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Lebanon swears in five career firefighters, recognizes Citizens Academy graduates and proclaims Telecommunicators Week
Summary
At its April 8 meeting, the Lebanon City Council and mayor sworn in five new career firefighters, honored three Citizens Academy graduates and proclaimed April 13–19, 2025, as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, noting the role of the communications center in emergency response.
Lebanon Mayor Mark Andrew Messer on April 8, 2025, swore in five new career firefighters, recognized three graduates of the city's Citizens Academy and issued a proclamation designating April 13–19, 2025, as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
The swearing-in ceremony, introduced by a fire department official identified in the meeting as Chief Bridal Dibsinski, formally welcomed Joshua Allen, Mira Butterfield, Chris Fain, Mitch Kato and Ash Gayle to the Lebanon Fire Division as career firefighters. According to remarks delivered at the meeting, Allen joined the department in February 2024 and is attending medic school; Butterfield joined in October 2024 and recently earned paramedic certification; Fain has served with the department since May 2022 and brings prior Dayton-area experience; Kato was introduced as having 12 years of prior experience and several certifications; and Gayle completed the oath immediately after Kato. Each firefighter took the oath to support the U.S. and Ohio constitutions and to uphold the city charter and ordinances.
Mayor Messer and several council members praised the department and its new hires, noting the city is now fully staffed for its fire organization for the first time since members’ service records were discussed at prior meetings. "This is a great moment," Mayor Messer said during the introduction of the ceremony.
Following the swearing-in, the council recognized three participants who completed the city's Citizens Academy — Kathy Saenz, Lainie Swalen and Jessica Tate — for attending a multiweek program intended to familiarize residents with city departments and operations.
The meeting also included a proclamation, read by Chief Mitchell, honoring Lebanon Communications Center staff and declaring April 13–19 National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. The proclamation described the communications center as the primary contact point for police, fire and EMS and credited telecommunicators with directing emergency responses and supporting first responders. It listed 2024 activity figures attributed to the communications center, including 30,272 telephone calls and roughly 7,012 emergency calls; the proclamation also cited additional counts for radio transmissions, emergency medical dispatch calls and public-records requests.
Council members and other officials offered public thanks to the communications staff and to the families of the newly sworn firefighters for their support. Council remarks stressed the staffing milestone and the importance of dispatch and telecommunicator work to public safety.
No formal council action (ordinance or resolution) was taken as part of the swearing-in, recognition or proclamation items; they were formal ceremonial and recognition items on the agenda.
The meeting then moved on to remaining agenda business the same evening.
