MONTVILLE – A few sparks flew among township trustees as they discussed whether or not to let fireworks be discharged in Austin Badger Park July 8.
The pyrotechnics will closely follow the annual Fourth of July celebrations around the county but this display will be part of a wedding reception scheduled by a Taste of Excellence at the Blue Heron Event Center.
Bride-to-be Ursula Rauh told township trustees she had booked the event at the Blue Heron because she was assured the venue would allow a fireworks display on the grounds. Rauh said fireworks were important in many family traditions she grew up with especially those involving her recently deceased brother who she plans to remember with the wedding fireworks.
However, fireworks launcher Jason Bodik said the rockets would have to be launched not from property owned by Taste of Excellence but the neighboring Austin Badger Park now owned by the township. That was not so easily accepted by township trustees who were not asked their opinion of the matter beforehand.
Township Trustee Sally Albrecht said fireworks are not appropriate in a nature preserve and would likely do harm to the wildlife there, especially if the grass was mown in nesting areas.
Medina Fire Chief Bob Painter said the launch of the fireworks would be supervised by personnel from the fire department and a makeshift launch pad for the fireworks in a field would be safe if it was watered down in advance instead of mowed.
Trustees voted 2-0 to allow the fireworks in the park on this one occasion with the provisions that the field would be watered down rather that mowed. Albrecht abstained from the vote.
Trustees also said they planned to send a letter to managers of the Taste of Excellence stating they would not permit fireworks at any future celebrations planned at the banquet facility.
Park names
Austin Badger Park is the first phase of parkland developed after the township acquired the 250 acres that made up the former Blue Heron Golf Course. Trustees plan to develop the rest of the area in two additional phases and give each phase its own name.
With that in mind, trustees passed a resolution naming the two remaining sections of the park after the two other trustees who served alongside Austin Badger when Montville was originally settled. Those two are Aaron Smith and Thomas Courrier, who now also have a township park named after them.
Aaron Smith Park will be the name of a nature preserve that abuts the hiking and mountain biking trails contained in Austin Badger Park. Thomas Courrier Park will be the name of the final section of the old Blue Heron Golf Course to be developed.
Emergency calls
The Medina Fire Department responded to 61 emergency calls from residents and businesses in Montville during the first quarter of 2017.
Chief Painter said the vast majority of those calls occurred between 8 a.m. and midnight on weekdays.
Assisting on emergency ambulance calls (16) was the most common reason the fire department was called out in the first quarter.
Firemen also responded to 13 service calls and 11 “good intent” calls.
Average response times for fire calls in Montville were about 11 minutes during the first shift and 13 minutes during the second shift.
Response times during the third shift averaged 20 minutes.
Medina Fire Department is staffed partly by volunteers but has full-time personnel on duty during daytime hours and also staffs Fire Station No. 2 on Wadsworth Road during the second shift.