WELLSVILLE–Discussion about the Wellsville Fire Department wanting to turn dispatch services over to the County 9-1-1 dispatch center continued during Tuesday’s meeting of the Wellsville Village Council. Their was discussion on the matter at the previous council meeting.

Fire Chief Barry Podwel and firefighter Cody Cole presented their case to council along with the estimates of what it would cost for the switch.

Safety and response times were the key reasons cited for needing the switch.

Currently the fire department is responsible for dispatching both police and fire.

Cole told council the reason they want to go to county for dispatch is due to low manpower with the Wellsville Volunteer Fire Department and so is the response.

“It’s not just the Village of Wellsville, it’s nationwide,” Cole said. This is an issue flooding fire departments nationwide.”

Cole went on to say that when answering the phones in the village, the department has to leave a certified firefighter on the desk and that is leaving one person behind when they respond to a call, because the communication has to be maintained at all times.

If they switch to the county 9-1-1 dispatch center which is a licensed dispatch center it would benefit the residents in multiple ways, Cole said.

The county dispatchers are EMDs (Emergency Medical Dispatchers), Cole said. He noted that in the event someone calls the department’s 330-532-1515 number to report someone having a heart attack, they take the person’s name age and address and tell the caller to start CPR and then they have to hang up on the call to call an ambulance. They can call Life Team who may or may not have a crew available, if not they hang up and call North Star and if they get a no from them they have to call West Point Fire Department who if they have a crew available could take 20 minutes to get there.

So, now we have basically just said good luck to that resident. In like of better terms that is what we have done,” Cole said. “At a 9-1-1 dispatch center they are giving instructions to that caller to start doing CPR and lifesavings skills which is going to benefit them, because they have another dispatcher sitting there getting your ambulance and fire department in route.”

Cole went on to say that if they take that call, they have to tone out the ambulance and then tone themselves out and if nobody shows up, they sit there. He noted that the chief earlier in the day completed reports from last month where they had a call for a former fire chief who had fallen. The fire department toned out but did not get anybody and had to stay at the station and could not send help to that resident.

If the department goes to the county dispatch for 9-1-1, the firefighters would be able to leave the department and offer the residents the services they are paying the firefighters to provide and also be able to go out and do things in the community.

Cole told the council members that they started doing research and reached out to the county to start getting some quotes. He also noted they reached out to the Highlandtown Volunteer Fire Department to see about using their radio equipment since they are already on with county dispatch, and Highlandtown said yes.

The estimate Cole received from the county is $4,800 annually for dispatch service for which the WVFD will pay half of which will leave the WFD paying $2,400 annually. Cost to get off of Highlandtown’s frequency and get on the village’s own frequency would cost $8,275.65 for which the volunteer department would also pay half, making the total setup cost for the fire department $6,577.82.

By national safety standards firefighters are not allowed to make entry into a house unless they have two people to make entry and two people outside the house, Cole said. He noted there are times they are leaving the station with one guy and it’s concerning to know that the nearest help is either coming from Highlandtown or East Liverpool.

The guy left behind to answer the telephone is crucial to have out on the call with the other firefighters, Cole said.

Boley questioned Cole and Podwel, asking who was going to answer the calls for the police department, which would be a cost to the village to switch the police department to county. Boley asked Lt. Marsha Eisenhart, if she had any comments from the police department, and she responded that the police chief told her not to make any comments.

Council President Keith Thorn said the problem is that the village is looking at quite a bit of money to get dispatch for the police department and he has already talked to the police chief.

“Personally, I can’t see it. The reason you have had a full-time fire department since I was a police officer was that you dispatch for the police department,” Thorn told Cole and Podwel.

Thorn said after talking to the county’s dispatch, he was told it was going to be at least $12,000-$18,000 for county to dispatch for the police on top of having to have all the radios changed which would be a tremendous amount of money. He also noted this has been looked at once before, quite a bit of time ago, and then it was at least $60,000 to change the radios.

Thorn went on to say he understood the problem and has sympathy for them, and he is a supporter of both the police and fire departments, but he can’t see where at this time the village can afford to go to county dispatch.

Podwel noted that this has been going on for a long time and he talked to the previous chief and was told it was stipulated that anytime the police department was on patrol and the fire department got called out that someone from the police department would come in and dispatch, but that doesn’t happen now. He also noted they don’t get any money for dispatching for the police department.

Podwel voiced his concerns over the department being liable for a lot of stuff and the way people are sue-happy today he believes they should go to county dispatch.

Thorn said East Palestine has one full-time firefighter and they are able to make it work and he has no problem within the event of an emergency having a police officer come in and sit at the desk.

Cole asked what they are supposed to tell residents when they don’t show up, and Thorn asked if they guarantee they would be able to show up to which Cole and Podwel both responded yes.

Thorn then noted that 9-1-1 does not work in the village; the calls end up going to other counties. Podwel said it takes one push of a button to transfer the call to the correct agency.

Cole also said he believes that within the next five years the village will be forced to go to the county dispatch which will be a centralized dispatch center and if they waited, it would probably cost more for the switch. He also said out of the entire county there are only four fire departments not in the county’s dispatch, and they are Lisbon, Salineville, Summitville and Wellsville. And out of the whole county, Wellsville is the only department that dispatches itself.

Council Member Ryan Burgess asked why this was suddenly a concern and Cole responded they used to be able to have officers come in off the street but they don’t have that anymore and that he is the steady midnight firefighter Monday-Friday and he can’t leave the station for a call.

Taft said the village doesn’t have the money to pay for police dispatch, and the police department has to be dispatched and if the fire department goes to county, then the village would have to dispatch for the police which could cost up to $150,000 a year.

Thorn noted that in another year with the discussion over property taxes there could be no fire and police department because there would be no levy money to fund them.

Eisenhart said typically there are only two officers on duty at a time and she can’t have an officer pulled off the road and leave a solo officer to handle a domestic situation or a shooting alone.

Thorn and Boley both said both departments need to work together.

There was no resolution following the discussion, but Boley, council members Aaron Smith and Cindy Mick, Podwel and Cole all agreed there needs to be a meeting between the administration and the police and fire chief to discuss the issue further.

Council members approved legislation which passed by emergency measure with an all-in favor vote to set the permanent appropriations for 2026 at $2,980,538.21.

They also approved with all-in-favor votes, the minutes from the Dec. 2 meeting and payment of bills totaling $5,980.43.

During the roll call of members at the beginning of the meeting, Boley noted that it would be the final roll call for two council members, Bill Taft and Ryan Burgess, who did not seek reelection. Their seats will be filled Jan. 1 by Alana Amato and former Council Member Michael Lombardozzi.

There was no one for public speaking, no report from the police department, no committee reports, and no old business or new business to discuss.

The Wellsville Village Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month in Council Chambers at Wellsville Village Hall, 1200 Main St., Wellsville, Ohio. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Jan. 6.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com