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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Pelham City Manager Gretchen DiFante gave an update on the city’s progress across multiple departments in the past year at a city council meeting on Monday, Dec. 2.

To start the presentation, DiFante discussed the upcoming ambulance and EMS services that the city will begin offering to residents in the new year.

“We’re very excited about this,” DiFante said. “We thank Chief Reid, Captain Maples and the whole fire department for this work to get ready to bring this to this service to our residents.”

DiFante shared her belief that the Pelham Fire Department is one of the best in the state and that the new program will further the ability of the PFD to bring life-saving services to residents.

“These paramedics are ready,” DiFante said. “They’re trained. They’ve trained hard, they’ve trained long. They’re serious about bringing in quality products to our residents. Everybody needs an ambulance when they need an ambulance, but also everyone needs a professional paramedic when they need a professional paramedic.”

As for the police department, DiFante emphasized that the Pelham Police Department has increased traffic safety for residents by conducting more traffic stops in recent years.

“Our officers have increased traffic interactions by more than 100 percent over the past two years,” DiFante said. “(Of those), 50 percent resulted in driver warnings. The goal there is to change behavior.”

According to DiFante, traffic stops, whether they result in warnings or tickets, are intended to change behavior. She believes that the increase in traffic stops are responsible for the city’s decrease in vehicle accidents.

“Clearly, we’re seeing a result in this because our goal to change the traffic behavior has resulted in fewer accidents,” DiFante said. “We have had a seven percent decrease in traffic accidents in two years while the traffic counts have increased.”

DiFante shared that the decrease in accidents greatly improves traffic safety for residents, and that the PPD works with the city’s engineering department to improve overall traffic in Pelham.

“The other part of traffic safety is the engineering side,” DiFante said. “We have traffic signal detection and the coordination has significantly reduced the traffic back up at Industrial Park Drive at U.S. 31, County Road 52 at Interstate 65 and along the Highway 119 corridor.”

In addition, DiFante also wanted to thank Pelham’s Economic Development Director Michael Simon for his recent projects to better the city.

“(Simon) worked with five local businesses on retention and expansion projects and the recruitment of six new businesses to Pelham,” DiFante said. “Most notably, Jack’s Restaurants and the Canopy announcement of Big Bad Breakfast and Bullet Coffee.”

In terms of Pelham Parks and Recreation, DiFante celebrated several projects that were completed this year including drainage improvements to the youth baseball field and the installation of a new playground and splash pad. This year, 1,354 local children competed in youth sports through the city.

In addition, the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena’s income increase by nine percent in the past year, while expenses only increased by two percent. The Ballantrae Golf Club completed $1.2 million in repairs and broke records for rounds played and membership. Meanwhile, the Pelham Racket Club won a USDA Outstanding Facility Award and showed a $1.2 million economic impact from its seven largest tournaments.