To many residents and officials, Butler County has it all. But Kevin Boozel decided one thing was missing.

Boozel, a county commissioner and Harrisville Volunteer Fire Department firefighter, realized there is no memorial for police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel countywide who have died in the line of duty. So being the type of individual to act on his convictions, Boozel formed a committee last year and went to work.

His idea was to build a picnic pavilion that could be used for free by first responders and to add a first responder memorial that would display the names of county responders who sacrificed their lives while performing their jobs.

Boozel enlisted the help of retired Adams Township Police Chief Bill Westerman, former Butler Township Volunteer Fire District Chief Greg Haughey, and paramedic crew chief Teak Baker of Cranberry Township EMS in forming the committee.

He then approached Butler AM Rotary President Steven Green to ask if the nonprofit organization could manage the donation and corporate sponsorship side of the project.

“When the Rotary accepted the project, they automatically became committee members,” Boozel said.

After scouting a handful of locations throughout the county and then via many meetings with Lance Welliver, the county parks and recreation director, it finally was decided that the pavilion and a large memorial stone will be placed at the location of Holly Pavilion in Alameda Park.

“I'm very dedicated to this,” Boozel said. “The state police keep really good records, but they are the only ones I know of who keep that information. EMS, fire and local police have never had a memorial like this in Butler County.”

Boozel got the idea for the project before he was a commissioner, when a young firefighter he knew and admired died as a result of burns he had suffered while responding to a call.

“Then I was put into a position to make it happen, so I wanted to take advantage of it and move it forward,” Boozel said of being elected a county commissioner.

The county commissioners approved the project at their Sept. 30 meeting, where Boozel's fellow commissioners voiced their approval of the pavilion and memorial stone.

“It's a great collaborative effort,” said Commissioner Kim Geyer.

Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, praised Boozel for his work to make the idea a reality for the county.

“We are glad to see it come to fruition,” Osche said.

Welliver told the commissioners that the Holly Pavilion will be torn down and replaced with the new First Responders Pavilion, which will double the capacity of the 75-person Holly shelter.

Green said the project will cost $100,000 for both the pavilion and memorial stone.

He said the AM Rotary members were enthusiastic about the project and thrilled to be included in it.

“We felt it was an opportunity to celebrate the sacrifice of our first responders and to honor the first responders our county has lost,” Green said.

All first responders and their families will be allowed to use the pavilion at no cost, Boozel said.

Green said the new pavilion will come in a kit that will be fairly easy to erect.

“We'll have all kinds of volunteer groups (working on the pavilion), and Kevin has a carpenter's union interested in helping us as well as other associations,” Green said.

He said the committee's agreement with Welliver requires the pavilion to be completed by the next summer season, so demolition of the Holly Pavilion and construction of the new version should take place in March or April.

Green said Herbert, Rowland and Grubic have donated engineering services to design the stone, which will have secure brass plates with the names of each deceased first responder.

The memorial stone is slated to be completed with name plates in the spring of 2022.

Boozel said only first responders who died on the job or at an emergency scene while in service will have their names on the stone.

While he has a handful of names in mind, including the late Saxonburg Police Chief Greg Adams, who was killed at a traffic stop in December 1980 by Donald Eugene Webb, Boozel said the committee will soon ask for names from citizens whose relatives or ancestors were killed in Butler County in the line of duty.

Haughey, who also served for many years as an instructor at the State Fire Academy at Butler County Community College, said the committee considered placing the memorial stone at the Butler 911 Center or BC3, but a limited number of residents would see the stone in those locations.

“Then, we looked at Alameda Park, and that really is a great place to put it,” Haughey said.

He agrees that the memorial is long overdue in Butler County.

“Here we have a group of people who died in this service to the community,” Haughey said.

Westerman, who was a police officer in Evans City when Adams was killed and was acquainted with the late chief, said the event “shook everybody up.”

“This is something that the police face every day,” Westerman said of the danger associated with law enforcement. “People don't realize that, what they're getting into.”

Westerman has seen suicides and taken guns from young men in hoodies during his long career in Southwestern Butler County.

“People think you're out there in the country, so that kind of stuff is not going to happen, but it's here,” he said.

He is thrilled to be associated with a project that will publicly honor the men and women who gave all while serving their neighbors.

“These people need to be recognized,” Westerman said. “It's something that needs to be done.”

Those who know a candidate for the First Responders Memorial Stone can contact Commissioner Kevin Boozel at 724-284-5106 during business hours.