Forum lauds the benefits of unity

School district boundaries wouldn't be affected by the ballot issue.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
FARRELL, Pa. -- Consolidation of municipalities in the Shenango Valley would help promote economic development and eliminate duplication of municipal services, according to several speakers at a community forum Thursday evening.
"Historically, when communities similar to our own communities have consolidated, they've actually reaped great economic benefits," said Allan Hunchuk of Sharon, professor of sociology at Thiel College in Greenville.
The proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot is to combine Sharon, Hermitage, Farrell, Wheatland and Sharpsville into the city of Shenango Valley.
Hunchuk spoke to an audience of about 50 people at a community issues assembly conducted by the Shenango Valley Initiative -- a church-based community action group -- at Greater Mount Zion Church of God in Christ.
In order to pass, the consolidation must be approved by a majority of voters in each of the affected communities. The consolidation on the ballot Nov. 2 would be for the municipalities only. School districts and their boundaries would not be affected.
"It's a long-term plan. It may not benefit us in our generation, but it will benefit our children, and our children's children. There's an advantage to being big. It allows you to attract businesses, state funding and other funding," Hunchuk added.
Mutual support
"It's important also to make sure all communities are viable. If you have one community not doing as well as the others, I think it's important to band together to help develop your area, because if you let one community slide, then it'll basically bring down the rest of the communities," he said.
"We don't live in isolation," he said, advocating that surrounding communities should "pitch in and help out" a community with high unemployment, poverty and crime. For example, the relatively affluent city of Hermitage would suffer if some unemployed Farrell residents, who are suffering great hardship, commit crimes in Hermitage, he said.
Consolidation also allows elimination of duplication of services, such as police and fire protection, and increased efficiency in delivery of those services, he added.
Patricia Woodings of Hermitage, a member of Citizens for the Valley, which is promoting consolidation, said the multitude of communities duplicate police, fire, planning and tax collection functions. "It just, to me, says waste -- waste of our tax money," she said.
If the Valley consolidates, the resulting larger municipality might get more attention from officials in Harrisburg and Washington, and the larger community size might make the area eligible for more grants for projects, she observed.
Personal experience
"My four children all live elsewhere. There was no way they could get a job when they were finished with school," if they stayed in the Shenango Valley, she lamented.
Consolidation would help make the Valley more competitive from an economic development standpoint, she said. "If it improves the economy, then it improves the chance for our children to stay around and work here," she said.
"Pennsylvania has 2,600 municipalities. We have to reduce those for economy and efficiency," said Thomas R. Hawkins of Hermitage, retired Hermitage schools superintendent and president of SVI, who said the SVI leadership favors consolidation.
Hawkins said the region will gain an economic development advantage with consolidation.
The city of Shenango Valley would be the 11th largest city in Pennsylvania and the third largest in western Pennsylvania, he said.