ZELIENOPLE — Borough Council voted unanimously during a meeting Monday, Aug. 26, to participate in an intergovernmental emergency medical services study.

The borough became the eighth municipality in the area to join the study after being asked to do so by the leaders of Cranberry Township.

Finding and distributing funding for EMS services has been a recurring issue of late for many departments across the state of Pennsylvania.

The study will seek to uncover the root causes of the issues and what can be done to improve EMS services within the range of each department’s financial capabilities.

“(Butler County Commissioner) Kevin Boozel has been doing a great job at the county level to try to help this in the northern part of the county,” said borough manager Andrew Spencer. “Some of this was born, I think, with Cranberry’s intent to say, “Well, let’s see if we can come up with an answer in the southwestern part of the county.”

Spencer said county commissioners have agreed to fund 80% of the cost of the study. Each municipality involved will put $1,200 toward the study.

“Their (the commissioners) hope is that they get some sort of a model out of this that maybe they can take and maybe apply to the other areas of Butler County,” Spencer said. “That’s their interest in doing this.”

There is no time frame on the study. Spencer estimated a similar recent fire department study took about a year and a half to complete.

“It is an extended period of time, but it’s a lot of information they gather within that amount of time,” added Spencer.

This story was updated at 2 p.m. on Aug. 28 to reflect that Zelienople Borough was asked to join the survey by the leaders of Cranberry Township. A previous version of this story incorrectly said that Cranberry Township EMS had asked the borough to participate.