DARWIN — This week an ordinance which would’ve placed a fire protection levy on the February ballot for Bedford Township failed with a vote of 2-1 in favor of putting the levy on the ballot for residents to decide.

Despite the vote being in favor of placing the levy on the ballot for a special election, since the vote was taken as an emergency measure, the Ohio Revised Code requires a unanimous vote for the measure to pass. Meigs County Prosecuting Attorney Colleen S. Williams, who was at the meeting, cited ORC section 504.11 as the source of this information.

The section reads as follows: “the resolution or motion shall not be passed without concurrence of a majority of all members of the board of township trustees, except that each emergency resolution under that section shall require the affirmative vote of all of the members of the board for its enactment.”

Though Bedford Township Trustees had previously held two readings and votes on the ordinance which passed, those readings were in effect null and void due to the fact the third reading, if passed, would’ve taken effect in 10 days. Since the third reading was scheduled for Tuesday of this week and the ballot issued had to be filed with the Meigs County Board of Elections two days later on Thursday, a vote by emergency measure was required in order to meet that deadline.

The three-mill continuous levy for fire protection was estimated to generate $45,963.36 for fire protection to pay for maintenance on a new fire station which is proposed for Bedford Township and will actually be a substation of the Pomeroy Fire Department. The Pomeroy Fire Department was one of only 200 entities in the country which received a highly competitive federal grant to build a new fire station in Bedford Township. The grant is for $811,750 and will pay for 100 percent of the construction costs. The award is provided through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Assistance to Firefighters Station Construction Grants (ARRA-SCG) program as established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Once the building is built, if built, it will be owned by the Village of Pomeroy though it will sit on land leased to Pomeroy by Bedford Township. Residents of Bedford Township, not the Village of Pomeroy, would fund the maintenance costs which is why the fire protection levy was being proposed.

Trustees Robert Hood and Ron Wood voted for the measure at this week’s meeting, Trustee John Dean voted against it. Dean, who has previously voted for placing the ballot on the levy, said he voted against it because he had several unanswered questions. Dean said, for example, he had been told by a representative of the Auditor of State the township couldn’t pay the utilities on a new fire station the township didn’t own. Dean also said he felt a meeting with Pomeroy Village Council about that and other questions, including those he has about the grant proposal, should take place

Dean said he knew that himself and Fiscal Officer Barbara Grueser would be attending the next meeting of Pomeroy Village Council to discuss some of the issues. Dean said for him, he felt more information needed to be obtained in order for the issue to be brought back to a vote for possible placement on the May ballot.