By Larry Alexander
Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2007 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
Lancaster, Pa. — Selecting volunteers to sit on an emergency services task force drew lively debate during Monday’s Ephrata Borough Council meeting.
The task force, which will begin deliberations Jan. 24, is charged with looking at how emergency services, primarily Pioneer and Lincoln fire companies and Ephrata Area Rescue Services, operate and cooperate with the borough.
The task force will consist of 11 members. Each of the three services selected one of their members, plus each appointed a nonmember resident. Ephrata Township and Ephrata Borough each selected a representative, with the township choosing its manager Steve Sawyer, and the borough its council president, Mary Schurr.
To fill two of the three remaining three seats, the township and borough each must choose one resident, and then both will jointly choose the third person.
On Monday, council selected Scott Cover, with Connie Flasher as an alternate for the joint borough/township candidate. The township must approve the choice at its Tuesday meeting, as well as select its own resident representative.
Debate arose among borough council over the selection of its resident candidate.
Councilman Robert Good complained that Mayor Ralph Mowen circulated an e-mail among council members last week, casting doubts on the credibility of a man who volunteered for the task force last week. He said the man had 42 years if experience in emergency services, but that Mowen’s e-mail said the man had left the Pioneer Fire Company “under a cloud.”
Good called the e-mail “an attempt to discredit someone before we even had a chance to discuss it.”
“You thought wrong,” Mowen shot back.
Councilman Daryl Horning recommended that, similar to Cover’s selection earlier in the meeting, council select a candidate who “is not in any way involved” with local emergency services in order to get “a level playing field.”
Council selected Dr. Shad Lewis, a newcomer to the borough, who was in attendance Monday.
The task force is the result of a dispute over funding between the rescue company and the two fire companies. The fire companies receive a share of the Fireman’s Relief Fund, which is money the borough gets from the state. The state taxes fire-insurance policies sold to Pennsylvania residents by out-of-state companies and gives the money to fire companies for additional training and equipment.
Ephrata gets more than $75,000 per year; two thirds goes to Pioneer Fire Company, and one-third to Lincoln. Ephrata rescue gets none, but has requested a share.
The fire companies responded with letters to borough council that it would be more cost effective to dissolve Ephrata rescue and for its equipment to be divided between the two fire services. The rescue company’s members, the letters said, could then “apply” to join one of the two fire companies.
To resolve the dispute, council voted to invite Dean Fernsler of the Governor’s Center for Local Government to facilitate a meeting between the three agencies.
Schurr said the end result of the task force will address “how can you best serve the community? What can you do to increase volunteering? What do you need in order to take back some of the fundraising you have to do and put more time into training? How to better run a business.”
Schurr said the task force could be “an ongoing thing” that could last “at least two years.”
In other business, council approved two purchases connected with a rails to trail path. Council will spend $18,076 for 28 benches and 16 trash receptacles, all made of recycled plastic from George Ely Assoc. Inc. of Carlisle. Council will also spend $27,145 for light fixtures and steel poles for the pathway.
Work on the southern portion of the trail from East Fulton Street to the borough line is expected to start in the spring.