Belle Vernon mayor cites need for firefighters

Belle Vernon Mayor Gerald Jackson talked about the area’s need for more volunteer firefighters at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Jackson told council he’s noticed that local volunteer fire departments are lacking in new members.

“The communities are really suffering because we’re all depending on each other now,” he said. “We didn’t have to depend on each other before; we used to have enough people to cover every fire. North Belle Vernon doesn’t have so many, we don’t have so many, we all cover each other.”

Jackson added that he was happy that the area’s volunteer fire departments collaborated with one another and it was great for the Mon Valley. But he would like to see more members added to local departments.

Land parcel

Council members unanimously approved the purchase of a new parcel of land for $50.

According to Jackson and council Chairman Joseph Minniti, the property being purchased from the county is already attached to the borough-owned dumpsite. The purchase is meant to make it easier to access.

“The problem is a lot of people from out of state come along and they’ll see these repository sales. They’ll buy this property up,” Minniti said. “They have no idea what it is and for $50 we get the property, and it secures an access for a gate entrance to our bottom of our property.”

Also Tuesday, council:

• Set up a new escrow bank account for fire insurance.

• Authorized the high rise to use the dump site for Labor Day.