Thanks to police levy passage, Boardman will recall 3 firefighters

By Ashley Luthern

aluthern@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Township officials will activate a grant to enable three laid-off firefighters to return.

Boardman was awarded a $334,646 grant through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Program (SAFER) in February. The grant is to be used for hiring firefighters in Boardman, and the funds provide for salaries, benefits and general-equipment needs.

The grant stipulates that the fire department cannot dip below 2010 firefighter staffing levels of 38, when the grant application was submitted, for the duration of the grant, which is two years.

“We’ll be able through the SAFER grant to have the full time equivalents of 38 firefighters working in the township until 2014 because of the federal money,” said township Administrator Jason Loree.

“We wouldn’t be able to accept that money if the [police] levy was not successful because we would have been laying off a bunch of people, and it wouldn’t have made sense to accept the SAFER grant and actually enact it,” he continued.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.