Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Proud mom Heather Garlough pins the badge on her son, Zeb Garlough, who was sworn in as a part-time firefighter / EMT during Monday’s board meeting.

CANFIELD — The Cardinal Joint Fire District Board of Directors swore in a new part-time firefighter / EMT at Monday’s meeting.

Zeb Garlough was sworn in to office before a small crowd of family and friends.

Garlough is a 2021 graduate of South Range High School. After graduation, Garlough took time off to hike the Appalachian Trail, after which he returned home. In 2024, he was hired by the Green Township Fire Department.

“I plan on staying on with Green,” he said. “I’ll be a dual employee, working both Green and Canfield. My goal is to obtain my medic license and eventually go into a full-time position.”

He said fire service runs in his family, with his father serving as a firefighter / EMT, his sister being an EMT and his brother being a firefighter.

Also Monday, fire Chief Don Hutchison reported the FEMA grant for $74,950 to replace the Station 1 exhaust system was on hold because of the federal government shutdown.

The grant comes with a local match of $3,400 to replace the system that prevents exhaust fumes from staying in the fire station when a truck leaves.

Hutchison said when the government opens up, the grant should be ready to go.

Board member Marie Cartwright brought up the idea of having two budgets for 2026.

“The 2026 ballot will have the property tax issue on it,” she said. “If it is approved, we will have one-and-a-half years of taxes left.”

She said the taxes are collected in the following year, always running a year behind. Should voters approve the elimination of property taxes, entities such as local fire and police wouldn’t be funded.

“The issue I see is we don’t know what alternative funding mechanism will be put in place,” said Attorney David “Chip” Comstock. “Until an alternate is stated, our income (in the fire district) will be zero.”

Cartwright said she thinks it is a situation that needs to be looked into now.

She suggested having two budgets, with one of them being for the worst-case scenario of property taxes coming to an end.

“Either way, you are going to see a reduction in property tax,” said board member Gary Ditullio.

Comstock said. “I would look at trying to just maintain services, but you may have to put a sign up saying ‘closed until further notice’.”

Comstock was asked how the state could deal with such a crisis. He said they may look at a solution like what Florida did. He said they went to the county for everything: county school districts, county fire departments and county police departments.

“The Ohio Constitution requires the state to fund the school system,” Comstock said, “but it says nothing about safety services like police and fire. People need to understand, if there is no money to provide the service, we’re closed. It will be catastrophic without an alternative plan in place.”

All board members agreed it is an area that needs to be considered for 2026.

In other business:

• Hutchison reported 254 calls for September with no fire loss. Of those calls, 110 were ambulance transports, with seven mutual aid calls made and none received. Hutchison said the numbers represent the final days of the Canfield Fair.

• The board agreed to renew the health insurance for 2026 at the same rate as 2025. Also approved was a dental plan with the Hummel Group Insurance at $1,000 per person with a $50 deductible.