Deerfield

Deerfield is one of five Portage County townships that is looking to consolidate into one fire district. The other four townships are Edinburg, Paris, Palmyra and Charleston.

“It’s in the very early stages,” township Vice Chair Ed Dean said. “Trustees have not agreed to enter into any type of agreement to move forward, but that will be discussed at our meeting on June 9. It would be a fire district where there will be some place that everybody responds out of. There would be no fire equipment in Deerfield anymore.

Unofficially, I was told that the fire district would not be in Deerfield, that it would be in one of the other four townships. There would no longer be individualized township fire departments.”

A major reason for the possible fire district is consolidating monies.

“Every township is struggling for money and finances,” Dean said. “With the type of overhead there would be, they’re talking a minimum of a 5-mil levy between the five townships to run the organization. That’s a lot of money. In my opinion, this is not a decision the trustees can make. That’s something that has to come from the voters.”

This will likely be on either the May or November ballot in 2026.

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Donuts and Coffee with the Commissioners will be held July 31 at Café 14 at 92 State Route 14. Residents will have an opportunity to speak with the commissioners at the event.

Said Dean, “They do this quarterly at different places in the county.”

Paris

The Paris Township Trustees passed a motion to have one of its fire levies put on the ballot in November.

“That was the first step,” township Trustee Dave Kemble said. “Now it goes to the prosecutor’s office and they’ll come up with the language, and then we’ll do a resolution to put it on the ballot.”

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The township trustees are looking to purchase a new piece of equipment for the maintenance department, either a front-end loader or a backhoe.
“We’re leaning toward the front-end loader,” Kemble said, “but our backhoe is quite old.”

Edinburg

Edinburg’s annual Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony was held Monday, May 26. The ceremony was held at Edinburg Township Cemetery.

“The parade and ceremony were very well attended,” township Chair Chris Diehl said. “There were probably 200 people there.”