journey.

As if having a first class medical facility located in Kent wasn’t enough, University Hospitals (UH) continues to support their new hometown with a recent donation of Lifepaks, first aid kits, and tourniquets to the Kent Police Department for officers to carry in their patrol cars.

It’s a generous donation valued at over $42,000 and if it saves even 1 life, it’s priceless.

There’s a friendly rivalry between the Kent Police and Fire Departments, and despite the fact that they have great respect for each, they rarely miss an opportunity to point out how much more important their jobs are than the other.

Ironically, the two professions have never been closer.

More and more Kent Police are being trained to administer basic life saving skills — especially with the tidal wave of Opiod overdose cases — to help stabilize patients before the EMS crews arrive on scene.

Similarly, Kent’s dispatchers have also received new medical training to help them offer advice to 911 callers during certain medical emergencies.

When every second counts, these were logical steps to take to supplement Kent’s EMS services.

UH is making great progress on expanding their facility at the corner of SR261 and S. Water Street to include a 24 hour Emergency Room — but in the meantime they’re doing whatever they can to equip Kent’s first responders with technology that will help make sure patients will make it to the Emergency Room.

Very grateful for all UH is doing in the Kent community.

Thankfully, we live in an age where structural fires and fire fatalities are far less common but the tragic warehouse fire in Oakland earlier this month was a reminder for how dangerous fires remain.

Here’s a couple of U.S. fire safety charts that show how far fire safety has come come:

Better building codes, better fire retardant construction materials, better alarm technology, and better trained and equipped firefighters is good news for all of us.

Better is great, but it’s not perfect, and when it comes to fire safety the goal is to be perfect.  Even 1 death is 1 too many when it’s someone you love, so there’s still work to be done.

Kent’s Fire and EMS call data has increased slightly over the last couple of years but that’s primarily a result of the growth in the population we serve, particularly all of the new student housing complexes, rather than a reflection of fire safety.

The Kent Fire Department is in the life saving business but their favorite statistics are all the fires that didn’t happen and the lives they didn’t have to save.

Kent Fire personnel spend a lot of time on fire prevention, education and fire safety awareness to make sure the trend line for fires that don’t happen is on the rise.

The Department does a great job at reaching out to at-risk populations to make sure they understand the little things they can do that pay off in big ways in fire safety.

We’re all at risk but certain segments of our population, like the elderly, disabled, and children, are often least able or least prepared to deal with fire so the Fire Department targets those groups to get some extra attention.

Crowded parties in older buildings are the kinds of things that keep a Fire Chief awake at night which is why the Kent Fire Department reaches out to the Greek community each year to provide a little extra fire safety training with their “Greek Academy.”

The Kent Fire Department hosts an annual Greek Fire Academy where Kent State sorority and fraternity members get a hands-on lesson in navigating a smoke filled room in the dark, figuring out exit routes, and testing skills to survive a structural fire.

The fact is once a fire hits, split second decisions can be the difference between life and death, and making a little forethought a habit can be a life saver.

 

Despite perfect weather conditions for attracting large crowds of anonymous and potentially inebriated revelers, Halloween avoided the problems that often accompany that mix — and was thankfully a safe night for everyone involved.

This year Halloween in Kent was a 3 day event — starting Friday night with Main Street Kent’s “family friendly” trick or treating at the downtown stores, followed by the “unofficial” downtown costume ball on Saturday, and wrapping up Sunday afternoon with Kent’s annual neighborhood trick or treating.

Here’s some great photos complements of Main Street Kent and their family friendly Halloween (sorry no photos from Saturday night, too many were R-rated):

Really ambitious “Halloweeners” could even stretch an extra day out of the weekend by visiting our neighboring cities to sneak in another round of confectionary treats on Monday, actual Halloween Day.

4 consecutive days of sugar, leaving parents looking like a Walking Dead episode.

Years of experience has taught us that Kent loves it’s costumes and it’s parties, so we always prepare for the worst — but this year we got the best.

Crazy costumes, standing room only in bars and restaurants, and the kind of quirky stuff you only find in Kent.

What we didn’t find was a lot of trouble.

There were some drinking related incidents but the Police reported 38 arrests which is down from prior years and more importantly, the arrests that were made were relatively minor in nature.

We had very few serious crimes reported and only one minor Police Officer injury.  When the public and our Officers come home safe and sound, that’s a good night.

Likewise, Fire/EMS calls were also below prior years but during the peak hours we did have every unit out on call.

The crowd may have been slightly down on the street but the bars and restaurants were still standing room only — we think, thanks in large part to the Indians World Series game.

Lots of work goes into planning for public safety around every event, especially Halloween, but if we can keep the Indians in the World Series every year, that may be our best strategy of all.

My thanks to all the City employees that pulled double-duty to keep the rest of us safe this past Halloween weekend — and especially those that came back in for triple duty on Sunday to pass out candy to kids from the back of the Police cars.

Great weekend in Kent.