[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Springettsbury 3-8-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-04 (Ch.
1, Part 8, of the 2003 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
Purpose. The Springettsbury Township Fire Department
has heretofore been established as an administrative division of the
Township under the direction and control of the Township Fire Chief.
The Fire Chief is charged with the authority and responsibility of
supervising and directing all paid and volunteer fire, rescue and
emergency medical personnel of the Township and with the duty of maintaining
liaison between the two volunteer fire companies serving the Township.
(1)
Springetts Fire Company No. 1 (Springetts Fire) and
Commonwealth Fire Company No 1. (Commonwealth Fire) are officially
recognized volunteer fire companies located and providing fire protection,
fire police service and related emergency services in and for the
Township. Springetts Fire and Commonwealth Fire are sometimes hereinafter
referred to collectively as the "fire companies."
(2)
Each of the fire companies is a nonprofit corporation
organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The fire companies own their respective fire stations and all of the
emergency service vehicles and equipment used for fire protection
within the Township. The Township provides substantial monetary support
to the fire companies for the acquisition, operation and maintenance
of emergency service equipment and the housing of such equipment in
the form of annual appropriations from a special tax and the Township's
general fund.
(3)
The Township and the fire companies have agreed to
the formation of a new volunteer fire company for, inter alia, the
purpose of providing fire and rescue services in and for the Township.
The members of the existing fire companies will automatically become
members of the new company and the existing companies shall continue
to exist as subsidiaries of the new company.
(4)
The manpower to operate and maintain the emergency
service equipment and housing is provided in substantial part by paid
professional personnel who are employees of the Township supplemented
by a declining pool of volunteers furnished by the fire companies.
The Township deems it to be in the essential public interest of its
residents that the decline in the number of volunteer firefighters
and support personnel be arrested and reversed and that the most feasible
means of doing so is to integrate the new volunteer fire company into
the Fire Department.
(5)
It is the purpose of this chapter is to integrate,
unify and reorganize the fire service of the Township by incorporation
of a new volunteer fire company and establishing an administrative
agency of the Township to be known as the “Springettsbury Township
Department of Fire and Rescue Services (Department)” with authority
and responsibility for the operation and administration of all fire,
rescue and emergency medical services within the Township whether
performed by paid personnel or volunteers.
A.
Establishment of Department. The Department is hereby
established and reestablished as an administrative agency of the Township
with direct responsibility for providing the following specified emergency
response and support services in and for the Township and its residents:
(1)
Emergency response services, including, but not limited
to, the control, suppression and extinguishment of fires, search and
rescue for persons necessitated by man-made or natural disaster or
accidents, the isolation and containment of hazardous materials and
substances, rendering of assistance to other emergency service providers
and generally to provide for the protection and safety of persons
and property within the Township.
(2)
Emergency medical response services, including, but
not limited to, basic life support services for persons requiring
emergency medical care and management of illness or injury and ambulance
or transportation service for such persons to a hospital or other
health care facility.
(3)
Coordination with and providing assistance to federal,
state, county and local emergency management agencies and authorities.
(4)
Non-emergency public services to or for the use of
persons and property within the Township.
(5)
Conduct of and participation in training activities
and drills, whether inside or outside of the Township, as may be deemed
necessary or desirable for maintaining proficiency in providing fire
protection and emergency medical response services.
(6)
Response to emergency calls outside the boundaries
of the Township, but within a reasonable service area of the fire
company or ambulance service responding, or response to or for any
municipality which has entered into a mutual aid agreement with the
Township.
(7)
Such other services not inconsistent with the mission
of the Department which the Board of Supervisors of the Township or
the Township Manager may, from time to time, direct.
B.
Organization of Department. The Department shall be
composed of the following designated entities and persons with the
powers, duties and responsibilities specified or assigned to them
in subsequent sections of this chapter:
(1)
Volunteer Fire Company. Springettsbury Township Volunteer
Fire Company as the officially recognized volunteer fire company in
and for the Township, together with its two subsidiary companies,
Springetts Fire Company No. 1 and Commonwealth Fire Company No. 1.
(2)
Office of Fire Chief. The Township Fire Chief, Deputy
Fire Chief and such administrative staffing as the Board of Supervisors
shall, from time to time, approve.
(3)
Emergency response personnel. Persons engaged as employees
of the Township and persons volunteering their services to the Township
through the volunteer fire company or otherwise.
A.
Recognition of new fire company. The Township hereby
extends official recognition to Springettsbury Township Volunteer
Fire Company as the fire company authorized to perform emergency fire
and rescue services in and for Springettsbury Township. Springetts
Fire Company No. 1 and Commonwealth Fire Company No. 1 shall continue
to be recognized as subsidiaries of the new company.
B.
