Safe Spring Party Season...

For as long as students have crammed for final exams, students have also celebrated the completion of the academic year with that other rite of matriculation – spring parties.

Spring weekends in college towns are notorious for year-end parties that begin as a well deserved break from the daily grind of student-hood but have an unfortunate tendency to mutate into something more spirited.

School spirit is a great thing but that’s not exactly the spirits filling up the cups at the parties which when consumed in large quantities often end in injuries, property damage and unfortunately arrests.

Spring parties are nothing new but the advent of social media has raised the stakes as a house party can combust into a flash mob in a matter of minutes, catching party hosts, landlords and safety crews off-guard and unprepared — all of which is a bad combination for safety.

Despite our best efforts, spring parties in Kent have made headlines for attracting party crashers from as far as Akron and Cleveland, filling up the City’s jail with out-of-town offenders and giving the Kent community a black-eye.

That is why we are proud to report that this year’s spring parties in Kent broke with tradition and were remarkable for what didn’t happen — there were no arrests, no fights, no property damage, and most importantly, no calls to parents to explain why their son or daughter was in the hospital.

The key measure of success for the Kent Police Department during the spring party season is how many people get hurt from parties that took an unexpected turn for the worse.  By that yardstick, Spring 2013 was our best year ever.

Our partnerships with KentStateUniversity officials have been instrumental in educating and informing the student body, and the partnership continues to test out new and better ways to keep students, residents and visitors out of harm’s way.  But this year’s success goes beyond the City and KSU, it includes the contributions of the fraternity houses, rental property owners and apartment complex managers who worked with the City to spread the word to their tenants to party smart, stay safe, and end their college years with graduation rather than academic suspension.

It is the Kent Police Department’s duty to serve and protect it’s citizens and every day they put themselves on the line to fulfill that mission.  Police Chief Michelle Lee reports that leading up to the spring party season she hoped for the best but prepared for the worst, lining up law enforcement officers from around the region to join her for a long day devoted to keeping problems from spinning out of control. Thankfully, Police services were unnecessary and their days ended early and uneventfully.

We know that it takes a community to keep the spring party season safe which is why Chief Lee and I wanted to extend our appreciation to the entire community who took a stand for safety this year and helped make sure that everyone got home safe and sound.  On behalf of the City of Kent and the Kent Police Department we want to express our gratitude to the many volunteers, students, administrators and community members that helped make the Spring 2013 party weekends safe and enjoyable for everyone.

It’s been great to celebrate all of the grand openings and ribbon cuttings in downtown Kent but keeping Spring 2013 safe for everyone may be our best accomplishment as a community yet.

Bump in the Road...

Nothing says Spring better than tulips, daffodils and pot holes.

Unfortunately, with temperatures staying colder longer this year, the local asphalt plants waited to fire up their burners so fresh hot mix asphalt was harder to come-by, leaving mostly cold patch to fill winter’s damage to City streets — which is at best a temporary band aid.

By this point, pot holes are in full bloom with most of the cold mix having long since popped out of the pot holes, leaving a bumpy reminder of the havoc the freeze-thaw cycle does to City streets.

The City bought equipment last year that will allow us to heat limited amounts of our own asphalt so that we can extend the hot mix season but it took some learning to get that up and running so we haven’t been able to get to the level of pot hole productivity that we’d like yet.

The good news is the hot mix plants are producing now, and we’re buying and filling as fast as we can.

With Summer right around the corner we’re geared up to spend over $1 million paving the following streets:

- Crain Avenue (Water Street to Willow Street)
- N. Depeyster (Main Street to Crain Avenue)
- Fairchild Avenue (Major’s Lane to Hudson Drive)
- Franklin Avenue (Cherry Street to Summit Street)
- Majors Lane (Main Street to Fairchild Avenue)

And, thanks to a little higher than expected income tax revenues last year City Council voted to put an additional $178,000 in extra street seal coat repairs on the following streets:

• Verona Avenue (north of Adamle Drive)
• Robert Drive
• Delores Drive
• Allen Drive
• Hudson Road
• Longcoy Avenue
• Majors Lane (north of Fairchild Avenue)
• Stinaff Street
• N. Chestnut Street (north of Fairchild Avenue)
• Randall Drive
• Cuyahoga Street
• Harold Street
• Short Street
• Grove Ave

Besides the annual rite of pothole patching and paving, anyone that has driven down Mogodore Road between Stow Street and Cherry Street probably had the misfortunate of being greeted by a railroad crossing in dire need of repairs.

