MOUNT VERNON – The Mount Vernon Fire Department has sworn in new firefighters, given station tours and driven students to school in a fire truck in recent days.

New employees Billy Mitchell, Kaden Wortman, Michael Georgia, Brian Krehel and Walker Davis joined the department. And Erick Fisher was sworn in for his promotion to lieutenant.

The fire station had a MagneGrip vehicle exhaust system installed to protect firefighters from the dangerous exhaust fumes from fire trucks.

Police Department seeks new officers

Mount Vernon Police Chief Rob Morgan said the department is in the process of finding three new officers to hire.

He said a Civil Service test was given to seek candidates for the positions.

“We didn’t have the greatest turnout on the test so we’re probably going to go to the lateral hiring system again, where we got our last couple of people from,” he said.

Those officers came from other law enforcement agencies.

“We’re going to hire the right people, not just the first person through the door,” Morgan said.

Mount Vernon High held its prom last week, and graduation is on May 28. Morgan said high school seniors should enjoy doing their senior activities but do it safely. Many children will be out walking and riding bicycles. And with the warmer weather, motorcycles will come out also.

“We end up having a lot of run-ins between motorcycles and cars, and I’m sure you know how those end up,” Morgan said.

PAK United at Mount Nazarene

PAK United paired up with Mount Vernon Nazarene University in its recent softball tournament, during which the PAK students to attend the tournament and were given tickets. The officers provided some traffic direction during the tournament. Summer events are being planned.

Memorial Day celebration logistics planning begins

Kathie Hursh, this year’s Memorial Day, met with city officials, including the Police and Fire chiefs and the Street Department, Mayor Matt Starr said.