N. Annville Twp. supervisors look to rehire Cleona Borough for police services

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

North Annville Township supervisors unanimously voted Sept. 8 to move towards renewing a three-year contact for full police services with Cleona Borough Police Department.

The proposed cost to the township is $102,000 in 2026, and the contract will contain annual increases over its life of $6,000 each subsequent year, meaning Cleona Borough will be paid $108,000 in 2027 and $114,000 in 2028, under the tentative agreement. 

When board chairman Clyde Meyer asked his fellow supervisors if they had any concerns with the new proposal, board treasurer Adam Wolfe said he was in favor of it because it mirrors the current agreement, including the amount paid for past annual increases.

Supervisor Aaron Miller said he crunched the numbers for the proposed contract and all associated costs related to having their own police department, adding that the two figures are about the same.

A township resident asked if the $6,000 increases were mostly for officer salaries and the supervisors admitted they didn’t know how the money is disbursed since Cleona Borough officials are responsible for hiring and other personnel matters related to their police department.

North Annville Township solicitor Paul Bametzreider responded that in fact the contract specifically states that township officials have no authority over Cleona’s police force.

In response to the question that was asked, Miller hazarded a guess that the increase was most likely to cover other costs like fuel, vehicle maintenance and new tires. He noted that the cost of tires has increased over the past few years. 

Township resident James Hoffman Sr. asked what specific services municipal residents were getting since Cleona offers a menu of services to other municipalities in the northern section of Lebanon County. 

Officer David McDermott said Cleona contracts with North Annville and Union townships for full police services and provides just traffic enforcement for Jonestown Borough and Swatara Township. 

When asked by Meyer, Bametzreider said the supervisors could wait until another meeting to take a vote, but if they did take action on the proposal, then he would contact his counterpart at Cleona Borough to create an addendum as part of a new agreement.

The vote by supervisors was to have Cleona Borough create the new agreement and submit it to North Annville for a vote by supervisors at a future meeting. 

Fire company merger

Bametzreider noted during the report of the Emergency Services Advisory Committee, which was responsible for the merger of Bellegrove and Union Water Works fire companies last year, that the filing of a portion of the final paperwork has hit a snag. 

The snag involves missing documentation that the mortgage associated with the Union Water Works Fire Company’s building has been satisfied with the bank that provided the loan. 

“I would just mention that as far as the merger into the North Anvil Fire Company, we have prepared the deeds to transfer the real property of Union Water Works and Bellegrove into the North Annville Fire Company, which is one of the final steps that needs to happen,” Bametzreider said. “We have hit a snag as far as the Union Water Works goes because there’s an old mortgage, which I assume has been satisfied and paid off probably decades ago, but it was never satisfied by the bank.”

Bametzreider noted the original mortgage was with Farmers Trust Bank, which he said to residents lets them know how old it is because that bank has undergone several mergers/name changes over the years. Farmers became Lebanon Valley Farmers and is currently Fulton Bank, he said. 

He asked Hoffman, who was department chief at Union Water Works Fire Company, to provide a contact for Fulton Bank and then he’d reach out to that official to satisfy the deed so it can be transferred to North Annville Fire Company. 

Bametzreider explained after the meeting that mortgage satisfaction will ensure there are no outstanding liens against the Union Water Works property, which is a requirement before that fire company’s assets can officially be transferred to the new fire company, which was created through the merger last year and became effective on Jan. 1.

Read More: Bellegrove and Union Water Works merge on Jan. 1 into N. Annville Fire Department

After the meeting Bametzreider also told LebTown the merger is still official and this item concerns tying up loose ends for the official transfer of existing assets to the new company.

Other business

In other business, supervisors unanimously voted to:

• Hire Hackman Paving, Newmanstown, for $25,833 to pave the Bellegrove Fire Company parking lot. Construction costs for the project are being financed by a state grant, meaning the work will come at no cost to municipal taxpayers.
• Award the township road line painting contract to low bidder Lincoln Pavement Services of Denver, Lancaster County, for $16,383.63. The other two bids submitted for this project were for $18,150.74 and $18,215.20.
• Table a discussion of a zoning-related matter on Syner Road until a future meeting.
• Accept the August fire company report, which included 10 incidents for the month. Those calls were for four fire-related matters, five EMS dispatches and one for fire police. There were 13 non-emergency activities, two training sessions, six administrative duties, three vehicle maintenance, and two meetings. There have been 324 non-emergency incidents and 136 emergency incidents for the year through August.
• Read and pay the monthly bills. 
• Approve the Aug. 11 meeting minutes and treasurer’s report.  

North Annville Township supervisors meet the second Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Union Water Works social hall, 2875 Water Works Way, Annville.