Poor showing at 911 meetings vexes officials

Some believe many residents may have already made up their minds.

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

LIBERTY — Meetings held by township officials to discuss the pros and cons of a tax levy to keep the township’s 911 service have failed to bring voters out in large numbers.

The township spends between $270,000 and $290,000 annually to operate its 911 emergency call service. Township trustees have placed a 1.25-mill, five-year renewable operations levy to cover 911 emergency call expenses on the November ballot.

If passed, the levy will cost a owner of a $100,000 home about $45 annually.

The county has asked the township to join its 911 system at a cost of $123,292 a year to the township.

Police Chief Anthony Slifka has repeatedly said he is not interested in joining the county’s 911 operation. He has said that the township needs to maintain its own 911 services to properly serve its residents.

Township Administrator Patrick Ungaro said less than a dozen people attended an informational meeting Monday at the township government center to discuss the levy. Township officials had a meeting last month that also drew few people.

“It’s really going to come down to Election Day,” he said. “This meeting wasn’t attended well, and the other meeting wasn’t attended well, either. I don’t know what that means, if people have already made up their minds or what.”

Those who did attend seemed to be most concerned about what would happen if the levy should fail.

Ungaro said there are only two scenarios for the outcome of the election.

“The answer is simple: We either keep [the current system] at a cost of about $270,000 or we go to a county system, and most people don’t seem to want that,” he said.

Using the county system, Ungaro said, would save the township money, but he said there are drawbacks in losing a 911 center that caters specifically to the township.

He also said township officials are not comfortable with the formula used to calculate how much the township must pay to use the county system.

Trustee Jodi Stoyak also attended the meeting and is not sure why more people are not showing interest in discussing the issue. She suspects that township voters have thought the issue over and have already come to a decision about how they will vote Election Day.

“People who want the levy and want to maintain 911 service are going to get to the polls and vote for the levy, and those who do not want any new taxes and are adamant about that will vote against it,” she said.

Ungaro said the bottom line is that residents will have to decide if the additional tax is worth maintaining the service.

The township has operated its own 911 system since 1997. Most of that money needed to maintain the system comes through the police department’s budget.