This petition is for the sole purpose of postponing the purposed merger of College & Monroe Fire Department and Mount Vernon Fire Department. There are too many unanswered questions from Mount Vernon Fire Department as to how they will effectively cover our townships.

I feel the residents of these townships are being bullied into this merger without really considering the possible consequences of the merger. I also feel there is still other alternatives to look at for the good of our community for coverage. If you are also concerned about this merger please sign this petition so ALL our voices can be heard.

As everyone knows there was a “fact finding” committee put together to explore other options to help cover day time hours at the two fire houses. Having been married to my husband for 20 years and watching the changes the fire department has gone through, things just aren’t like they used to be when the fire department started many years ago. Most of the volunteers work during the day and can’t leave their jobs to go fight fires or respond to other emergency runs. As far as I know there has never been an instance when a “lack” of participation has caused any catastrophe concerning a house fire or emergency run. There has always been coverage and if more personnel were needed they would always call for mutual aid from nearby volunteer departments. It works this way for all the fire departments, even Mount Vernon. Case in point when the old Ben Franklin store burned down, fire fighters from our department were there for a couple days helping fight the fire.

After attending one of the trustee meetings and listening to the questions and other solutions being discussed as a way to stay a volunteer department, I feel that the merger should be put on hold until all the facts for these other solutions are gathered. Talk of soft billing was discussed and is one of the options being researched by a couple of people on the department.

By pulling our resources together and a little restructuring we can stay the volunteer department that the residents of College/Monroe have come to count on in their time of need. After reading the articles in the paper I get the feeling that the Gambier mayor and chief from Mount Vernon Fire Department have their own agenda and are not really considering the impact this merger will have on our taxes and possible response time to runs if they have to get additional help from the main station in town.  

One of the last articles I read in the paper, stated that MVFD (Mount Vernon Fire Department) collected $100,000.00 from Morris Township, $216,000.00 from Clinton Township and $69,000.00 from Pleasant Township; which equals $385,000.00 in tax revenue that they collect each year. It didn’t state how much they are collecting from the city of Mount Vernon but their website it states their budget is $4.3 million dollars with these funds going to personnel and expenses.

By merging with two more townships it should increase their revenue quite nicely. I realize the cost of doing business these days has risen quite considerably and I can’t even imagine what it costs to run a department the size of Mount Vernon. Fuel alone must be ridiculous. The article also never stated what the cost per run per township was. The highest rate for runs was in Clinton Township at 546 runs. From what I understand College/Monroe does not average that many runs per year. I can’t imagine that what our townships will pay in extra taxes needed for this merger, in contrast to the cost to make the runs, and I do not feel it would be equal.  I think we will pay more for services than are rendered.

 Many of our residents are on fixed incomes and really cannot afford to spend more in taxes or insurance for this type of coverage.

The next trustee meeting for Monroe Township is July 1st at 7:00 p.m. at the township/firehouse on 13980 Wooster Road, Mount Vernon. You are welcome voice your opinions or ask questions at the meeting.

Sign the petition and let your voice be heard.

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