UNION CITY, Ind. — Union City, Ind. has announced the appointment of Eric Hiatt to the newly created position of Public Safety Director. Hiatt is a long-time Union City resident with front line experience as a licensed paramedic, serving part-time Fire Department roles in both Union City, Ind. (1999-present) and Union City, Ohio (1980-1999). His career leadership roles have included Chief Financial Officer of the non-profit Center of Hope (1993-2008) and CEO of Heartland Ambulance (2011-2022).

“The idea for this position was developed over 10 years ago,” explained Union City Mayor Chad Spence,”but the required range of experience, talent and savvy is difficult to find. With Eric we have the right person in the right place at the right time. The primary goal is improved fire and police protection for the citizens of our town. Eric will assume the broad range of administrative and procedural duties that now fall directly on our police chief and fire chief. The list is as long as your arm, but includes developing and maintaining policy and procedure manuals, developing and managing budgets and expenditures, developing latest-technology training programs, and providing results reporting at the local, state and federal levels. Simply stated, these responsibilities require our department chiefs to spend enormous amounts of time and energy that can now be focused on improved readiness and performance ‘in the trenches’ – the police, fire and emergency services that affect the lives and property of Union City residents and businesses.”

Hiatt will also coordinate the Indiana side of an efficiency improvement initiative already under way between the public safety departments on both sides of the IN-OH border. “Details will be announced soon,” said City Manager Steve Shoemaker,” but our ‘Union City Emergency Services Platform” is based on the common-sense notion that we’ve cooperated across the state line for years during emergencies. If we move our cooperation to the level of in-sync policy, procedure and training, and pre-planned deployment of resources, we can better serve all Union City citizens and businesses. It’s as simple as that, and Eric has been involved from the start in this initiative. He’s the perfect guy to help bring this vision to reality.”