The City has contacted the Shelly Company to perform a fix for that railroad crossing and I’ve been told that it will be a two-step repair process.  Step 1 will be a temporary repair which will by completed by May 7th, and Step 2 will be a permanent fix which would be done in mid-June.

In the meantime, if you care about the under-carriage of your vehicle, my advice is to avoid that section of Mogadore Road until after May 7th.

Second Hand Retail...

Earlier this year the Kent Police Chief, Michelle Lee, presented City Council with recommendations to tighten the City’s regulation of second hand retail shops, e.g., pawn shops, thrift stores, etc.

The new regulations put more burden on store owners to gather information and keep records of the transactions that occured at the point of re-sale, in order to give the Police a paper trail to trace in the event of possible stolen goods.

Whenever you propose to tighten regulations on a certain business sector you better be prepared to justify it, defend it, and show the value of it — and the Chief was ready to do that.   It took a couple rounds of meetings between Chief Lee and the local store owners to find common ground but over time they came up with terms that they mutually agreed to which Council subsequently adopted into law.

Chief Lee reported this week that as a result of the new administrative tracking requirements included in the updated regulations Police investigators were recently able to crack two burglary/theft cases that involved over $20,000 of stolen goods.

The new regulations created some more work for the store employees but when you bust-up two felony cases it’s a small price to pay.

City Tech Branching Out...

The City created a little buzz with the official unveiling of the SWIFTREACH mobile notification service and right behind that announcement comes a message from the City Clerk who has a new online searchable database of City Ordinances at your fingertips 24/7.

SWIFTREACH does what says — it’s a subscriber alert system that sends out a public message to advise users of news as its happening rather than waiting for tomorrow’s paper.

If a traffic accident has a particular street locked-up, the City can instantaneously send out notification to avoid the area.   Water main breaks, amber alerts, and serious weather are all likely candidates for how SWIFTREACH will get used.

SWIFTREACH is a free subscriber based notification system, so all we need is some basic data about how to reach you and then you’re offically welcomed in the loop.  SWIFTREACH offers text messaging, emailing or standard phone notifications — the method of how you get the news is up to you to choose.

Here’s the link for questions and answers on SWIFTREACH and if you’re ready to sign up here’s the link to the subscriber page.

————————————-

The second tech news comes out of the City Clerk’s Office.  As the official steward and guardian of all Council resolutions, ordinances, and minutes, the Clerk has ushered Kent into the 21st century by launching a new searchable database of all City Ordinances.

Perhaps not quite as exciting a tech application as SWIFTREACH but certainly no less significant.

The ability to pull up City Ordinances on-line, in a convenient and user friendly format, is a couple of giant leaps forward for citizen-kind.

City Ordinances are funny stuff — not in a lol sort of way — more funny in an ironic way because most of the time most people don’t give much thought to their City Ordinances and that’s ok, but when they have a problem, they want access to those Ordinances yesterday.

That’s the beauty of the new online searchable database — its unobtrusive until its needed and then it’s there 24/7 to tell you what you need to know, when you need it.

Here’s the City Clerk’s link to the new database.

Test it out and take it for a ride with the top down.

No Go On Temporary New Rail Crossing...

Harvey Redmond Bridge...

The Harvey Redmond Bridge is the single lane access bridge for the Kramer Ballfields just down the hill from Fred Fuller Park on Middlebury Road.

The old wood bridge has great nostalgia value but after 50+ years of sitting in the Cuyahoga River its piers are rotten and the structure is in need of replacement.  