Organization of fire company. Official recognition
of the fire company is premised and conditioned upon the following:
(1)
Establishing and maintaining its existence as a nonprofit
corporation in good standing under the laws of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
(3)
Operating and conducting the business of the fire
company in accordance with such bylaws, as may properly be amended,
from time to time, as set forth therein.
(4)
Recognition and acceptance of the Township Fire Chief
as the Chief Administrative and Operational Officer of the Department.
A.
Fire Chief. The Fire Chief of the Township shall be
an individual engaged by the Township Manager and named to that position
by the Board of Supervisors. The Fire Chief shall be the Chief Administrative
and Operational Officer of the Department responsible for directing
and administering all of the services of the Department and subordinate
only to the Township's Manager to whom he or she shall report. The
authority, duties and responsibilities of the Fire Chief shall include,
but need not be limited to:
(1)
The training, supervision, direction and control of
all subordinate Department personnel in the performance of such personnel's
assigned duties and responsibilities.
(2)
The training, supervision, direction and control of members of the volunteer fire company while engaged in the performance of any of the services and activities specified in § 19-2A of this chapter or reasonably incidental thereto.
(3)
The training, supervision, direction and control of
Township residents who are not members of the volunteer fire company,
but who volunteer their services in any capacity to the Department.
(4)
The recruitment of volunteer personnel and the development
and implementation of programs for keeping and maintaining volunteer
participation.
(5)
The promulgation of rules and regulations for the
administration and operation of the Department, including the conduct
of all personnel, which shall have the same force and effect as if
set forth at length in this chapter. All personnel shall be afforded
due process in connection with any disciplinary actions undertaken
within the Department.
(6)
Preparation of an annual operating budget for the Department, including capital expenditures for buildings and/or equipment proposed for the current budget year as provide in § 19-6 of this chapter. For this purpose the Fire Chief shall have full and complete access to the financial statements and records of the fire company.
(7)
Preparation of a long range capital budget with annual updates as provided in § 19-6 of this chapter.
(8)
The supervision, direction and control of all moneys
expended by the Department for emergency service activities.
(9)
Preparation of an Emergency Service Plan for the Township as provided in § 19-6 of this chapter.
(10)
Assist the Township Manager in labor negotiations
and employer/employee relations respecting Department employees.
(11)
Maintain liaison between the Township and the fire
company.
(12)
Such other duties and responsibilities as shall, from
time to time, be assigned by the Township Manager.
B.
Deputy Fire Chief. The Deputy Fire Chief of the Township
shall be an individual engaged by the Township Manager and named to
that position by the Board of Supervisors. The authority, duties and
responsibilities of the Deputy Fire Chief shall include, but need
not be limited to:
C.
Station Fire Chiefs. The Station Fire Chiefs shall be elected by the Fire Company pursuant to its bylaws and will possess such qualification as established from time to time by the Fire Chief and be subject to his approval. When the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief are absent from the Township or are for any reason at any time unable to perform their duties and responsibilities, the Station Chiefs shall exercise the authority and perform the duties and responsibilities of the Fire Chief as specified in Subsection A.
A.
Qualifications. No person shall be engaged or be permitted
to act as an emergency response employee or as a volunteer for the
performance of emergency response services unless such person shall
have first obtained such certification or certifications as shall
be established by state or federal law or by the Fire Chief for the
performance of the duties and responsibilities of the position occupied
or assumed.
B.
Fitness, education and training. All persons engaged
as an employer or acting as a volunteer for the performance of emergency
response services shall demonstrate physical fitness for the position
sought or held, shall obtain such level of education and continuing
education and such level of training and continuing training as the
Fire Chief shall, from time to time, prescribe. Any person who fails
any fitness qualifications or fails or refuses to obtain such education
or training shall be removed from his or her position as an emergency
responder.
C.
Organizational structure. The Fire Chief, with the
approval of the Board of Supervisors, may establish an organizational
structure for the Department, the Fire Company Station Chiefs and
any Assistant Chiefs and the emergency response personnel, employees
and volunteers, under his direction and control. Any such reorganization
shall include an organization chart which:
(1)
Designates a rank or title for each classification
of employee or volunteer.
(2)
The certification, qualifications, education, training
or experience required to attain such rank or title.
(3)
The authority, duties and responsibilities of each
rank or title.
(4)
The number of positions proposed for each rank or
title.
(5)
Compensation differentials, if any, between each rank
or title.
D.
Simultaneously with submitting any proposed reorganization
structure to the Board of Supervisors, if the plan affects the position
of any volunteer, it shall also be submitted to the Board of Directors
of the Fire Company for its review, comment and recommendation and
or reorganization shall be implemented unless and until it has been
discussed and/or negotiated with the appropriate collective bargaining
units.
