BOARDMAN — Township trustees on Monday voted to place a five-year levy to pay for ambulance service on the November ballot.

If passed, the levy would raise $4.5 million annually and cost the owner of a $100,000 home approximately $108 per year, Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree said. The levy will mark a major change in local emergency service, he said.

“If the community does support this cause, Boardman Township will staff all three (fire) stations with not only a firetruck, but also an EMS unit,” Loree said.

In 2016, 11 ambulance companies served Mahoning County, and now that number is down to two private companies, he explained. Mahoning County does have a partnership with Lane LifeTrans ambulance service in Austintown.

“However, because they are struggling to provide EMS support to almost everybody in Mahoning County, they are stretched majorly thin,” Loree said.

The company has been struggling to find staff, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic made EMS work even more dangerous than it was before. This leaves fire departments to “pick up that slack,” of providing emergency medical service, he said.

Other governmental bodies, including the Cardinal Joint Fire District (Canfield Township and city), the Western Reserve Joint Fire District (Poland Township and village) and the Ellsworth Fire Department have passed levies to staff for ambulance service, Loree said.

While Boardman firefighters have received additional training to deal with medical emergencies, attempts to join with other fire districts have fallen through.

“As a township, the only other option we are left with is a levy,” Loree said. “If you (the trustees) do approve this tonight, we are going to give our Boardman residents the option to protect Boardman first.”

New ambulances and coverage provided by the levy would be dedicated solely to Boardman, Loree explained.

“We are not going to ship our crews out,” he said.

Boardman first responders would be able to run a fire response and an ambulance response separately, if necessary, Loree said, if the levy passes. The county still will have a continuing contract with Lane LifeTrans as a supplemental provider.

Firefighter Brian Hallquist, also a union representative, thanked Loree and the trustees for bringing the levy to the ballot. The actual cost to Boardman residents will be minimal, Loree said.

OTHER BUSINESS

Scodeller Construction won a contract to seal various township roads with its bid of $35,516.72, which was accepted on the recommendation of Road Superintendent Marilyn Kenner.

Also on Kenner’s recommendation, Lindy Paving of New Galilee, Pa., won a contract to resurface various roads in the township. Lindy will be paid $1,201,138 and $350,642 in two separate payments for its work, much of it to be paid by the county sales tax and by a $225,000 combined loan and grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission. The majority of this money will go to Boardman because it contains the most miles of road, Trustee Brad Calhoun said.

The Boardman Police Department renewed its policy and procedure manual through LEXIPOL, a software provider out of Frisco, Texas, for $18,536 annually. The service allows Boardman police to automatically receive policy and best-practices updates and to store information in the cloud, Boardman police Chief Todd Werth explained. Officers are able to access this information while they are on patrol, Werth said.

The board also passed a memorandum of understanding with the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office to allow Kenner to act as the township’s engineer. This would allow Kenner to apply directly for Ohio Public Works Commission grant funding for 2025 road resurfacing projects.

“It’s pretty nice,” Calhoun said of the memorandum. “Not many townships can say they have an engineer on staff.”

Also Monday, Police Capt. Donald Hawkins received a proclamation read by Trustee Tom Costello for his 40 years of service. Hawkins began serving the community in 1984 and his father was Boardman police chief in 1969, Werth said.

A dozen police officers attended to wish Hawkins the best on his retirement.

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