Forest Hills Council Votes Against Police Study

In a four to three vote, Forest Hills Borough Council Wednesday decided not to pursue a study that would analyze the outcome of

The decision puts an end to a years-long effort for police regionalization led by Councilman Mike Belmonte. Since 2005, Forest Hills has discussed police regionalization with a number of neighboring communities, including Wilkins and Churchill, in addition to Edgewood.

The study council voted against would have been non-binding and funded entirely by the state. Supporters such as Belmonte said Forest Hills may have been able to reduce spending while maintaining the quality of its police services by regionalizing with Edgewood.  

“I am disappointed, for sure,” Belmonte said after the meeting. “We’ve been down this road three times, and there’s always a reason not to do it. We had a partner who was willing to do it, and I felt that letting the peer-to-peer study come back would let us know if it’s a good idea or not.”

Voting against the measure were Council President Frank Porco, Vice President Bill Tomasic and council members Devon Wood and Bill Burleigh, who sat silent with his forehead pressed to the table for about 30 seconds before voicing his vote.

Among concerns they cited, foremost was that Forest Hills does not share a border with Edgewood.

“You need to share contiguous borders with the people you enter into a regionalization study with,” Porco said. “Essentially, while it’s very premature and just a study, it’s still the use of state funds in order to engage that study.”

But Wednesday’s vote doesn’t mean regionalization with neighboring communities is out of the question yet. In fact, the borough will join other communities in a discussion on regionalization hosted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in April.

“I am in favor of regionalization,” Porco said. “I believe that it is, long-term, the way to go about solving some of these challenges that communities like ours face, which are increasing costs and stable, but not increasing revenue stream.”

Wood echoed Porco’s sentiment, adding that she thinks regionalization can be beneficial when multiple communities are involved.

“Since the state budgets have been cut for so many other things ― like education and issues of WIC being cut ― honestly, I just think it’s irresponsible to spend taxpayer money on a study that already looks like it’s just not going to be the right fit, especially since Pitt has been offering to give us money to look at some of these things on a broader basis, and there are more municipalities interested," Wood said. “We just have to pick and choose where we’re going to spend our energies.”

The GSPIA meeting will be a preliminary discussion with other municipalities, Porco said. If Forest Hills finds common interests there, the borough could enter into a formal agreement at a later point.

But if the past is any indicator, regionalization could take years ― if it happens at all.

Having watched his efforts at police regionalization fail for the fourth time in six years, Belmonte expressed frustration after Wednesday’s meeting.

“You can’t fault me for not trying,” he said.

But Belmonte said he thinks most municipalities do see the benefits of regionalization.

“I’m hopeful that the GSPIA thing will be fruitful. I really am,” he said. “We need to share services. It’s a way out of the fiscal distress that most of our communities are facing.”