by Eric Marotta
Editor
Nordonia Hills -- A third area community won't join in applying for a grant to continue a study of regionalizing area fire and emergency services.
This could kill any chances for the study, as at least three communities are required to get the grant, leaving Macedonia and Northfield Village to pay for the $40,000 study themselves.
Boston Heights Mayor Bill Goncy said Council's finance committee voted June 24 to opt out of a grant application that could have paid 70 percent of the study. Called a "fire service cooperative enhancement study" by consultant John D. Preuer, the study would analyze the feasibility of forming a joint Nordonia Hills fire district, among other objectives.
The city and two villages, along with Northfield Center and Sagamore Hills townships, last year paid $30,000 for Preuer to conduct a more general analysis of the area's safety forces. The townships last week announced they were opting out of the second study, which would outline further steps toward joining some safety forces.
The grant application for this latest study is due by the end of July.
"We had agreed to go with the study originally because we wanted to go along with it as a group," Goncy said.
However, Goncy said that after the townships dropped out of the picture, village leaders said they could not split the cost with Macedonia and Northfield Village.
"We do not have a lot of money to spend on studies," he said.
Macedonia Fire Chief Tim Black said the communities would have had an excellent chance of obtaining the grant, which is offered by the Ohio Department of Development for the express purpose of furthering regionalization.
"We've gotten farther than we've ever got in the 30 years we've been looking at this," Black said of the ongoing fire merger talks.
However, with three out of the five communities opting out of the grant application -- which required a $300 commitment from each -- Black said he questions the commitment to moving forward toward consolidation.
"You can only regionalize if you have partners," he said.
Northfield Center Trustees last week told the News Leader they decided against applying for the grant because they felt the communities had plenty of work to do in accomplishing 79 recommendations outlined in Preuer's first study.
Sagamore Hills Trustees Richard Barrett, James Hunt and Rose Mary Snell all told the News Leader they would follow decision of Northfield Center, which provides fire coverage for Sagamore Hills.
Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta previously said he had hoped the city, Northfield Village and Boston Heights could move forward with the grant application. He was out of the office and not available for comment for this story.
Black noted Preuer's contract for service under the first study is just about expired, so the communities would have to pay him more to continue serving as a facilitator.
"It's bigger than me, it's bigger than all of us. This could benefit our communities for 100 years," Black said.
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