How St. Albans, County Line fire, Jersey Township are moving forward after issue failures

While residents in Hanover and Hartford townships passed public safety levies in March 19's primary election, not every issue in Licking County received voter approval.

Fire and emergency medical service levies for the St. Albans Township Fire Department and the County Line Joint Fire District in northern Licking County, as well as a local liquor option that would have made it easier for businesses to obtain a liquor license in Jersey Township, all failed.

So what's next for each of these issues?

County Line Joint Fire District likely to go on November ballot

After forming in May and beginning service Jan. 1, the County Line Joint Fire District's five year, 6.5-mill levy failed with 52% of voters rejecting the levy and 48% supporting it, according to unofficial results from Licking and Knox counties boards of elections. It was a difference of 44 votes.

Sam Parsons, president of the fire district board and a Washington Township trustee, said the district doesn't yet have its next steps solidified but that it will likely go back on the ballot in November.

"District leadership plans on meeting in the next two weeks to evaluate where we're at currently and evaluate our options for the November levy," he said.

Part of that evaluation will be determining if the district will ask for the same amount or if that will change, Parsons said. The 6.5-mill levy would have cost Utica and Washington Township residents $228 annually per every $100,000 of property value, according to the Licking County Auditor's Office.

The levy would have raised $956,950 annually from Utica and Washington Township in Licking County and Morgan Township in Knox County, Parsons said last month that based on information from the auditors' offices for the two counties.

District leadership is also planning a way to speak to residents and gather their concerns about why they did or did not support the levy, Parsons said.

The fire district replaced the Utica Volunteer Fire Department and the Utica Emergency Squad. If the levy had passed, the district would have increased daily staffing from two part-timers per shift to three part-timers per shift. In the long term, the levy funds would have allowed the district to budget for high-cost items such as fire trucks, ambulances, heart monitors and other medical equipment, Parsons said previously.

To soon to know how much St. Albans Township will ask for in November

St. Albans Township Fire Chief Michael Theisen said the department will seek another levy in November, but it's too soon to know if the township will change the amount for which it's asking. He said the township's trustees need to have deeper discussions in the weeks ahead, likely including a special meeting specifically about another levy, before an amount is known.

"It's hard to say what exactly that needs to be until we reevaluate exactly what we need to do moving forward," Theisen said.

But the need is still there, Theisen said. Levy funds would have gone toward maintaining the department's current staffing levels, purchasing necessary medical equipment, maintaining the department's vehicle replacement schedule and covering necessary expenses such as fuel and utilities. He said vehicles and equipment costs have risen 30-40% since the township last approved a levy in 2018.

The permanent, 10-mill levy levy failed to pass with 58% of residents voting no to 42% voting for the levy, according to unofficial results from the board of elections. It was a difference of 102 votes.

Part of the challenge, Theisen said, is that the ballot language didn't take into account that the township has expiring 3-mill and 4-mill levies that would have been replaced by the 10-mill levy. That lead property owners, specifically large land owners, to think the levy would cost them more than it actually would, Theisen said.

Jersey Township still moving forward with revitalization district

Rob Platte, Jersey Township's administrator, said it was disappointing that the liquor option for the revitalization district didn't pass. The issued failed 51% to 49%, by a difference of seven votes, according to unofficial results from the board of elections.

Platte said he didn't think the township trustees would abandon the revitalization district, which is a tool under Ohio law that promotes the investment and development of new restaurants and other social and entertainment establishments within a defined area. The ballot measure would have approved the local liquor option that would have allowed up to 15 new liquor permits to be issued within a defined area without the businesses individually going to the ballot.

The township is verifying that the liquor option can go on the November ballot, Platte said.

"We still think it's a valuable tool for the township," Platte said. "We're going to look at the options of continuing to pursue it."

The revitalization district itself is still in place, it just doesn't have the benefit of having liquor permits available in that area because the liquor option failed, Platte said.

The district covers a large area. It's along most of the major roadways in the township, including Worthington Road, Mink Street, Ohio 310/Hazelton-Etna Road and Morse Road. Platte said that was done because the district must be contiguous, and it doesn't mean the entire area would have restaurants and hotels because the township's zoning still applies. But based on resident feedback, Platte said the township will reexamine if those are still the right areas to include.

"This isn't something that we had to have, in the sense of restaurants aren't going to come (without it). It just simply takes down a barrier to restaurants coming," he said. "Since our residents want restaurants, we're trying to do what we can to help bring those along."

mdevito@gannett.com

740-607-2175

Twitter: @MariaDeVito13

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: How St. Albans, Jersey Twp. are moving forward after issue failures