Mar 18, 2016 4 min read

The Houston Volunteer Fire Department meeting room has framed photographs of both fires and floods members fought, mirroring a firestorm of criticism and cold water this week poured on an idea to dissolve Houston as a borough and merge with two neighboring townships.

Demo Agoris, a Libertarian member of Houston Borough Council elected last fall, floated the trial balloon to do away with the borough as a governmental entity, but fellow members of council and fire department members took aim at the proposal, which, to take effect, would need approved by the majority of voters in Houston, Chartiers and North Strabane townships.

Agoris would like to see most of Houston absorbed into Chartiers Township, while the smaller part of the borough that lies east of Chartiers Creek would become part of North Strabane. His objective, he said, is Houston would be served daily by police departments that operate 24 hours a day. If Houston ceased to be a borough, it could continue to exist as a village and a post office with the 15342 zip code.

Larry Scears, Houston council president, said, “The majority of council in no way supports this referendum … Yes, our tax millage rate is bigger than others, but the borough is certainly sustainable. If we were in dire straits, maybe I’d be in favor of it. The firemen are behind the community, and the community is behind the fire department. I don’t see it happening.”

Rich Friesel, who has grandchildren in Chartiers-Houston School District, said he would not want to see them required to transfer to neighboring Canon-McMillan simply because they live on the same side of the creek as North Strabane Township, which along with Canonsburg and Cecil, comprise Canon-Mac.

Several members of the fire department denounced the proposal because, if approved, it could spell the end of the fire company, which also organizes the highly successful Houston Pumpkin Festival since 1984. Donald Gasmire said he foresees fire insurance premiums increasing if the department closed as part of a merger because North Strabane and Chartiers have their own departments.

Houston Volunteer Fire Department incorporated in 1925, 24 years after the borough’s founding, according to Mayor James Stubenbordt.

“This is our house and our house will stay here,” said fire department President Chad Roberts. “God help us. Houston Borough holds the charter so when it dissolves, so does this. My recommendation would be to cease and desist.”

Stubenbordt, a three-term mayor, said after the meeting Monday, “Personally, I just don’t see the logic behind it. We’re not saving anything. This can get totally out of control – that I can see happening.” As to police presence, “we try to get 17 hours in daily” for patrols. “On weekends, I do have the night shift covered,” Stubenbordt said.

There are times when state police answer calls in the borough, which has three full-time police officers and seven part-timers.

After the bruising criticism he received at the fire department meeting, Agoris said, “I would like to receive more public input.”

The state Constitution sets a procedure for the electorate to consolidate, merge or change the boundaries of counties, cities, boroughs and townships, according to Larry Spahr, Washington County elections director, whose office saw three of these ballot measures in the last 11 years.

Statewide referendum questions on Constitutional amendments on raising the retirement age of judges and eliminating Philadelphia Traffic Court are on the April 26 primary ballot, but Spahr said it’s too late to begin any locally generated referendum this spring because state law requires petitions be submitted 90 days before an election.

The deadline for ballot measures for the Nov. 8 general election is Aug. 8.

The number of petition signatures required from each of the three municipalities is based on five percent of those who cast ballots in each municipality in the 2014 gubernatorial election. According to unofficial results posted on the Washington County website from the 2014 contest between Tom Corbett and Tom Wolf, approximately 16 signatures from Houston registered voters, 223 from North Strabane and 122 from Chartiers would be needed.

The population of the municipalities, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, is Houston, 1,296; Chartiers, 7,818; and North Strabane, 13,408.

If the measure appears on the ballot, 51 percent of the voters in each municipality would have to favor the change.

The track record on this subject in Washington County is mixed.

Consolidating boroughs with neighboring municipalities succeeded in the former West Alexander Borough and surrounding Donegal Township in 2008, but failed three years earlier when Coal Center residents chose not to become part of adjacent California Borough and Smith Township voters shunned efforts to absorb Burgettown Borough by a mere 27-vote margin.