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A twice-yearly fundraising opportunity for Mount Zion Fire Company is in jeopardy due to concerns about insurance coverage for personnel at events without direct ties to the fire service.
A discussion about whether Bethel Township has insurance coverage for first responders at non-duty or non-fire company-sponsored events was held at the supervisors meeting on Sept. 18.
A special duty request for the company’s fire police to provide traffic control at the Lebanon Valley Livestock Auction on Oct. 17-18 died at Thursday’s meeting due to a lack of a second on the motion made by supervisor Bruce Light.
Bethel Township chairman Richard Rudy tabled the motion once he didn’t second it. The township’s third supervisor, Michael Saphore, did not attend the meeting.
Dave Brubaker, owner of Lebanon Valley Livestock Auction, said the fire police have provided on-site traffic control for about five years.
“They come in there Friday nights and set up cones, put their boots around wherever we sell stuff, so that people put donations in up until the end of the day on Saturday,” Brubaker said. “I write him a check and they get 10 percent of whatever we sell in the ice cream stand, but a minimum of $1,500. So if it’s a rainy day and they don’t make 1,500, I match it. It’s a fundraiser we do for them twice a year.”
Brubaker added that the events are always the third Saturdays in April and October, adding that’s the only occasions the fundraiser occur at the auction. “They’re not on the road. They’re all on my property and they just park the cars, keep the chaos (down.) That’s what they do,” he said.
Rudy said he spoke with the township’s insurance agent because there are concerns about liability under the municipality’s policy.
“In talking to our insurance agent, the question always comes to be if different insurance companies look at this in different fashions. Number one, is it a fire company sponsored event? Or is it a private event? He gave me examples just yesterday where some claims have been denied,” Rudy said. “As I was told by an insurance agent, if something happens and our workman’s comp carrier does not cover them, then we as township officials have got to pay the bill. And it’s not that we don’t want to do it (support the fundraiser). It’s the system we live in these days.”
Rudy emphasized several times that he wants to support the fire police’s fundraising efforts, but also has a duty to limit the municipality’s liability.
“It’s not about it being a bad thing. I think it’s a very good thing myself. But as they say many times, we now live in the world of the legalists,” he said. “I just want to make sure as a sitting supervisor. I am not putting our municipality in the position of liability. Fire police are not private cops. Fire police are special duty for accidents and things of that nature under an emergency situation.”
Light said he supports providing the service to auction events since the supervisors approve the fire police to assist funeral services and such events as Hinkelfest, which is a non-fire company event. Rudy noted that Hinkelfest is covered by their insurance policy because that event occurs at Fireman’s Park, which is owned by the Fredericksburg Fire Company. Mount Zion and Fredericksburg are the two fire companies within Bethel Township.
Light suggested finding another insurance carrier to provide coverage but was told by Rudy that the only method for volunteer fire companies to get insurance is through the commonwealth.
After the motion died, Rudy encouraged Brubaker, without providing any additional context, to have his request put on the township’s October agenda for consideration.
Fire company receives state grant
In a separate matter involving Fredericksburg Fire Company, supervisors voted to accept the statewide local share assessment grant totaling $30,342.
Other board actions
Supervisors also unanimously voted to:
- Announce that Oct. 23 is Trunk or Treat in the township from 5 to 7 p.m., and Oct. 31 is Trick-or-Treat from 6 to 8 p.m. That is the set time for all municipalities in Lebanon County to hold their Trick-or-Treat festivities.
- Approve the financial report as presented, and pay monthly invoices.
- Accept a letter of resignation from Beverly Martel from the planning commission. Residents interested in serving on the commission should submit their names to the township for consideration, and the township secretary was authorized to place ads for the position.
- Grant a time extension to Nov. 14 for the Bell & Evans Transportation Center.
- Grant a time extension to Dec. 30 to Dew Mist Farms for their land development plan.
- Grant a time extension to Nov. 21 to the Lebanon Solar 22 Project on School Drive near the Northern Lebanon High School complex.
- Grant a time extension to Dec. 12 to Jeff Brubaker, 2288 S. Pine Grove St., Fredericksburg, for a construction project.
- Grant a number of waiver requests to Michele Grumbine Ag Operation, 520 Beagle Road, Myerstown. Waivers include one for the plan to be submitted as preliminary/final, and installation of a required curbside and street light system. In a separate item, they voted to grant a time extension request for a poultry farm project to Jan. 18.
- Accept the planning waiver and non-binding declaration for the County of Lebanon’s communication tower site on Fredericksburg Road near Chestnut Hill Road.
- Name CPAs Garcia Garman & Shea PC to perform the township’s 2025 audit.
- Attend the 2025 Lebanon County Municipal Officials convention on Oct. 7 at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center and Fairgrounds. The invite was extended to supervisors and office personnel.
- Provide the 2026 minimum municipal obligation for the pension plan totaling $46,288.
- Table the purchase of a back-up camera for the township skid loader.
Following adjournment, supervisors went into executive session to discuss personnel matters.
Next meeting
The next meeting of Bethel Township supervisors is at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, at 3015 S. Pine Grove St., Fredericksburg.
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