Public Safety Committee Hearing

Overtime is becoming a hot topic for Zanesville city workers.

The Public Safety Committee held a meeting Monday night to discuss budget issues regarding the Fire Department.  

"We’ve had an ongoing issue for the last several months with overtime and the Fire Department regarding staffing levels and vacation sick time," said Council member Andrew Roberts.

Roberts says around $157,000 have been spent on overtime in the past year. Mayor Zwelling and the committee agreed that they have no intentions of laying off any city workers; they are hoping to create a more effective budget.

"We’re trying to come up with proposals to curb that, maybe some reorganization to the structure, some members of the Fire Department aren’t happy about that, we’re going to try to work with them and try to figure out a solution to it though," he said.

They also discussed landowners interested in hunting deer within city limits having to acquire a nuisance permit from Muskingum County, and also the possibility of combining the police, fire and ambulance dispatch with the help of grant funding.