SADSBURY TOWNSHIP — Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department has shut down its firefighting operations.
Sadsbury Township officials and the Crawford County Department of Public Safety both confirmed to the Tribune the volunteer fire department on the west side of Conneaut Lake shut down fire operations Friday.
The closure won’t affect fire protection in Sadsbury Township, according to both township and Department of Public Safety officials.
Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department's primary service area is the western portion of Sadsbury Township. The volunteer fire department was formed in 1938.
It has been dual-dispatched with Conneaut Lake Volunteer Fire Department on all calls in Sadsbury Township and the borough of Conneaut Lake for many years. The borough volunteer fire department has the southern and eastern portion of Sadsbury Township and the borough of Conneaut Lake.
Summit Township Volunteer Fire Department now will be dual-dispatched with Conneaut Lake Volunteer Fire Department in the event of an emergency, Kevin Nicholson, director of the county’s Department of Public Safety, said Friday.
"We were notified the department would close Jan. 24 or sooner in an email from Sadsbury Township (government)," Nicholson said of an email received Friday. "We then got a call from Chief Dave Chason (of Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department) that the department was out of service."
Chason notified the county at 10:37 a.m. Friday that Conneaut Lake Volunteer Fire Department was out of service, Nicholson said.
Tribune attempts to reach Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department officials for comment about Friday’s shutdown were unsuccessful.
At a meeting two weeks ago between supervisors and the fire department, department officials said the department was going to cease operations, but no firm date was given to supervisors, Lyle Hoovler, chairman of Sadsbury Township Board of Supervisors, told the Tribune.
In June 2019, First National Bank of Pennsylvania filed a commercial mortgage foreclosure action against Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department with Crawford County Court of Common Pleas.
The bank filed the foreclosure to collect more than $400,000 in outstanding loan debt, interest and penalties for the fire department's default on three construction loans. No further action in the foreclosure case had been taken as of Friday, according to court documents.
According to the foreclosure complaint, the fire department failed to make payments on all three mortgages, making the $198,000 loan due in full Feb. 1, 2019, and the $270,900 loan and $200,000 loan due in full on Jan. 1 2019, according to court documents.
In the complaint, the bank demands foreclosure and sale of the property for $382,455.25 for outstanding balances and interest through May 17, 2019, plus additional interest on the three loans from May 17, 2019. The bank wants additional interest of $15.67 per day on the $198,000 loan, $26.39 per day on $270,900 loan and $49.65 per day on the $200,000 loan.
The foreclosure action also seeks attorney fees, late charges and fees and costs of the suit.
While the fire department shut down Friday, Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department's private social club equipped with a restaurant and liquor license adjacent to its fire station still was in operation.
A call to Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department's social club Friday was answered, but the bartender said no department officers or officials were available.
The unidentified bartender confirmed Darrell Miller was president of Conneaut Lake Park Volunteer Fire Department. Multiple Tribune messages left with Miller weren't returned Friday.
Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at [email protected].
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