Friday, November 30, 2007
Some favored keeping the township center; others said join with the county.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY — Trustees took the first step toward again asking voters to approve a levy to fund 911.
At a special meeting Thursday, trustees voted 2-1 on a first reading of a motion to return the issue to the March primary ballot.
Voters earlier this month narrowly rejected the five-year, 1.25-mill levy that would have generated about $230,000 annually to run the township’s 911 emergency call center.
Trustees Jodi Stoyak and Jack Simon voted in favor of the motion, with Trustee W. Gary Litch opposed.
A second reading is expected at the trustees’ Dec. 10 meeting, but Simon said he wants the police and fire departments to develop a plan by then to fund the center for next year. If the March levy passes, the money it generates won’t flow into township coffers until 2009.
The issue must be submitted to the Trumbull County Board of Elections by Dec. 20.
Police Chief Anthony Slifka believes such a plan is doable. There’s a captain who is expected to retire soon, the chief explained. If it means not hiring a replacement officer in order to fund the center, he said he’ll do that.
Slifka, who acknowledges that he gets emotional about the issue of continuing the township’s 911 center, called it the heart of the community. That would be lost if the township joined the Trumbull County 911 center.
In voting against the motion, Litch said there’s a problem with communication among the parties involved and their willingness to make things work.
“We need to wake up in this area so we can start working together instead of tearing us apart,” Litch said.
He was referring to the high emotion and flared tempers that periodically erupted during the meeting between those who want to keep the township’s 911 emergency call center and those who want to join Trumbull County’s 911 center.
Mike Dolhancryk, county 911 director, estimated it would cost the township about $130,000 next year to join the center. But that amount could reduce as a 911 committee is working on recommendations for changes. One of those possible changes is in the way communities are billed for the service.
The recommendation calls for a cost based on a community’s population, not calls for service. That could reduce Liberty’s charge to about $80,000 annually, he said. If Liberty joined, additional personnel would be hired to handle the calls, he said.
Slifka favors keeping the center in the township. He implored trustees to return it to the ballot.
“I’m on a committee of police chiefs, and we’re saying, ‘No we don’t want to be a part of it [the county 911] because it doesn’t work,’” the chief said. “It’s like buying a 1952 Edsel.”
Both McDonald and Weathersfield recently left the county service and are served by Niles.
Township residents Carol Faustino and Gloria Lang also favored a return to the ballot.
The wording of the issue on this month’s ballot confused people, particularly senior citizens, Faustino said. They didn’t know that it was for 911, she said.
Lang worries that Dolhancryk’s plans are all for the future, but the township has to worry about now.
“Once our system here is down, we’ll never get it back,” she said.
Lou Pizzuto, another resident, disagreed.
The township put the question to the voters and the voters made their decision, Pizzuto added.