MILITARY BANNER PROGRAM
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a military recognition street banner program for local military personnel serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
In doing so, the council appropriated more than $42,000 for the program to accommodate 101 of the banners — which will be attached to utility poles — along Glendale Avenue between Doran Street and San Fernando Road.
To be eligible for the program, the service member must be a Glendale resident or be an immediate family member of a resident. Residency requirements could be waived if they are graduates of Glendale high schools, were once residents, or a city employee.
Banners will also honor those killed in action and those in the Glendale National Armory infantry division.
Although the banners will be city-funded at an average cost of $381 each, the public is encouraged to donate to the program to defray costs and inject a sense of community support into the program.
WHAT IT MEANS
The city will soon roll out a campaign advertising the program and how the public can get involved or apply for a banner.
Administrators of the program hope to have the first batch of banners installed before Christmas.
VOTE: 5-0
OVERSIGHT FOR PARAMEDICS
Council members voted to extend an agreement with Glendale Adventist Medical Center to provide a nurse educator for the city’s Fire Department through December 2008.
The nurse monitors clinical skills and coordinates training of firefighter paramedics to ensure all state and local accreditation requirements are met. Nurse educators also manage and oversee the field internship program and implementation of quality management program.
Educators are registered nurses who specialize in emergency care and have training in fire service instruction and operations. Fire officials have praised the relationship as key to the paramedic program’s success.
WHAT IT MEANS
The contract extension comes with a 3% rate increase for a total of about $52,000.
VOTE: 5-0
BOILER CONTROL REPLACEMENT
The City Council unanimously approved a request for $160,000 to replace aging controller hardware for two steam boilers at the Grayson Power Plant that are starting to malfunction.
Recent malfunctions of the aging controllers — installed in 1994 — were blamed for at least two major forced-unit outages in the last two years.
