By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
It may have been a short Wyoming City Council meeting this past Monday, but it was a busy one with the council hiring a new finance director for the city and approving a tower for Kent County’s new dispatch system.
In 2016, Kent County voters approved a 70-cent surcharge on their telephone and internet connections. The estimated $4.5 million a year would be split between converting the county’s current public safety dispatch system and countywide fire dispatch services.
The City of Wyoming was approached about placing one of three of the towers needed for the new 800 MHz radio system on the Gezon Water tower, City Manager Curtis Holt told the council at the meeting. The new system would allow all police, emergency responders and state police personal as well as neighboring county police and fire to be interconnectable as they would all be utilizing the same radio system, Curtis said.
The agreement is slightly different then other tower agreements the city has.
“This is a no cost agreement,” he said. “We are not charging for this location. We are not charging for this location because it benefits our public safety.”
He said the other municipalities hosting towers, which are the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County, are not charging as well to help keep costs down, Curtis said.
Curtis also pointed out that the agreement has a maintenance section where as during maintenance of the water tower, the county, at its own cost, would have to move the dispatch tower to a temporary location.
The council unanimously approved the agreement. Curtis said the Gezon Water tower will be undergoing a painting project this spring with the new dispatch antennas being installed after that project is completed.
The Wyoming City Council also approved an amended agreement with Kent County for dispatch services since effective Jan. 1, the city will not be charged for fire safety dispatch since that is covered under the new surcharge.
New City Finance Director
After several years without a finance director, the Wyoming City Council approved a motion to promote Rosa Ooms to the position.
According to the city’s website, the finance department at the City of Wyoming works in the following areas: payroll, payments to vendors, insurance plans such as medical, dental, vision, liability, property, life, and workers compensation, cash management, retirement plans, budget, and bonding. Robert Luders left the finance director position in 2015. The city has been working with a contracted CPA firm since 2014.
According to Mayor Jack Poll, Ooms, who has been the city’s deputy finance director, has been in the department, working with staff. “…[from] what she has shown and where we anticipate the finance department to go that she will be an excellent leader in there,” he said.
During the council meeting, City Manager Curtis Holt also spoke highly of Ooms and her work in the city’s finance department.
“We have been through kind of some ups and downs with our finance department since our finance director retired…,” Holt said. “Rosa has really stepped up and done a great job with our finance department. Our entire finance department is really operating very, very well. We are really pleased with what we are doing and I think that is kind of a tribute to Rosa and her leadership over this kind of tumultuous period. Congratulations to her and I think it is well deserved and I thank her for doing this.”
The City Council unanimously approved the recommendation with Ooms officially starting her new position on Jan. 8.
The next regular Wyoming City Council meeting, set for Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Wyoming City Hall, 1155 28th St. SW, will include the State of the City address from Mayor Jack Poll.
