ELYRIA — In the last two months, seven city employees have received pay raises and promotions.

Documents from the city auditor’s office show the elevations in pay and position all were done at the end of June by Elyria Mayor Bill Grace, who was defeated in May’s Democratic primary.

Those receiving raises are:

• Preston Curtiss, a 16-year employee in the Street Department, who went from a service worker Class 1 with a commercial driver’s license at the base salary of $38,916.80 to a foreman with a base salary of $45,736. The promotion was effective June 29.
• Gary Kothe, in the Water Distribution Department, who went from a service worker Class 1 with a base salary of $39,208 to a foreman with a base salary of $45,736. Kothe has been with the city since November 1999.
• Rodney Eye, who went from being the Sanitation Department foreman at a base salary of $45,738 to the assistant street superintendent with a base salary of $51,617. His raise was effective June 26.
• Richard Boone, a 17-year city employee, who went from being a leadman Class 2 with a commercial driver’s license to a foreman in the Sanitation Department. The promotion had a $4,326 pay increase as he went from making a base salary of $41,410 to a base salary of $45,736.
• Katherine E. Legard, who works in the Public Utilities Department, went from being classified as a computer operator Class 3 with a base salary of $40,803 to a foreman with a base salary of $45,736.
• Koury Henderson, who was named the new assistant information technology director effective June 26. The base salary of the new position is $53,766. Henderson was a system manager with a base salary of $51,418 prior to his promotion.
• Brian Rothgery, a 21-year city employee, who went from being an IT systems manager with a base salary of $51,418 to the new director of information technology with a base salary of $65,993. His pay increase was $14,575.

Mayor Bill Grace defended the promotions.

“These people have all proven themselves,” Grace said. “I stand by all of these individuals. There is not a single position anyone could make a credible claim that these are political appointments.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7146 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — City Council is holding off on creating a new position in the Water Pumping Department that the mayor proposes to fill with a current employee.

On Tuesday night, Council did a first reading of the legislation so members, many of whom have said still have questions, could have more time to consider the creation of the new job.

The matter will be picked up at the Aug. 1 meeting at which Council members could vote on the legislation or give it a second reading and decide in September.

The new job would be that of associate superintendent of the Elyria Water Works plant and has a starting salary of more than $61,000. Mayor Bill Grace said the job would go to current assistant superintendent Sam W. Jacob, the son of plant superintendent Sam F. Jacob.

The younger Jacob could soon obtain his Class 4 water plant operator certification from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Grace said he believes more compensation and a change of title is in order. The proposed raise would increase his base salary more than $8,000.

The higher classification will make him a sought-after employee who could be lured away to another city because he will be considered underpaid for his credentials, he said.

“We need to create an infrastructure where we can develop staff within the plant that seeks to achieve the Class 4 classification because there is an incentive to do so,” Safety Service Director Chris Eichenlaub said.

However, Mark Craig, I-4th Ward, said unless the job description for associate superintendent specifically requires a Class 4 classification, the message and incentive will not be there.

Mike Settles, spokesman from the Ohio Environment Protection Agency, said the younger Jacob received his Class 3 certificate on Nov. 17, 2009.

In order to be eligible to take the Class 4 exam, one needs at least three years’ experience as a Class 3 operator, including two years managing at a Class 3 or Class 4 facility.

However, Settles said Jacob may have accumulated some overtime that could reduce the three-year time frame, so it would be difficult to say when he would be eligible to take the Class 4 exam.

Councilman Larry Tanner, D-1st Ward, said he can’t understand why Council is being asked to decide a raise before Jacob obtains his Class 4 classification.

“I say he doesn’t get the pay until he gets the classification,” Tanner said.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

LORAIN — No fight or flight, no bite.

Police dogs learn it from training while most criminal suspects who encounter them know it instinctively.

Lorain police Officer Craig Payne, front, with Kriss, an 18-month-old German shepherd, and Officer Eric Alten, with Garp, a 2-year-old German shepherd, new members of the Lorain K-9 unit Tuesday at the Lorain Police Department. (CT photo by Steve Manheim.)

Like the domestic violence suspect fleeing rookie police dog Kriss and his handler Officer Craig Payne on June 28. Payne said the suspect was hiding behind a fence, so Payne threw Kriss over the fence. End of chase.

“Kriss did exactly as he was trained to do, which is do a circle and bark and hold the suspect at bay,” Payne said Tuesday. “It worked out perfect.”

