A student’s life was saved thanks to the quick action of Dublin School Resource Officer and Sergeant Jacob Ivie who received the lifesaving award at the Monday, June 8 city council meeting.
Director of Public Safety/Police Chief Cameron Ray detailed the events leading up to the award at Monday night’s meeting.
On March 28, while performing his regular duties as an SRO at the Dublin Secondary Campus, Sgt. Ivie was notified that a student in the cafeteria was choking and in distress.
Sgt. Ivie quickly responded, and located the student who was already beginning to turn blue and was showing signs of losing consciousness due to an obstructed airway.
Recognizing the severity of the situation, Sgt. Ivie immediately took action and performed the Heimlich maneuver, successfully dislodging the obstruction from the student’s throat and restoring the student’s ability to breathe.
“His swift actions, professionalism, and ability to remain calm under pressure directly prevented what could have resulted in a tragic outcome,” Ray said.
Ray said he had personally reviewed the surveillance video from the incident and witnessed Sgt. Ivie’s response firsthand.
“Watching the event unfold serves as a reminder of why public safety professionals get up every day and do what we do. It demonstrates the dedication, commitment, and willingness to act without hesitation when members of our community are in need. In a matter of seconds, Sgt. Ivie’s training, instincts, and commitment to protecting others made a life-changing difference for a young student and their family,” Ray said.
“Congratulations to Sgt. Ivie, whose quick response and lifesaving actions helped save a student who was choking. We are grateful for his professionalism, courage and dedication to our students,” DISD Superintendent Melissa Summers said. “Dublin ISD is also thankful for all of our School Resource Officers, who go above and beyond every day to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff.”
Sgt. Ivie has been a Dublin PD officer for 13 years, an SRO for seven years and has served as the SRO supervisor for five years.
Receiving a standing ovation at the meeting, a special certificate and a pair of engraved handcuffs were presented to Sgt. Ivie.
In other business at city council, approval was given for the Dublin Economic Development Corporation to fund the replacement of the four ‘Welcome to Dublin’ point of entry shamrock signs through a Community Improvement Grant for Keep Dublin Beautiful.
Since the replacement bid was $13,270.84 and over the $10,000 cutoff allowed by law, the EDC was required to seek city council approval for the grant.
The signs, being made by Signs Express out of Stephenville, will remain the same design and utilize the bases already in place.
After two public hearings, approval was given to Miles Gilman for three new homes to be built on West Harris Street.
Gilman described the project as another set of homes similar to those he built on Post Oak. A replat was done to take 422 W. Harris into three lots and a variance for lot size of 60 by 100 was approved.
A resolution for application for financial assistance from the Texas Water Development Board was approved. If approved, funds from the project will be utilized to replace every water meter throughout town, Director of Infrastructure and Development Cory James said. The project will also allow for about 50 extra meters for the city to hold for additional businesses or homes, and a contractor will put in the new meters.
If approved, the assistance will not disqualify the city for additional help.
An update was given on the Dublin Celebrates America250 celebrations with approval being sought to show off the Train Depot at the closing event on July 31. The kickoff event will happen July 3 from 6-10:30 p.m. at the Dublin Public Library and Wright Park in downtown with entertainment, a hot dog dinner provided by the Lions Club, a dessert potluck and a movie under the stars featuring ‘School House’ rock with free popcorn. On July 31, there will be a ceremony from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with ice cream and apple pie at the Dublin Train Depot. There will be a meaningful patriotic ceremony as Dublin looks forward to the next 250 years, along with apple pie and ice cream, and a flag retirement ceremony. Another part of the month-long celebration will be a PassCard Program at any participating business. Every purchase in July earns a raffle sticker — and every sticker is a chance to win! Raffle prizes will be rolled out in early June, and there will be way more than just a couple!
T-shirts and cups along with special Dublin Bottling Works sodas will also be for sale, and all proceeds go to the Dublin Train Depot restoration committee.
The city gave approval at council for use of the Dublin Train Depot for the event.
The city also declared a 2016 Ford police interceptor utility surplus property in order to sell the vehicle at auction.
An update was given regarding the downtown building (old movie theatre) owned by Norma Villicana-Arreguin.
Villicana-Arreguin was in the process of cleaning out the building when a collapse happened. The city ordered work to stop in order to make sure the buildings on each side were protected, asking her to have a structural engineer look at the building, establish blue prints and secure an insurance policy.
“I want to move forward on cleaning up the building. It’s embarrassing,” she said. However, Villicana-Arreguin has not had any luck securing a structural engineer, and the blue prints are in process.
She explained she did not plan to do anything structural to the remaining walls, and simply wants to clean up the front and inside of the remaining shell.
The plans for the building include a venue in the back portion and an ice cream parlor in the front.
The city agreed that with a walk through with James and Code Enforcement Officer Larry Stanford, along with an insurance policy, Villicana-Arreguin could move forward with the clean up.
An airport advisory committee has officially been formed with five voting members including Council representative Darren Turley, Director of Infrastructure and Development/City Liaison Cory James and pilot representatives Rob Stokes, Hunter Meinzer and Shane Rolan.
Anyone will be permitted to attend meetings and Stokes requested the next step at the airport would be filling the cracks.
“If we can get that done, we can restripe and redo the numbers ourselves,” he said.
A new hangar is in the process of being built, Stokes said, along with improvements on additional buildings from pilots.
Director of Finance and Administration Kim Seider gave updates on the pool opening and the hiring of additional lifeguards.
With Stephenville’s pool closing, Seider said Dublin’s pool had been busier than normal and additional lifeguards were needed in order to maintain the one guard per 25 swimmers ratio.
“Just warning you guys, we are going to go over budget for personnel for the pool,” she said.
The new improvements to the pool have been met with enthusiasm and praise from citizens who enjoy the new entrance and exit, along with restroom improvements.