Morgan Township trustees hear fire/EMS grant awards, hire paramedic and approve equipment purchase
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Summary
Trustees approved hiring a career paramedic, accepted several grants toward protective gear and equipment, and authorized a purchase order for rescue batteries after the fire chief reported a medic-unit repair and multiple grant awards.
Chief Minery, the Morgan Township fire chief, told trustees at their Aug. 25 meeting that the fire and EMS department has been awarded multiple grants and requested a new hire and a purchase order. "Community CPR classes are going to be, given on 08/27 at 06:30," Chief Minery said. He reported a state BWC firefighter Exposure to Environmental Elements Grant that will fund structural firefighting gloves and hoods in the amount of $7,612.50, a $100 Harbor Freight grant for tools, a $2,500 CSX railroad grant to update rope-rescue equipment, and a $5,500 grant from Enbridge Gas to replace rechargeable batteries for SCBA packs. Minery said those awards contribute to roughly $103,000 in grants obtained this year for the department. He also described a late-night response to an injury call during which the department discovered a mechanical issue on a medic unit; on-duty personnel performed parts replacement and repairs, he said, and crew time on that repair amounted to about "12, 13 man hours" with parts sourced locally. "They did the labor while they're on duty today," Minery said. The board approved a motion to hire firefighter-paramedic Ed Sipnowitzki, effective Aug. 31, 2025, at a rate of $23 per hour. The trustees also approved a purchase order to Stryker Inc. in the amount of $2,636 for cop batteries from fund 2281. Chief Minery credited Captain Yan (who Minery identified as the department's grant writer) and other on-station personnel for the recent grant activity and in‑house repairs. "He's been he's been writing a lot of grants and and really achieving a great amount of success," Minery said of Captain Yan. Trustees voted on the hire and on the Stryker PO during the meeting; the motions were seconded and recorded as approved. No formal changes to wages beyond the hire were proposed. The chief also noted that grant awards reported "are not like salaries or anything like that," and said the awards have been targeted to equipment and tools rather than personnel costs. The chief's remarks about grants, the on‑call repair work, the hire and the equipment purchase were presented as departmental updates and resulted in the formal personnel and PO approvals recorded in the meeting.