This isn’t a news flash for any of Kent’s baseball players and their parents who have already had to endure a season without vehicle access to the Kramer fields but since it looks like another season will be lost pending bridge re-construction, Kent Parks and Recreation has asked for help to explain what’s going on with the bridge and why it’s taking so long to replace it. 

To that end, Kent Parks and Rec have put together an informational flyer on the bridge that you can read below.  The short answer is that if you have a chance to use about $1 million in federal funds to build a new bridge rather spending local tax dollars, it’s hard to not take it, even if it means waiting a year or two to get the project queued up to receive the federal dollars.

No doubt that the waiting has been painful but $1 million is a lot of money and Kent Parks and Rec couldn’t afford to leave that kind of money on the table, so they bit the bullet and tried to make the delay as palatable as possible but I know they’re as anxious as anyone to see the project get rolling.   

There’s been some mention of fresh water mussels in the river bed around the bridge as a source of delay and extra costs — and while there are indeed some mussels around the bridge, they are small in numbers and they can be easily relocated in a couple of days at a cost under $5,000, so we can’t blame the delays on the mussels. 

Ultimately, the delays are the price we’re paying for taking advantage of federal dollars rather than spending down our limited tax dollars. 

Kent Police Award...

Not to be outdone by the Service Awards in the Fire Department that I posted about yesterday, the Kent Police had one of their own receive a well earned special recognition that deserves to be shared as well.

It turns out that the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County, in partnership with the Portage County Police Chiefs Association, honored Officer James Fuller of the Kent Police Department with their 2012 Crisis Intervention Team Officer of the Year award. 

This news broke a couple of months ago so it may not be hot off the presses anymore but it’s too important to let slip by without a shout-out from the City Manager. 

Police work, even in a modest sized City like Kent, has many aspects that most people never think about.  Keeping folks with a range of disabilities safe is one of those less known challenges that Kent Officers face.  Officer Fuller has made that part of his job and he does it exceptionally well.  Great work.   

Below are excerpts from the press release that was issued when Officer Fuller was chosen as this year’s winner.

_____________

Police Chief Lee and Officer Fuller

Kent Police Officer James Fuller was named the 2012 Crisis Intervention Team Officer of the Year by the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County and the Portage County Police Chiefs Association.

“After completing CIT, I realized how beneficial it is for the City of Kent, the police department, me as an officer and in my personal life. I see myself making a difference by going the extra mile for people in need,” Fuller said.

He was nominated by Kent Police Chief Michelle A. Lee. A member of the force for the past six years, Fuller went through the CIT training in 2010.

“Officer Fuller has been a dedicated and trusted Officer who is highly regarded by his peers.  Jim has embraced the CIT philosophy and vision ever since.  He has a reassuring nature, that CIT has reinforced, allowing him to deal with CIT incidents with positive outcomes,” said Chief Lee.

CIT It is a philosophy and set of tools adopted by safety forces which helps them work with people in crisis, many of whom have mental illnesses and/or addictions. The skills that law and safety professional learn keep them and the persons with the mental illness safe in unpredictable situations.

CIT trains officers to become aware of mental health and addiction problems and then to learn and practice de-escalation.  The officers are trained to help people in crises access appropriate care for their illness. CIT is a program of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It is coordinated in Portage County by the Mental Health & Recovery Board and the Portage County Sheriff’s Office.

Fuller is pretty much ready to go out the door when a call needing CIT expertise comes into the department, Lee said.

He was instrumental in helping a panicked Kent family find a family member who was threatening suicide. The daughter was calmed and transported to a hospital for emergency care.

The CIT training has helped Fuller deal with domestic situations where mental illness or a mental disability has been involved. Several have involved teens with mental illnesses who have run away or threatened harm to family members.

One aspect of CIT work is checking in regularly on community members who struggle with mental illness, a task that often helps the person maintain stability. Fuller responded to a welfare check of a man who had threatened suicide.  With his calm manner, Fuller was able to interview the individual in his home, help him find his medications and talk about options for care.

