The City of Centralia officially has a new fire chief as a contract is approved and Jeff Day was sworn in Monday night to replace John Lynch who retired from the position.
Day was brief in his comments to the city council.
“I wanna thank the council, Mayor and City Council for this opportunity. And I would really like to thank the retiring Fire Chief for recommending me.”
Later, Day told WJBD-WSIQ news so far he has set two main goals. One is to get the ISO insurance rating down from a three to a two. Day says 50-percent of the score is based on the strength of the water distribution system. A lower rating would save Centralia residents on insurance costs. He would also like to
see if it is possible in the next few years to obtain a new pumper truck. Day says one of their frontline pumpers is currently 17 years old.
The council was not able to sell five surplus properties which requires a super-majority because Mayor Bryan Kuder and Councilman Jeff Castellari were absent. City Manger Kory Smith says the sales will be placed on the next agenda for action. For the same reason, the council had to delay a six year lease
extension with the CN railroad for an acre of ground that the city’s water treatment plant is located on old US 51.
The owner of the Lucky Dogs LLC in the Crooked Creek Crossing Shopping Center, Teresa Guinzy, told the council despite numerous efforts to get their food sales up, they are not meeting the requirement of the Class E liquor license that requires at least half the business’ revenue comes from food sales. She asked to change to a Class A license in order to stay open. The business has eight employees. The issue will be studied by city staff and possibly brought back later for city council action.
