The process to consolidate the township's 9 districts got a fast start last year, but it's had problems.
HAMILTON -- It's been almost a year since Hamilton fire districts started publicly supporting the idea of consolidating the nine districts into one, thereby creating a single, unified firefighting force.
Around the same time, the township firefighters' two unions took the lead and announced a plan to do it: by seeking signatures from residents on petitions that would allow the township council to start public hearings on it.
The township council and Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede pledged support.
No official timetable was announced, but all involved said they were eager for action.
Now, after problems certifying the petitions, and ongoing discussion on the delivery of a state report on Hamilton's fire service, will consolidation happen in 2016?
"Yes," Hamilton Councilman Ed Gore said Tuesday.
Well, he hopes so.
Gore plans to make a request at the next council meeting that the council president scheduled hearings in September. "I am going to start pushing it," he said.
The council president, Illeana Schirmer, could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday, but she's been vocal in moving the effort forward as soon as possible.
Gore reiterated Tuesday that technically, the council could start dissolving districts one at a time, and have them absorbed into an existing district. But council members and firefighters have said they'd like to see it done in a single coordinated effort.
How long will report on Hamilton fire service take?
Mike Kiernan, president of the firefighters rank-and-file union, said Tuesday he and the officers union are little skeptical.
"We don't know if it's going to happen this year," Kiernan said. "We're were not against it (starting in 2016), we just want to make sure when it's done its done correctly for the residents."
"Once it's done, this will be the system the residents will have to deal with the next 100 years," Kiernan said, referencing how Hamilton's current nine district system is nearly a century old.
Kiernan said the unions continue to collection signatures from residents to bolster the number of petitions due to irregularities in voter records discovered by the Hamilton clerk's office during the initial certification process earlier this year.
The unions, joined by Yaede, publicly turned in 2,500 petitions to the clerk in March.
But in May, the township clerk's office said they found nearly 10,000 Hamilton voters are assigned to the wrong fire district in Mercer County's voter database, maintained by the Mercer County Board of Elections, which delayed the process significantly.
Also in the mix is the state study, by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), of Hamilton's fire service, which Yaede sought last year to aid the consolidation process.
The mayor requested it in October and it began in December, with a comprehensive survey sent to all fire districts.
In June, the state said it could be ready by the end of July, this year.
On Tuesday, a DCA spokeswoman said the report is ongoing and those working on it are "reviewing voluminous documentation."
"It is anticipated that this document will be completed and shared with the township toward the end of the summer," the spokeswoman said in an email.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.