Annville Twp. board funds workers’ comp for fire department admin to be hired

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Annville Township will pay up to $6,000 per year into a state workers’ compensation fund to cover a new paid administrator to be hired by the Annville-Cleona Fire Department.

The township board of commissioners voted 5-0 to add a new class code for the position, which will be the first paid job at the voluntary fire department, and then voted 5-0 again to allocate up to $6,000 for the worker’s comp to be administered by the Pennsylvania State Workers’ Insurance Fund (SWIF).

Fire Chief Philip Snavely announced the Annville-Cleona Fire Department will hire its first paid employee at the April 6 Cleona Borough Council and April 7 Annville Township board meetings. He said the administrator will handle mostly administrative duties but must be trained as a firefighter to be able to fill in on calls. The job is to be offered with an annual salary of between $68,000 to $72,000, he said.

“Part of the job would be to respond to calls,” Snavely said of the new position, with the “primary function as administrator.”

“Our biggest need right now is help,” he said. “People.”

Workers’ compensation will be administered by SWIF to cover health issues inherent in fighting fires such as cancer risks, said board vice president Henri Lively, who introduced the motions for compensation.

Prior to the board vote on SWIF compensation funding for the new position, Snavely explained why his monthly report on fire department calls for Annville was not yet ready and would continue to come in late until the department finds a new records management system. The current records management system uses free software from the state, he said.

“The free one’s not that good,” Snavely told the board. “I can’t turn them around in a week.”

The fire department reports are due the first Tuesday of the month, when the township board holds its meetings. A new records management system will cost the department about $5,000 a year, he said.

Annville’s Union Hose Company, which merged with Cleona’s fire department in March 2022, is in better financial shape than its partner, Snavely said. Union Hose has just one loan remaining, for one fire truck, while a Cleona department loan was converted to the Annville-Cleona Fire Department after the March 2022 merger, he said.

Annville Township has budgeted $100,000 in its 2026 contribution to the Annville-Cleona Fire Department, with Cleona Borough and South Annville Township splitting another $93,500 in contributions this year, according to Lively.

The volunteer department has other sources of income, including the Union Hose Social Club on Railroad Street in Annville, which brings in about $40,000 a year, Snavely told the board. That number has been on the steady decline over the years he said, with increased competition for its small games of chance and skills from the Hollywood Casino in Grantville and from the burgeoning online betting industry.

In a separate item, responding to complaints of speeding vehicles on Maple Street, Western Lebanon County Regional Police Chief Andrew Winters presented results of a radar study on Maple Street conducted April 2 to 16. The study counted 1,923 of 2,201 westbound vehicles driving the speed limit of 25 mph or less, 188 at 26 mph to 30 mph, 73 at 31 mph to 35 mph, seven at 36 mph to 40 mph, and three at 41 mph to 45 mph.

“So you could’ve written tickets for 10 cars going westbound,” Winters said.

Because local and regional police in Pennsylvania are not allowed to use radar guns, but rather use visual average speed computers and recordings (VASCAR), the 10 miles per hour between the speed limit and the 36-mph level that would trigger tickets covers the margin of error afforded police officers.

Of 2,115 heading east on Maple during the two-week radar study, 1,878 drove 25 mph or below, 161 at 26 mph to 30 mph, 70 at 31 mph to 35 mph, five in the 36 mph to 40 mph range and one driving between 41 mph and 45 mph, Winters said, which means potentially six tickets.

With 16 potential tickets for 4,316 vehicles counted in both directions on Maple, the board does not have many options for taking action, though Winters said that the police department could set up a standalone radar sign, the type that informs drivers of their speed, at regular intervals to slow down traffic.

Also:

• The board voted 4-1 to raise cable user fees paid to the township by customers of Comcast’s Xfinity to 5%, from the current 3%, with commissioner Anthony Perrotto dissenting. The increase will bring in $25,000 in additional revenues to the township, said manager Candie Johnson. From the audience, Lisa Daubert, wife of commissioner Scott Daubert, warned that Xfinity customers must be directed to make sure their bills indicate that user fees go to Annville Township and not another municipality listed on the bill.
• In public comments, Jessica Smith said feral cats are “everywhere” on South Cherry Street near its dead end and called on the township to clear out the population. Other local residents are feeding the cats, which are urinating and deficating all over local properties, she said. Johnson said the township is aware of the problem and is working on a solution.
• The board approved by 5-0 vote for the township to file a lien on 105 N. Lancaster St. for about $9,000 in sewer and trash fees not collected, plus mowing expenses. The property is empty and appears to have been abandoned, Johnson said.
• The board voted 5-0 to approve an Historical Architectural Review Board certificate for new windows at 333 W. Main St.

Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to correct the Comcast vote. An earlier version of this article stated that the vote was 5-0 when it was actually 4-1. We sincerely regret the error.