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North Londonderry Township officials agreed Wednesday, April 1, to sign a letter of understanding with the commonwealth to be one of six municipal governments in Lebanon County to participate in a fire services study.
The scope of the study includes examining the sufficiency of the various municipalities’ fire services. The other participating municipalities are East Hanover, South Londonderry, and Union townships, and Jonestown and Palmyra boroughs.
The Scope of Work document notes that “the goal of this project is to identify the current level of fire services, compare them to state and national best practices (National Fire Protection Association, Insurance Services Office, etc.), and provide actionable recommendations to the participating fire companies and municipalities to get them closer to meeting those standards in a cost-conscious way.”
Local municipal officials will meet up to six times with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and there will potentially be two meetings with members of the public.
Township manager Mike Booth said the letter was requested given that there are other municipalities involved in the project.
“Since we are participating in a fire study with a number of other municipalities, they’re requesting a letter of understanding which basically establishes the terms under DCED that we agree to,” Booth said. “And the scope of the study.”
Booth said a meeting with township officials and DCED was being held in mid-April to discuss questions the municipality has about the project. Booth responded no when asked if neighboring Palmyra Borough officials should be included.
This service is provided by the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services to support emergency services/governmental operations studies and guidance for Pennsylvania communities.
The local fire companies involved in the project as noted in the Scope of Work document are Campbelltown, Citizens, Lawn, North Annville, and Northern Lebanon Fire & Emergency Services.
The special session held during the day was part of the township’s semi-annual road meeting to, in part, discuss township municipal services and to conduct other business, such as approval of the fire study agreement.
A part of this meeting allows supervisors to go out and inspect township roadways, but township roadmaster John Dubbs informed the board that repairs were going to be routine this year, meaning no action would be required by supervisors this spring.
During his report, Dubbs was asked about the use of salt to treat roadways during winter storms and how usage compares over time. His report noted there were 13 actionable winter storms this year with a total of 407 tons of salt, 94 gallons of geomelt, and 33,506 gallons of brine used this season to treat roadways.
“Our salt usage is actually down. I believe that’s because of the pre-treating and pre-wetting we’re doing with salt brine. I feel in addition to saving salt, we’re also increasing the level of service over the winter. Our roads are burning off faster by using that,” Dubbs said. “So it’s less material and a better end result. There’s a trade-off with more labor. But I think the residents are in a better position because we’re using salt brine instead of just salt.”
He added that salt and brine stay on the roadway as opposed to using rock salt only, which tends to get moved off the roadway and provides less coverage.
His report also stated that the township’s spring leaf collection occurred from March 23 to April 2 and that street sweeping will run from April through September through a cooperative agreement with Palmyra Borough to provide the service. One week includes an exchange of services and the other five weeks will be contracted and paid to Palmyra at a rate of $3,000 per week.
Other township business
In other business, supervisors voted unanimously to:
- Accept the assistant manager’s report, which included the announcement that the Department of Environmental Protection will conduct an audit of the township’s MS4 program, which involves stormwater management.
- Accept the wastewater treatmetnt plant superintendent’s report, which included a list of ongoing maintenance and upgrades being performed on the facility.
- Name supervisor James E. Hartman as the voting delegate to the upcoming state convention of township officials.
- Approve the minutes of their March 16 meeting.
The next meeting of North Londonderry Township supervisors is on Monday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in the township municipal building, 655 East Ridge Road, Palmyra.
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