The loss of Celoron’s highway garage creates a lot of questions that village officials will have to answer quickly as winter approaches.

How quickly can the garage be rebuilt? How much existing equipment can be saved? Can the village get new equipment in time for winter if needed? If the village is sharing equipment with neighboring municipalities can village work still be done on schedule?

Those are all important questions, but we’d like to add one more to the village’s list — is this fire an opportunity for Celoron to share a highway building with a neighbor?

Celoron is a part of the town of Ellicott, which makes the town a potential partner. In terms of proximity Lakewood makes sense. Either way, we wonder if the cost to rebuild the Celoron highway garage makes sense for a small village. Surrounding municipalities have pledged to help Celoron through the loss of its building and equipment. In our view, the debate shouldn’t be when the garage is rebuilt, but if the garage should be rebuilt.