After a long and sometimes contentious meeting Friday, with about 50 people jammed into the Antis Township supervisors’ meeting room, Pinecroft Volunteer Fire Company leaders agreed in principle to incorporate the company into Excelsior Fire Department No. 1 of Bellwood — but not before those leaders can hash out a handful of concerns with their Excelsior counterparts.

Pressed by the supervisors to agree at the meeting to a merger in which their company would lose its identity to Excelsior, the Pinecroft leaders resisted, until after a couple breakout sessions they agreed to make a definitive commitment by March.

If Pinecroft doesn’t agree by then, the supervisors may choose the “nuclear option,” said Supervisors’ Chairman George Bell — alluding to decertification of Pinecroft, an option actually listed on Friday’s agenda as the alternative to “merger/consolidation.”

“Pinecroft is agreeable to doing a merger,” said Pinecroft attorney Joseph Addink, referring to a combination in which Pinecroft would disappear into Excelsior. “But they don’t want to be forced to go into an environment that is a hostile takeover” — one in which they feel unwelcome and one that gives the impression that they were the loser in a contest.

If merger is inevitable, Pinecroft would prefer that their members could transfer seamlessly into Excelsior, although Excelsior has a process that calls for criminal and child-safety background checks, then a recommendation by a committee followed by a vote of the membership before new members are admitted.

The issue could be a matter of debate in the coming weeks, according to Brown.

Excelsior leaders, however, are willing to allow for Pinecroft representation on a post-merger executive committee, said Supervisor Steve Winterstein.

The issue of combining the two departments has been discussed for years.

Several years ago, a state study recommended a combination, then about a year ago, a second state study resulted in a similar recommendation to create a single department, for various efficiencies, to save money, to deal with the universal problems of volunteer shortages and to provide better service to the community.

The recommendation was not explicit about whether creation of a single department should mean “merger,” in which one department loses its identity, or “consolidation,” in which both dissolve to create an entirely new entity.

But in discussions that followed the study recommendation, and in the aftermath of an invitation from Excelsior for Pinecroft to come “join” it, the understanding of the parties morphed into the current one — that Pinecroft would lose its identity to Excelsior.

Mergers are legally simpler, faster and much less expensive, according to township Manager Doug Brown.

Moreover, the combination would by no means be a melding of equals, Bell said.

Excelsior has a robust culture, many more active members — 20 to 30 vs. 3 to 8 — and more trained firefighters, while Pinecroft has had issues several years ago with theft, officials indicated.

The supervisors have grown frustrated at the resistance of Pinecroft leadership, reflected in the lack of progress, despite the recommendations of the two studies and the merger invitation many months ago.

“Five years into it, and we’re still talking about it,” Brown said.

Still, the intention is not to dishonor Pinecroft, Bell said.

On the contrary, its members deserve honor for their community service, he said.

There’s been too much of “the Montagues and Capulets,” Bell said, referring to the inter-family animosity that sets the stage for tragedy in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

What’s needed now is trust, Bell said.

Nevertheless, in order to deter possible theft of funds, Pinecroft leaders agreed to turn over access to the company accounts to a trusted third party, at Brown’s insistence.

“So things don’t start to go disappearing,” Brown said.

What needs to disappear is rampant poisonous posting on the internet, according to Excelsior President Jimmy Greene.

“Social media is out of control,” Greene said.

Pinecroft advocates are “slandering” his company with false claims that Excelsior is trying to “destroy Pinecroft,” he said.

“It goes both ways,” said former Pinecroft Chief Caleb Keller, who has since given way to Cody McFarland.

Not so much, according to Greene, who said he’s warned his people not to reciprocate.

It’s critical for the leaders to work together like “adults,” Greene said.

He’s confident that the leaders on both sides now have the proper spirit and that they “get it,” Bell said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.