A.
Operating budget. On or before October 1 of each year,
the Fire Chief shall prepare an operating budget for the emergency
service activities of the Department for the succeeding calendar year.
Such budget shall incorporate the budget of the Fire Company and shall
include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(1)
The source and amount of all revenue anticipated to
be available to the Fire Company and the Department during the fiscal
year, including, but not limited to:
(a)
Any unexpended balances from the preceding year.
(b)
All revenue earned on investments held by the Fire
Company or Department.
(c)
All revenues earned or received for or on account
of having rendered any emergency service.
(d)
All revenues donated to the Fire Company or the Department
or earned or received from fundraising activities.
(e)
The amount requested by the Fire Company for appropriation
by the Township.
(f)
Any amount proposed to be borrowed by the Fire Company
or the Township.
(2)
The purpose and amount of all expenditures anticipated
to be made by the Fire Company and the Department during the fiscal
year, including, but not limited to:
(a)
General operating costs of the Fire Company and Department,
including administration expenses, wages and salaries, fuel, utilities,
fire police expense and the purchase of materials and supplies.
(b)
Maintenance and repair costs for land, buildings and
equipment.
(c)
Debt service on borrowed funds.
(d)
Proposed capital expenditures for the acquisition
or renovation of land, buildings or equipment.
(e)
Transfers to a reserve fund for future capital expenditures
as projected in the Department's Long Range Capital Spending Plan.
(3)
No monies belonging or appropriated by the Township
to the Fire Company shall be used to pay the wages, salaries or benefits
of any emergency response personnel employed by the Township.
B.
Financial records. The Treasurer shall submit or cause
to be submitted a copy of his monthly report to the Fire Chief. The
Fire Company shall annually submit its financial records for the preceding
fiscal year to the certified public accountant or firm of certified
public accountants appointed by the Board of Supervisors to audit
the Township's financial records. Such audit shall be performed at
the Township's sole expense.
A.
Inventory of capital equipment. Within six months
after the effective date of this chapter, the Fire Chief and the Board
of Directors of the Fire Company shall prepare an inventory of all
capital emergency equipment owned, leased or used by the Fire Company
in connection with its emergency service activities. Such inventory
shall, inter alia, note the age, condition and degree of obsolescence
attributable to each item of equipment.
B.
Building assessment. Within six months after the effective
date of this chapter, the Fire Chief and the Board of Directors of
the Fire Company shall survey and inspect the buildings or parts of
buildings owned, used or occupied by the Fire Company for the housing
of all emergency service equipment, apparatus, materials and supplies
and prepare an assessment report which shall document, inter alia,
the age, condition and degree of obsolescence of each structure, the
adequacy of the same for housing and maintaining emergency service
equipment, accommodating emergency service personnel and providing
office space or other support facilities required for emergency service
operation.
C.
Fire service plan. The Fire Chief and the Long Range
Planning Committee of the Fire Company shall within two years after
the effective date of this chapter, prepare or cause to be prepared
a plan for addressing the existing and future fire service needs of
the Township. Such plan should project such needs for a period of
not less than 10 years and propose an implementation schedule. Resources
for the preparation of the plan shall be the Springettsbury Township
Comprehensive Plans adopted April 12, 1990, as amended and updated,
the Analysis of Fire Service of Springettsbury Township, dated December
31, 1991, prepared by the Pennsylvania Economy League, Inc., and such
professional consultant as the Fire Chief shall elect to engage with
the approval of the Board of Supervisors of the Township and the Board
of Directors of the Fire Company. Upon approval by the Board of Supervisors,
the plan shall be the official Fire Service Plan of the Township.
D.
Plan update. The Fire Chief should update the Fire
Service Plan at regular intervals of not more than 10 years.
E.
Long range capital expenditure budget. In connection
with the Fire Service Plan, the Fire Chief and the Capital Equipment
and Facilities Budget Committee of the Fire Company shall prepare
a long range capital expenditure budget base on the plan which will
document the following:
(1)
The timing for the acquisition and estimated cost
of capital emergency service equipment proposed to be added to or
required for replacement of existing equipment or the rehabilitation
of the same.
(2)
The timing for and estimated cost of capital improvements
or additions to, or acquisitions of land, buildings or parts of buildings
and necessary fixtures for the housing of equipment and the accommodation
of personnel.
(3)
Annual depreciation or reserves required to fund the
long range capital budget shall be integrated into the Department's
annual operating budgets.
A.
Effective date. This chapter shall be effective April
1, 2001.
B.
Conflict of laws. Should any provision of this chapter
conflict or be inconsistent with any state or federal law or regulation
promulgated thereunder, the state or federal law or regulation shall
take precedence over such provision of this chapter.