Follow-up with residents is important to Fuller who sees it as one more tool to helping him excel at his career in law enforcement.

As well as his road duties, Fuller has taken on other department responsibilities including bike patrol, taxi cab inspector and the deployment and maintenance of the speed trailer.

Past recipients are Sgt. Andy Suvada of Streetsboro Police; Community Resource Officer Michquel Penn of KSU Police Services; Officer Jeff Futo, also of KSU Police Services; Lt. Dale Korman of Windham Police; and Lt. Greg Johnson of the Portage County Sheriff’s Office. Suvada was also named Ohio CIT Officer for 2008 and International CIT Officer in 2011.

Kent Fire Training Award...

Last night (Monday, December 10) Kent Fire Chief Dave Manthey held a special promotion ceremony where new Fire Captain Dave Moore and new Fire Lieutenant Jamie Samels were officially sworn in for duty. 

Friends, families and fellow firefighters packed the room in recognition of the hard work and years of service that paid off for these two rising stars in the Kent Fire Department.  I’ve had the good fortune to get to know both of these Fire Department employees and I’m not surprised by their rise up the ranks. 

These guys are smart, dedicated, and extremely capable professionals — we’re lucky to have them both and I look forward to seeing them perform in their new leadership roles.  Kent Patch covered the event and you can read the story and view pictures by clicking here.

Captain Dave Moore and Firefighter Gary Lane

Also on Chief Manthey’s agenda last night was a special awards ceremony recognizing two Kent Fire employees that went the extra mile to coordinate some special fire training exercises using the vacant apartments on KSU campus (Allerton) that are scheduled for demolition.  Before the buildings come down, our Fire Department has been busy practicing fire fighting and rescue tactics in the building shell.  Firefighter Gary Lane and Captain Dave Moore received awards for leading the training exercises that included an open invitation to Fire Departments all across our region to join in and use this opportunity to sharpen their skills. 

Hundreds of training hours were gained by this unique opportunity and these guys found a way to provide it all on their own personal time — not City time.   It would certainly qualify for City time but these guys know how tight the 24 hour shifts are running calls so rather than trying to squeeze in an hour here and there, they took it upon themselves to make arrangements for more intensive training that was really only possible on off days. 

So yes, that means that they devoted many hours of their own time, without pay, to make themselves, and everyone that participated, more prepared to be ready to perform for you and me if we ever find ourselves in a fire or medical emergency and hit the 911 speed dial for help. 

That’s dedication to your profession.  That’s the kind of example that makes me proud to serve along side them. 

New Police Cruiser...

I keep hearing the voice of The Price Is Right’s Bob Barker shouting, “you’ve won a new car!” — ever since Police Chief Lee sent a note around announcing that the City of Kent is one of only five Police Departments statewide that will be receiving a new Police Cruiser as a reward for our participation in the statewide Click it or Ticket and Drive Sober safety campaigns.

Previously our participation in the campaign landed us a laser radar gun (which it did again for us this year) but apparently our lucky number came up and we’re also getting the grand prize of a new Police Cruiser.

Chief Lee said that she’ll be given the keys to the new car as part of the awards ceremony that is scheduled before the Indians game at Progressive Field on August 28th.  Here’s a link to more details from Chief Lee.

With budget issues always on our mind these days, this is great news.

Drive Sober...

The Kent Police are once again participating in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations traffic enforcement campaign “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over”. 

This is the annual crack-down on drunk drivers aimed at making roads safer, and it runs from August 17th through September 3^rd.   

With new research showing fatal crashes involving drunk drivers occur most frequently between the hours of midnight and 3am — when drunk driving crashes claim a life every 23 minutes — the City efforts will be particularly focused on nighttime enforcement.

Drinking and driving never go well together and over the next 2 weeks (thru Labor Day) the City’s Police Officers will be out in full force to help remind you of that.    

So come to downtown Kent — eat, drink and be merry — but let someone else drive. 

Thanks.