PLYMOUTH – Plymouth village council passed an ordinance adopting a new criminal offense, another integrated Plymouth into Richland County’s emergency response protocol during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Mayor Cassaundra Fryman opened by swearing in new councilman Scott Harris. The Plymouth High School graduate is also a North Central State College alumnus.
The most explosive legislation makes the “pointing and discharging of a firearm and other weapons” as a criminal offense. On top of firearms, the ordinance also names air guns, slings or arrows as criminally punishable weapons.
The ordinance lists possible exceptions as the pointing of a listed weapon in self-defense, BB guns, other air guns, slings and arrows within one’s dwelling, or at a designated firing range.
The new crime is punishable as a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Another ordinance put new cybersecurity policy into the employee handbook.
In other business:
— a resolution saw Plymouth integrated into Richland County’s multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan. Fryman used a 2013 train derailment in Willard, which caused 400 households to evacuate, as an example of an emergency covered by this resolution.
“If there’s a disaster in the area, it coordinates our county with other jurisdictions to help mitigate the damage and hazard to people in the area,” Fryman said. “Things like that happen.
“This is saying that we’re partnering with (Richland County) for those kinds of things.”
— another resolution authorized the purchase of a new 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 HD Service Truck for $68,029.
The truck was purchased as an “emergency measure necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, safety and welfare of the residents” of Plymouth.
— council confirmed the appointment of Michael Keefe as zoning inspector, setting his bi-weekly wage at $320.
Plymouth Village Council will meet next July 14 at 7 p.m.
