City Board of Works selects Bryan as newest firefighter

Greencastle firefighter Grant Bryan makes a cut on the fender of a test vehicle during recent extrication training. Bryan was recently approved by the city Board of Works as the newest city firefighter.

Banner Graphic/BRAND SELVIA

Following candidate interviews and a Greencastle Fire Department Board of Captains recommendation, the Board of Public Works and Safety has hired a new city firefighter, replacing Tyler Hatfield.

Hatfield, who had been with GFD since December 2016, has left the department to join firefighting forces that battle forest fires along the West Coast each year.

Pending passage of a physical and PERF approval, Hatfield is being replaced by 25-year-old Grant Bryan, a part-time GFD firefighter and member of the Russellville Volunteer Fire Department.

Bryan, a North Putnam High School graduate who holds a degree in business management and business marketing from Franklin College, has his Firefighter 1 and 2 and hazardous materials certifications.

He told Board of Works members Mayor Bill Dory and Craig Tuggle that a barn fire on his generations-old family farm in the Greencastle area drew him into fire service.

Bryan, who has worked for Spear Corp. at Roachdale since high school and has been a manager since 2020, said he plans to build a house for his family near Clinton Falls, where he owns 10 acres of ground.

The other candidate interviewed by the Board of Works was Spencer Brown, a 22-year-old GFD volunteer who works fulltime for Putnam County EMS.

Brown grew up in Brownsburg and served that city’s fire department as a volunteer for two years before his family moved to Heritage Lake. He has also been a part-time Pittsboro firefighter.

Mayor Dory called the selection of Bryan a “close decision” and said the city had “two great candidates” before concurring with the Board of Captains recommendation to hire Bryan.

In other business, the board:

-- Agreed to a $428,000 (less $30,000 trade-in) purchase of a new sewer jet/vactor truck for the Greencastle Wastewater Treatment Department. The 5,600-pound truck is being purchased from Brown Equipment Co. (BEC), Evansville. Although it was the sole bid, the department had looked at seven different trucks from at least three vendors, department spokesman Tom Swenson said. ”The things that made this truck stand out above the others is that when operating, it can be put in neutral and doesn’t need to be put into a drive gear for the transfer switch to engage,” Wastewater Superintendent Oscar King said. “This is a safety feature all other trucks do not have.” The truck has a four-inch pump that can pump 800 gallons a minute “that can be used to get rid of water as fast as you can vacuum it up.” The vactor can be used to help with large water leaks.

-- Agreed to a one-time-only sewer leak adjustment of $1,363 for Fran Pizzo, 911 N. Madison St., who had water leaks in three or four areas, Deputy Clerk Melanie Welker advised. Pizzo will still pay for water usage but not the sewage portion of the bill since the leaked water did not end up in the sewage system.

-- Approved a $5,000 contract with Civil Engineering Consultants (CECon) for engineering services for Toddson Drive and J-Mar Drive to study the area for a potential wastewater project.

-- Approved a contract not to exceed $134,600 with CECon for engineering inspections on the city’s Community Crossings project along Wood and Tennessee streets. The Redevelopment Commission will reimburse the inspections portion of the Round Barn Road project, Mayor Dory said.

Board member Trudy Selvia was absent from the May meeting.

The Board of Works will next meet in regular session at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16 at City Hall.