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East Manchester board reviews DCED fire‑services survey, weighs governance and a township fire chief
Summary
Board members heard DCED survey results pointing to governance, funding and volunteer‑recruitment problems and discussed next steps including forming a working group and the possibility of a township fire chief; a follow‑up session is set for July 22 (not open to the public).
Christie, the township manager, summarized a June 16 presentation by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) that reviewed a stakeholder survey of fire services across East Manchester Township, Manchester Borough and Mount Wolf Borough. DCED identified recurring challenges including governance, communication, volunteer recruitment, funding, accountability and equipment replacement.
"The presentation also recommended creating a fire or a township fire chief position to provide strategic leadership," Christie said, describing DCED's suggested steps: a formal governance framework, regular coordinated meetings, performance measures and an evaluation of operational integration opportunities using objective criteria. Christie said follow‑up meetings will include municipal representatives and both volunteer fire departments and that the township will send one supervisor and administrative staff as appropriate.
Board members discussed options the study laid out: continued interagency cooperation, stronger township‑level leadership of coordination, or designating and funding a single department as the primary provider while retaining mutual‑aid arrangements. The chair said the township would prefer to preserve volunteer service where feasible but must plan for long‑term sustainability.
"We are not migrating to a professional department. We want to maintain our volunteer [force] as much as possible," the chair said, adding that the township cannot afford both a $1,000,000 police budget and another $1,000,000 fire budget.
Supervisors agreed to a smaller follow‑up working‑group meeting to monitor progress and determine additional steps; the chair said Dean will represent the supervisors at a July 22 meeting that is not open to the public. Christie and other board members noted the DCED study was provided at no cost to the municipalities and that the board should evaluate options before the next budget cycle to identify funding needs.
Next steps: the township will participate in working‑group sessions to track implementation of DCED recommendations and will revisit resource and governance options before its budget deliberations.
