NEWTON FALLS — The Newton Falls Joint Fire District board is waiting on the finalization of a sales agreement for fire district property off First Street.

Last month, the board approved proceeding with the sale of the property for $20,000 to Worldwide Securities Limited Critical and Integrated Systems of Ontario, Canada.

The property sits on the north side of the intersection of First and East Main streets.

Fiscal Officer Robert Maiorano said a previous potential buyer for the property backed out, so the property was put back up for sale. He had previously received a call from a representative of Worldwide Securities Limited Critical and Integrated Systems, which plans to place a 5,000-square-foot facility with 89% of the building for warehousing and the rest for offices.

Mairoano said company officials have come to Newton Falls expressing interest in locating in the community. He said the company will check and assess the property to make sure there are no environmental issues at the site.

“We are currently waiting for a sales agreement,” Maiorano said.

He said company officials have informed him they will have an American company purchase the property for them. He said he has emailed the board’s legal counsel on the buyer’s agreement for the property to proceed and is waiting for a response. Maiorano said this is all that is left to finalize the agreement.

He said the fire district also learned it was refunded $1,081 from the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office.

“We petitioned the state to have them change the property to a government entity so we were property tax exempt. The property is tax-exempt until we sell it,” Maiorano said.

FILLING SHIFTS

In other business, fire Chief Jim Williamson said there were 11 times in the past month the fire station was not staffed and calls had to be handled by other local fire departments. He said due to limited staffing, some shifts have not been covered, mostly on the weekends.

Williamson said many volunteer firefighters work other jobs and are not able to cover shifts. To attract more firefighters for the fire district, the board last month increased the hourly wage by 50 cents per hour, retroactive to June 2.

Officials said this includes the fire deputy, assistant fire captain and lieutenant positions.

There is also a $50 monthly bonus for all hourly employees who work more than 38 hours per month.

Board President Aaron Perkins has said the employees are all part-time and work varying hours per month with many working other jobs. He has said the district is trying to attract more people since there are unfilled shifts.

The board did approve hiring Robert Shape of Struthers as part-time firefighter / paramedic at $20.50 per hour on an as-needed basis with no benefits.

Also hired was Zachary Freyn of Berlin Center as a part-time firefighter / paramedic at $21.50 per hour as needed with no benefits.

The board approved sending Emma Rotondo to firefighter I class at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center at a cost of $1,500, which is eligible for reimbursement under the Ohio Fire Marshals rural assistance program.

The board approved sending Justin Montgomery to an emergency medical technician class at Lane LifeTrans in Mineral Ridge at a cost of $1,600. Officials will check on whether it is covered by a grant.

The board did accept resignations of Christopher Kravetz, Matthew Kello, Kelly Kimple, Sandra Novotny, Jullian Dillard and Caden Minor.

Williamson said Kello was hired full-time in Niles, Dillard was hired full-time in Liberty and Minor was hired full-time in Howland. He said the others work elsewhere and are inactive with the department.