New Lexington Council Discusses Controversial Cuts

The Village of New Lexington held their first council meeting of May Monday evening.

Many in the community turned out to discuss a controversial issue regarding the Village Fire and EMS Departments. We spoke to Mayor Dale Eveland who gave us background on the issue at hand.

"After I got elected, we found out after two audits behind, we got caught up on, we’re four hundred and fifty some thousand dollars in the red. We made cuts to police department and administrative services and that was working until our revenue dropped and we had to come up with some more cuts because the State Auditors office sent its legal representatives down here to talk to us and tell us you know, if you don’t do something, you’re going to end up in a fiscal situation such as fiscal emergency."

Eveland says cuts were then made to the fire department and EMS. Eveland states that they are having trouble getting EMT’s to cover runs. Portsmouth Ambulance Service was contacted who then offered to take over the runs temporarily. Many in the community have had negative feelings about what was being done. We spoke to President of New Lexington Council, Trent R. Thompson who told us more.

"We feel as though that the problems can be fixed in house in the fire department and there has been no bidding or anything else for the aforementioned private ambulance service. There was only one service contacted or they contacted us. I’m not really sure how it went down. We were not privy that information."

Eveland says by using the services of Portsmouth, they would be able to re-coup their deficit more quickly. He believes that this is the best possible solution. The issue has been tabled for the future while further investigations can take place.