South Annville discusses athletic event security, volunteer firefighter shortage

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

The South Annville Township Board of Supervisors secured police coverage for athletic events at the Annville-Cleona High School from early August 2025 to August 2026 through an agreement unanimously approved at its July meeting on Wednesday, July 9.

The agreement marks the continuation of a partnership between South Annville and the high school and features a rate of $55 per hour, which was set in 2022 and has been the standing rate since.

Also, the Western Lebanon County Regional Emergency Management Agency is preparing for a leadership transition for its emergency management coordinator, who will retire around the end of 2025. South Annville is waiting to finalize the leadership transition until the police department submits an intermunicipal agreement, which is in the works.

Supervisors unanimously approved the police report for June, which included 269 incidents for South Annville Township and 28 for Western Lebanon County Regional, with 73 dispatched by the county for the township and 21 for Western Lebanon County. It also included a total of 337 hours for South Annville 43 for Western Lebanon County.

The Annville-Cleona Fire Department submitted its annual audit. Supervisors heard from Dustin Sider, a representative of the fire department, regarding its board’s ongoing conversation about its lack of volunteers and the best use of their time, whether that be meeting state requirements for training, managing administrative work, or both.

Sider told supervisors that fire departments across the state are dealing with a lack of volunteers. Since this trend is not anticipated to change anytime soon, Sider said the board is working on ways to retain its volunteers long-term and avoid burning them out.

Read More: Palmyra Borough Council hears report on struggling volunteer fire department

During public comment, supervisors heard from Joshua Kuhn, a Locust Road resident, regarding stormwater structures in the area that he felt performed “extremely poorly” in recent rain events. Kuhn said the stormwater could have only flowed in the amount and at the rate it did by being concentrated and pumped off the property.

Dale Hoover responded that South Annville Township has to adhere to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s rules and regulations. The stormwater structures are part of a construction site for which the DEP approved plans.

Supervisors ultimately offered that Allison Garner of Rettew Associates could take a look at the construction site. Garner’s initial reaction was that there could be changes with the stormwater structures still to come in the construction process. Kuhn expressed that these issues should ideally be addressed before the start of the homebuilding process.

In other news, supervisors unanimously moved to:

• Approve the revised secretary’s report for the June 11 meeting.
• Approve the treasurer’s report for June.
• Approve the engineer’s report, which includes:
  • The start of the Brandt Road culvert replacement project on Monday, July 14. Brandt Road is scheduled to be closed from Monday, July 14, through the morning of Thursday, July 17, depending on weather and other factors. Garner will be on-site to oversee the construction process.
  • The end of the 2024-25 MS4 reporting period on Monday, June 30, and the start of work on the annual report, which will be a joint effort between Garner and township manager Jeanette Henning. Garner is also preparing for the next reporting period.
  • Ninety Seventeen is reimagining its preliminary plan for The Grove Development, a comparatively smaller development than other developments in the township that would require a conditional-use permit.
• Approve the payment of township bills.

South Annville Township is waiting for agreements involving phase three of Candler’s Pointe Development. One hang-up with the agreements is the additional right-of-way along Mount Pleasant Road.

Through a letter, the Lebanon Valley Conservancy thanked the township for its commitment to environmental stewardship and its generous support of the organization.

South Annville Township supervisors meet at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. Meetings are held in the township building at 1042 Horseshoe Pike, which features an ADA-accessible ramp and an on-site parking lot with ADA-accessible spaces, and are open to the public. Next month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 13.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to note that the Western Lebanon County Regional Emergency Management Agency is preparing for a leadership change in its emergency management coordinator position. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the position was with the Western Lebanon County Regional Police Department. We sincerely regret the error.