Brookfield trustees agreed Thursday to participate in a study to explore the possibility of establishing a southeast water district.

Consumers Ohio Water Co. offered to lower county water rates and pay off a $700,000 debt on Brookfield's new water tower in exchange for a 20-year agreement to operate and maintain Trumbull County's water system.

Under the proposal, customers in Brookfield, Hubbard, Liberty, Vienna and Howland would see a 7.5 percent rate reduction, which would be in effect until 2006.

However, county commissioners and county sanitary engineer Thomas Halloway are still studying the proposal,, which was made to them in September. There is a possibility commissioners could turn down the offer.

Mark S. Finamore, Brookfield's attorney, said Liberty Township administrators want to explore other alternatives just in case county commissioners decide against Consumers' proposal.

The southeast townships would have included Brookfield, Hubbard, Liberty, Vienna and Howland. However, trustees in Vienna and Howland don't plan to participate in the study since almost all of the customers in those two townships already have water.

Brookfield, Hubbard and Liberty, however, plan to go ahead and find out what contract consultant John Albers of the Albers and Albers law firm in Columbus has to say. Albers specializes in creating water districts, Finamore said. It will cost $1,600, or about $500 for each township, to participate in the study.

"This is another alternative ... and we owe it to the people in the township to see what we can do," trustee Phil Schmidt said during the meeting.

Preliminary discussions with Albers will begin in the next 30 days, Finamore said.

After preliminary discussions, the three townships will have the option to do a feasibility study to explore costs. Next, if entities are willing to pay costs, the township could file a petition with Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for the judges to decide whether the project would benefit the community.

Once that is established, several other options can be explored by the townships, including whether to contract with other districts, float individual bonds or enter into a contract with Consumers themselves, Finamore said.

If a water district is created, trustees would have to appoint a board to run the water district.