Youngstown city leaders are starting the process of determining whether or not the fire department should look at streamlining itself.
Thursday morning, Youngstown’s Board of Control agreed to hire a local architectural firm to design a new central fire station.
Chief John O’Neill said he believes the best option would be to consolidate both Station 1 downtown and Station 7 on the north side near YSU.
He said with a shrinking population, he wants to maintain response times for getting to emergencies while right-sizing the department into the future.
“The financial footing of the city, you know, as the years go on, make it almost common sense. Employee costs are very high and we have to have a department that we can afford into the future without effecting fire service.”