Westmont proposal

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Crimson's Ghost
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Westmont proposal

Post by Crimson's Ghost »

Not sure how this would pertain to the schools and athletics just yet, but there's a committee in the Westmont area wanting to merge Westmont, Southmont, Upper Yoder, Brownstown, Ferndale, and Lower Yoder into one town.  The population would roughly equate to 19,000 residents - the same as the city of Johnstown.  Of those 6 boroughs, there's three different school districts.  Ferndale/Brownstown goes to Ferndale, Westmont/Southmont/Uppder Yoder is Westmont, and Lower Yoder sends it's kids to Johnstown. 
It's an interesting proposal. Brownstown is tiny, but it sends it's kids to Ferndale but the borough uses West Hills Police and Fire.  It's sort of tucked in-between Old Westmont and the city. 

So what it Ferndale were to agree to this on a school district level? Would Lorain and Dale head to Johnstown?  Middle Taylor to Conemaugh Valley? Or would the entire district jump onto Westmont also? Ferndale elementary is already three blocks away from Westmont elementary in Westmont borough.  So it's not like the kids would be doing anything different travel wise. 

I know Stonycreek Township wanted to join Richland SD.  What if that happens and Lower Yoder joins Westmont?  How small does Johnstown High become?

As they say it takes two to tango, and in this case probably more than two. It sounds OK on paper but I don't think everyone will be on board. But if they got it going it might not happen on the school level at first, but it would be the first step towards making that happen. This is a stubborn area when it comes to merging schools, but 
1. Ferndale already wrestles with Westmont and may co-op with a few other sports.  
2. One of their school buildings is physically in Westmont. So there's foundation there to make this happen. 

Likely nothing happens but in this area, people complain about the town and city all the time.  And anytime a proposal is out there to do something different, people pass on it anyway.  So there's winning no sometimes. 
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by deepcreek »

Provincialism will rule until there is 1) no tax base left to support and there is a financial crisis 2) the state forces it.
This is my guess.
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by knowitall »

Merging municipalities likely will not impact the school districts at all.  They are separate entities.  Some kids that live in Geistown Borough attend Richland.  Others attend Greater Johnstown.  Some kids that live in Paint Township attend Windber.  Others attend Conemaugh Township.
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by Crimson's Ghost »

True, it could be the tipping point for the school districts perhaps. But it's an interesting proposal.
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by knowitall »

The five municipalities that compose the Conemaugh Valley School District voted on a merger of all five about a decade ago. Voters in Daisytown Borough and East Taylor Township rejected the merger. The three municipalities whose voters approved it have not followed through with a merger. I wonder if voters in all seven municipalities would have to agree in this case. My guess in this case is that none of the seven will vote yes to approve a merger.
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by Crimson's Ghost »

knowitall wrote:The five municipalities that compose the Conemaugh Valley School District voted on a merger of all five about a decade ago.  Voters in Daisytown Borough and East Taylor Township rejected the merger.  The three municipalities whose voters approved it have not followed through with a merger.  I wonder if voters in all seven municipalities would have to agree in this case.  My guess in this case is that none of the seven will vote yes to approve a merger.
Probably, nobody is going to vote themselves out of a job however small it may be. 
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by knowitall »

very few jobs would be affected
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by Crimson's Ghost »

knowitall wrote:very few jobs would be affected
https://www.southmontborough.com/council-committees
Not sure if those are jobs or volunteer things, but there's the list of positions for a borough of 2,000 people. 
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by Crimson's Ghost »

I'm not sure how things would work if those six municipalities became one, would there still be a Ferndale Fire Department, Southmont Fire Department, and a West Hills fire department? Or would there be one?  Would they still need three fire chiefs or just one?

Does the city of Johnstown have a fire chief for the West End, Moxham and Downtown or just one for the whole city? I'm just not well versed on that stuff. 
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Re: Westmont proposal

Post by knowitall »

Volunteer fire companies are separate entities.  Richland used to have three separate companies.  They eventually did merge into one.  Stonycreek Township has two separate companies (Riverside and Oakland).
Southmont Borough has seven elected council persons and an elected mayor.  This is the case for all boroughs in the state (Franklin being an exception).  Southmont has chosen to hire a borough manager.  Its only other paid employees are the borough secretary and its road crew.  Southmont belongs to the West Hills Regional Police Department.  It is a very well run municipality.
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