Fire district group in place

SALEM -- The last member of a fire district task force to decide the future and potential merger of the Salem and Perry Township fire districts was approved Wednesday night.
John Reid, a retired General Motors employee who lives in Salem, was voted as the fifth member of the task force, which also consists of Salem Councilman Greg Oesch, Perry Township Trustee Cliff Mix, city resident Frank A. Zamarelli and township resident Phillip Suarez. Those members were announced earlier this week.
The task force will explore whether it makes sense to merge both services, which will save money, but will cost some firefighters their jobs.
Oesch was elected chairman of the task force, and Susan Johnston, Perry Township clerk, was voted to serve as clerk.
The first meeting of the task force as a whole is at 7 tonight at Salem City Council chambers, where it will review reports on equipment, examine the Ohio Revised Code for guidelines, look at policies and procedures of each entity and plan a couple of fact-finding trips. Tonight's discussion is open to the public.
The group is expected to make a recommendation or present its findings to city council March 15.