Wednesday’s joint meeting between the Sayre and Athens Borough councils was a good first step in the right direction toward reducing the cost of government for the local taxpayers.
    What impressed us the most was the very spirited discussion on the possibility of consolidating police departments, and the inclusion of South Waverly Borough into this topic.
    Every council member who attended Wednesday’s joint meeting was in favor of moving forward with the process that could eventually lead to the creation of a Valley police department.
    But there are some questions that still remain and some differences that need to be worked on.
    One of the big questions that needs to be answered is whether the consolidation of local police departments will result in reducing costs for the local taxpayers without reducing an essential service.
    Among the differences that need to be worked on include — as many council members from both boroughs stated Wednesday — changing the culture of the municipalities.
    What does that mean? Each municipality has its own police force, which reinforces its own identity. Opponents of police consolidation may state that their specific community would lose their identity if the departments were to merge.
    However, what happens when the cost of providing that identity becomes too much for the local taxpayers to bear? Consolidation is the future. It does not mean that a municipality would lose its identity. South Waverly residents would remain South Waverly residents, Sayre residents would remain Sayre residents and Athens Borough residents would remain Athens Borough residents. Having one police department serving all three communities would not wipe out a specific community. The only way that could happen is if the municipalities merge into one large city, and that is something that will never happen.
    What is being talked about through police consolidation is a way to reduce costs and still provide the same service to local residents. In order to do that, all the government officials from these municipalities must be willing to see it to the end — which means an eventual recommendation as to whether this is feasible or not.
    As we said, we are encouraged by the first steps that this process is taking, and we are very interested to see what comes out of this when the two councils come back to the table in three months to update the public on its process.