CANFIELD — The Cardinal Joint Fire District had a discussion Monday over the use of space, namely the training room, at Station 2 on Messerly Road.

The concern involved the possibility of groups attempting to use the room for meetings and events.

“Who gets to use the fire district’s large training room,” said Atty. David “Chip” Comstock, legal adviser for the district. “The issue has come up about how we decide who can use the room or what events the district can attend.”

He said the CJFD Board has approved and adopted a policy that anyone can use the room as long as it is concerning the fire department. He gave the example of the Girl Scouts touring the facility and then using the room for part of the tour. The event would involve the fire department and would not have any political or unrelated agenda.

“It is easy to get sucked into an event that ends up as a political event or about a specific candidate. Events can be used as a disguise,” Comstock said. “The CJFD does not support candidates or issues.to promote something else. The district simply provides safety services .”

Comstock said he wanted the board to be aware of this issue and said he will work on making the rules very clear. Those rules also would include when a fire truck is requested such as for a birthday party. He didn’t want to see such a party turn into a promotion of some other agenda.

“There are departments that do rent out their space,” Comstock said. “This board made the decision to not get involved in that.”

In other business, the board took the first step to place a levy on the November ballot. The district’s five-year, 0.42-mill operating levy will be up in 2026. Comstock told the board they have three opportunities to pass a renewal. He said they can go this November, and would have two more chances in 2026.

“I think this November is a good time to try,” said CJFD fire Chief Don Hutchison. “I heard the school board will not be putting a levy on in November.”

He said the renewal stands a better chance when it is not on the same ballot with bigger levies.

The board inquired about making the levy a permanent one. Comstock said the only way that could be done is by making it a replacement levy. No one seemed to be in favor of that, so it remained as a renewal of the 2021 levy at 0.42 mills. The board unanimously approved submitting the renewal to the county auditor to obtain the amounts so it can be placed before voters this fall.

Another interesting topic at the meeting involved rope rescues. Hutchison said he hopes to equip all the district’s vehicles with rope rescue equipment. He told the board a firefighter was taking the training to learn to repel and use ropes for certain rescue situations, and he can come back and train CJFD firefighters.

“I would like to have four personnel on each shift trained with rope rescue,” Hutchison said.

The board voted to approve rope rescue equipment from two different companies: $12,844.44 was approved for Rock and Rescue for equipment, and another $3,167.94 for additional equipment from Rescue Direct.

The board also approved the purchase of 11 sets of turnout gear at a cost of $38,355.