By Terry Schrimscher, For the Tribune
SPRINGVILLE – The Springville Council met Jan. 8, 2024, for the first regular meeting of the year. The Council moved quickly through the light agenda in front of a small crowd. Fire Chief Richard Harvey presented a job description to the Council for approval.
“We have gotten to the point we have not been able to keep up with the things we need to be keeping up as far as fire inspections,” Harvey said. He explained that a fire inspector would have different duties than building inspectors who focus on structural issues with buildings. “We’re specifically looking at safety type issues. Things with a little different perspective.”
Harvey said one of the city’s current firefighters, Johnny Eidson, has been doing the job for the city since an injury while off duty made him unable to serve as a firefighter. The proposed job description would simply formalize the role for Eidson.
“He’s still a good paramedic and brings a great deal of experience,” Harvey said. “He’s a part-time person so we have been working him in light duty in that position. He’s been doing fire inspections and, actually, he has done a tremendous job in getting us caught up with everything, making sure all of our businesses are inspected.”
Harvey said he hoped to add a new role in the future for a Fire Marshall but said the inspection role was a necessary step for the city. The Council unanimously approved the request to formalize the position.
Chris Dunston returned to the Council to present a design for a city flag during the meeting. He previously spoke on the idea at the January 9 meeting last year and presented designs again in the September 6 meeting.
Dunston serves on a flag committee for Springville and came prepared with an actual cloth flag containing his proposed design. The Council has not made a decision to create a flag for the city but has created an informal committee to make recommendations for designs.
“Personally, I’m not concerned or interested in having a flag for the sake of having a flag. It needs to be the right flag and I don’t have the right answer to that,” said Mayor Dave Thomas.
Members of the flag committee, including Harvey and councilmember Sherry Reaves, offered words of encouragement to Dunston and thanked him for his hard work. Reaves proposed another meeting of the committee to assist Dunston.
The Council approved a proclamation condemning human trafficking. January is recognized nationally as Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
Due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 15, the next meeting of the Springville City Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Jan. 22, with a work session at 5:30 p.m., prior to the meeting.