Cleona Borough Council expresses concern over future of A-C Fire Dept.

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

Recent leadership departures and a shrinking volunteer firefighter roster prompted Cleona Borough Council to question Annville-Cleona Fire Department board president Ryan Flynn on a range of concerns during Monday’s meeting.

“What I am trying to understand is not just the current response out of Cleona, but I want to understand how the response out of Cleona has changed since the merger and specifically looking to compare it to last year,” said council member Tricia Springer. “Looking at the squads current response rate, it’s 27%, only making it to 27% of the calls, which is pretty abysmal. That’s down from 67% in the same exact time period for 2025, looking at the January to April numbers.” 

Springer asked nearly a dozen questions of Flynn, expressing concern over the direction of the department. 

Flynn cited a potential reason for this decline being the number of drivers that once volunteered regularly for the department who are no longer as active. 

“I’ve had personal conversations with a number of Cleona members one-on-one, inviting them to just hear them out and talk to them,” said Flynn. “Some of them aren’t happy with the direction things are going or changes have been made or the way that the department is doing things so they’ve just decided not to respond. I don’t want to speak for every individual because I have not spoken to every individual but I know some other people have different obligations that have taken over that they just can’t respond.” 

Flynn also noted that individuals raised concerns over how the department has made changes to their training. 

“We let individuals who may not have a fire background yet ride a firetruck but not let them do anything when they get to the scene,” said Flynn. He explained that they aim to start building experience in the field sooner. 

Solicitor Colleen Gallo then questioned this training change from a liability standpoint and asked if the department had reached out to the workers’ compensation insurance carrier, as the department is seemingly allowing less-qualified individuals to accompany crews to emergency scenes for observational ride-along experience. 

Flynn said he was uncertain if the carrier was consulted prior to the change.  

Flynn also told council that the department has received more than a dozen applications for the fire administrator position. The application will remain open to June 12 and can be found on the Annville-Cleona Fire Department Facebook page.  

While Springer and Gallo were the only ones to raise questions during Flynn’s report, a few council members made quiet mention later on in the meeting, after hearing the earlier questioning, that they now also have concerns about the department. 

Council scheduled a public meeting for Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. to discuss proposed zoning changes. The draft ordinance is currently under review by the county planning commission, and borough officials are awaiting feedback before moving forward. Residents affected by the proposed map changes will be notified by mail prior to the meeting.

Council then discussed the workers’ compensation invoice for the fire department, which is handled through Annville Township, for 2022-25, which was just recently sent to the borough despite the borough claiming they have been asking for the invoice for years. 

The invoice was for $28,171.60, which reflects what the council owes from 2022-25; however after some adjustments the current invoice sits at $19,706.

“It’s bad business practice and frankly outrageous that they’re trying to bill us back to 2022, and we have repeatedly asked for (the invoices). It’s unreasonable,” said Springer. 

Council will be requesting more documentation from Annville Township from the prior years they are being billed for, including who was covered during each time frame under the workers’ compensation insurance policy. 

In other business, council:

• Held a public hearing on the Comcast cable franchise renewal agreement in which no public comments or questions were made.
• Heard from Mayor Matt Zechman that they are continuing to receive donations for the Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacon project. Zechman said they are considering opening the project to donations from residents, since some have said they would like to help support the project. 

• Heard last updated about the Cleona Celebrates 250, which will be held on June 20 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the park.
• Will begin evaluating options for investing funds to increase borough revenue, with the first step being the drafting of a policy to guide the investment process.
• Approved resolution for Springer and council member Bob Moyer to continue to represent the council at Regional Fire Committee-Steering Committee meetings. 
• Approved school resource officer agreement for July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2029.
• Heard an update from Gallo on the matter of 145 Dairy Road, who said she has filed a reply to the new matter and is waiting to receive what she expects to be the case management conference schedule. 
• Approved to pay bills. Council member Bob Moyer abstained from voting. 

Cleona Borough Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 6, at 7 p.m., at the Cleona Borough Building, 140 W. Walnut St. Meetings are open to the public.