Monday, November 17, 2003
Farrell's mayor said the panel should have made some recommendation.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- Despite being accused of not showing leadership, the Shenango Valley Intergovernmental Study Committee wrapped up its work without making any recommendation on consolidation of local municipal governments.
The committee, formed of representatives of Farrell, Sharon, Hermitage, Sharpsville and Wheatland four years ago to look at shared services and a possible consolidation of those municipalities, held its last meeting Thursday. It voted unanimously to accept the study it created and present it to the five governing bodies and release it to the public.
But the report won't contain any recommendations from the committee other than the municipalities continue to look at ways to improve sharing of services and fostering more intergovernmental cooperation.
That doesn't sit well with Farrell Mayor William Morocco, a member of the committee.
"I am in favor of the consolidation of the communities of the Shenango Valley," he said, suggesting the committee should have forgotten its decision to come up with a model of a consolidated government in which no present employees would lose their jobs.
The committee learned that plan wasn't economically feasible and would cost the combined governments $2.5 million more a year than they are paying now with most of the extra tax burden falling on residents in Hermitage and Sharpsville.
"We have to think selflessly," Morocco said, adding, "There's more opportunity for us as one solid community."
Failure to make some recommendation isn't showing leadership, Morocco said. Councilman Tom Lally of Sharpsville said the committee did its job by completing the study. It's up to someone else to take what the committee did and build on it, he said.
Robert Jazwinski, a Hermitage representative and chairman of the finance subcommittee, said he thinks that there is a way to consolidate the municipalities but that the committee wasn't able to find it.
The municipalities need to continue working on shared services and cooperation, he urged. Some committee members think consolidation may come down the road.
"Consolidation may become a process, rather than an event, and we could grow into it," said James Cardamon, another Hermitage representative.
Mayor David O. Ryan of Sharon said he would have liked to see how residents felt, perhaps through a nonbinding referendum.
An interested spectator of the committee's work said the consolidation effort shouldn't stop here.
Patricia Woodings of the League of Women Voters of Mercer County told the committee that the league supports the concept of consolidation and that she personally favors the idea.
She urged the creation of a group of pro-consolidation people who could come up with the best consolidation plan they can devise, although not necessarily with all five municipalities, and present that to the public.
Report suggestions
The committee isn't taking that step, although the final report does suggest that its coordinating committee assist the five local governing bodies in creating a format for continued examination of shared services and cooperation.
It also advises the municipalities to take a joint look at privatization of their sewer systems.
The individual governments could still decide to put the consolidation question on the ballot for voters to decide, or citizens themselves could force the issue onto the ballot through initiative and referendum.