Brandt to serve as new fire chief
Those attending the Phillips Village Board meeting last Tuesday night, June 4 discovered a shakeup in village trustee and fire department personnel caused by last month’s abrupt resignation of Jason Fry as both trustee and Phillips Fire Chief.
Fry tendered his resignation from the board in a signed letter handed to board chair Jim Crawford in the middle of the May 7th trustee meeting. He did not vote on the other two matters coming before the board before the end of the meeting, even though the board needed to set a special meeting for the following month in order to accept the resignation.
It was later explained that Fry had moved out of Phillips and out of the jurisdiction of the fire department so he was no longer legally able to serve in either capacity.
Fry’s resignation as fire chief was discussed briefly at the beginning of last week’s regular meeting during the first Unfinished Business item dealing with the Phillips Fire Department.
Assistant Fire Chief Rob Evans, a 29-year veteran of the department, announced that Justin Brandt had been elected to replace Fry as the new chief. Brandt is in his ninth year of service with the department. Brandt was also present in the meeting and announced that the department would carry on with its regular fire fighting and community service functions as usual.
The special meeting to vote on Fry’s resignation was held at 8 p.m. last Tuesday, one hour after the start of the regular meeting and the resignation was accepted.
Hamilton County Planning and Zoning Director, Hillary Betka was also in attendance at the meeting to answer questions in regard to how her office could help with cleaning up village properties that have become nuisances due to the amount of vehicles and other items stored there.
Betka said she had received calls from Phillips residents about properties described to her as “a little messy.” She said she had visited with the village’s attorney about the issue and noted that options using her office to address the situation could include ordinances dealing with scrap yards. She further stated that any kind of storage or warehouse would require that the stored items be indoors and, thus, out of sight.
Crawford stated that the attorney needed to get more aggressive in dealing with the situation.
The chairman also reported that Giltner is still awaiting approval expected in July to move forward with its proposed water pipeline to Grand Island which would also benefit Phillips, solving the uranium issue in Phillips’s water supply. Crawford said Giltner is also looking into “another avenue” for its water system which involves a water filtration system.
In other business coming before the board at the June meeting, the board voted to close the street between Hamilton and West Street for a June 15 street dance and to close E Road from 1st through 6th streets for the July 3rd celebration.
Due to the celebration, the board of trustees also voted to move the July meeting from the 2nd to the 10th.