Hubbard Township EMS, police renewal levy shot down for time being

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By the end of 2025, a renewal levy that helps provide resources for police and EMS services in Hubbard Township will expire.

A motion by Trustee Jason Tedrow to put the renewal levy back on the ballot died when trustees Bill Colletta and Monica Baker decided they weren't on board with it.

This caused Sergeant Mike Orr, who is also vice president of the union, to stand up during public comment and tell the two trustees he was very disappointed in them for not putting the renewal on the ballot. Orr expressed frustration over a lack of support for the police department.

"Don't say that I don't support the police department," Hubbard Township Trustee Bill Colletta said in response. "I'm the one who saved it along with a few other people. Trustee Baker was at many of them meetings with me," he said.

Trustee Baker chimed in to further emphasize that they do support the department.

"There is support for having nine full time officers," Baker said.

Orr immediately responded with, "But how far down the road?"

Baker said, "Well, got a crystal ball?"

Orr's biggest contention was manpower.

"We're gonna be working by ourselves on shifts because we don't have that ninth guy. A ninth guy would put two guys on every shift and that's my biggest concern," Orr said.

As it stands, the police department is allotted eight full time officers, two part time and one admin, leaving the township with a $1.3 million dollar carry over into 2028. The department just lost two officers and is looking to fill two to three spots.

"After reviewing some of the facts or the funding and the carry over amounts, it was not a good thing to add the renewal back on the ballot due to the fact that it was not needed at this time," Colletta said.

However, Orr was upset saying what the department does have isn't enough.

"We need equipment, we need radios, we need cars, we need a lot of things so that money is not going to be just sitting there," Orr said. "So how're you going to take money away from us and we need things," he said.

The trustees feel the department is secure.

"The police department is solvent, it has a carry over, we are able to move our officers to a level of nine which they are asking for," Colletta said.

However, the officers themselves see it differently.

"We are in a reactive police department," Brenda Freeman, police chief said. "That is not somewhere we wanna be right now is reactive. We have potentially one person on the road, sometimes we have two. You have a detective that is working the road as well and there's cases backed up to I can't even tell you," she said.

Hubbard Township resident Diana Edwards said she was torn after listening to both sides, as she's on a fixed income but also supports the local officers.

Trustee Tedrow believes this should all be left up to the voters, saying the money is already being collected and he doesn't want to run the risk of having to lay people off again in the next couple years.

Trustee Colletta said they'll review it again down the road.