Click here to view more photos.

Like the snapping of a collapsible baton by an officer, the sight of a police dog can be intimidating and make even a rowdy drunk reconsider tangling with cops. Rookie police dog Garp’s appearance outside a bar where patrons were refusing to disperse also changed minds.

“I got him out of the car and just started walking along the roadway,” said Officer Eric Alten, Garp’s handler. “Within about a minute or two, everybody was gone.”

The ability of Garp and Kriss — two German shepherds from the Czech Republic who hit the streets a few weeks ago — to only bite on command is crucial. After some 30 years of using dogs, the department stopped using them in 2009 because they couldn’t be controlled, said Lt. Edward Super, a department supervisor who was bitten by one of the old dogs. The Belgian shepherd attacked a janitor in the department, causing serious injuries.

“Our old dogs used to be pretty mean,” Super said. “You couldn’t get near them.”

Garp, 2, and Kriss, 18 months, are more mellow. But it doesn’t mean they aren’t trained to attack on command.

“They have great drive to work,” said Dan Bowman, head of Columbus-based Gold Shield Canine Training, where the dogs received 400 hours and the handlers received 200 hours of training. “The handlers have an exceptional work ethic. They’re very dedicated to the program.”

Bowman, an ex-Camden, N.Y., police officer, said he has trained about 500 dogs since he became a dog trainer in 1981. Gold Shield has provided dogs to some 200 police departments in Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.

Training, which is done on the streets of Columbus to better simulate real conditions, includes dealing with conflict, reacting to gunfire, drug detection and tracking. Garp and Kriss are cross trained to do drug detection and tracking.

Training also included Alten and Payne — who command their dogs in German — being attacked by Garp and Kriss while wearing protective clothing. “It was a real adrenaline dump,” Alten said.

Handlers take their dogs home and usually keep them after retirement, which is usually between the ages of 7 and 10 years old. Alten and Payne, both first-time handlers, said they grew up with dogs.

Payne, 32, said he became a handler because dogs are frequently used by police.

“You get to be involved in a multitude of calls,” said Payne who joined the force in 2005.

Alten, 27, said he became a handler because he was impressed by the cooperation he saw between handlers and their dogs after joining the force in 2007. Alten said he and Garp quickly bonded.

“Within the first week of having him I felt like I had another best friend,” he said. “The trust that they give to you and the loyalty, it’s just amazing.”

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA — City Council adopted the Cascade Park Redevelopment Plan, a 25-year master plan for the city’s first major park, on the same night that Mayor Bill Grace announced he is ready to accept it may be time to consider giving the park to another entity to operate.

Up until Tuesday, Grace had publicly denounced the idea of giving Cascade Park to someone else — the Lorain County Metro Parks being the most popular choice in the community. However, he now seems to be softening to the idea.

“It’s time for serious discussion about the future of the park,” he said. “Cascade Park needs millions, if not tens of millions, in improvement, and unless we are ready to start committing to that kind of investment, we need to seriously discuss turning the park over to another entity.”

Going to the taxpayers for money for the park does not seem a likely solution because repeated ballot initiatives in recent years have failed, he said.

“I’m disappointed we have not been able to rally the community support needed to preserve the park,” Grace said.

Grace stopped short of calling for a public meeting to discuss the future of Cascade Park, and Council members had little to say about the idea.

Councilman Larry Tanner, D-1st Ward, was the only Council member to offer an opinion and in doing so championed Grace for finally admitting the city can no longer adequately operate Cascade Park.

“You are 100 percent right,” Tanner said. “The Metro Parks is who we should turn Cascade Park over to, and I will do whatever it takes to make it possible.”

Tanner said Elyrians are dreaming if they think the city has $30 million to $40 million to invest in Cascade Park.

Talks about Cascade did not stop Council from accepting the donation of three parcels of land from longtime Elyrian Jack Smith for the creation of the Black River Audubon Park on West Bridge Street. The park would be just over an acre, but with its close proximity to the Black River, Smith hopes parkgoers will see it as a perfect place to sit and appreciate nature.

By accepting the property, the city agrees to Smith’s terms — that he name he requested for the park be used and the second requiring that if the city chooses not to develop a park, the land returns to his estate.

Community Development Director Angie Byington said the city’s Parks Board, which provides recommendations for the city’s park system, still has to meet to discuss what should be done with the park and maintenance plans.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.