Negotiations for fire department merger ends between Boardman and Canfield

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – Last August, a committee was formed to look into the possibility of merging the fire departments of Boardman and Canfield — which Canfield strongly opposed — and now Boardman says any negotiations for a merger are over.

In March, Canfield City Council voted unanimously to oppose a merger. The firefighters union of the Cardinal Joint Fire District also opposed it. Canfield City officials even said they would look into forming their own fire department if the merger took place.

With that, Boardman administrator Jason Loree has said the negotiations about a possible merger are over. The decision was announced at Monday’s meeting of the Cardinal Joint Fire District.

“We will not work with the City of Canfield as long as their position remains the same. We will move forward with protecting our community,” said Loree.

“We have no issue with the Cardinal Joint Fire District and exploring the concepts down the road. But we can not see a path forward working with the city,” he said.

Talks of a merger began when Boardman was having trouble providing ambulance service but last week, Loree said the plan is to request a levy — asking voters for the money to put ambulances in all three of Boardman’s fire stations.

The Boardman trustees have not yet made a final decision about the levy.

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