Union Twp. trustees disappointed by County Council’s lack of response to request for assistance to fire and emergency services

During the public hearing at last week’s Marshall County Council meeting, Union Township Trustee Marleen Mahler addressed the council.

Mahler said she went before the council in April and spoke publicly about the need for financial support for the county’s fire and emergency services. She said she also spoke privately with Councilman Jesse Bohannon before the election.

Mahler asked whether her request had been granted.

Council President Jesse Bohannon said, “We’ll come back to this issue. Obviously, the last month before the election was extremely busy for everyone, but this is definitely on my list. Mr. Klotz and I have talked about it and it’s definitely something we need to move forward with.” Bohannon went on to thank Mahler for bringing the issue back up.

The Union Township trustee said, “So you’re saying it’s been two months and we still haven’t done anything.”

Councilman Tim Harman said he wanted to remind Mr Bohannon of her commitment to forming a group to address this situation. He too said he wanted to make a difference on the issue.

Ms. Mahler seemed a little annoyed that nothing had happened in two months. She got up from the table and Bohannon said, “As you can see, we have dealt with many other very serious issues.”

Marleen Hahler replied: “You have many serious topics, but only one is addressed.”

The serious issue Bohannon was referring to was the discussion earlier in the meeting about measures to prevent industrial solar projects and battery storage systems from being approved in Marshall County.