Concerns Raised Over Lock Haven Fire Dept Governance at City Council Meeting; Proposed Ordinance Changes Cause Tension

By Emily Wright

LOCK HAVEN — Monday night’s regular Lock Haven City Council meeting saw a large turnout with not a seat left to spare in the council chambers. While the Piper Aviation Museum was a notable topic of discussion that brought out several residents wanting to voice their concerns to Council members, the bulk of those in attendance came to address their concerns about Ordinance No. 2023-12, the amended Chapter 59 of the Lock Haven City Code. 

This amendment comes in response to the establishment of the East Side Fire and Rescue Company; the combined Hand-in-Hand and Hope Hose Fire Companies, first mentioned in mid-November during a regular meeting of the City Council. 

While the city council works to amend the ordinance governing its relationship with the City’s fire departments, many members of the departments remain concerned about the stipulations and other details contained in it. 

Lieutenant William Bailey of Citizens Hose Company and Chairman of the Fire Advisory Board addressed the Council during the meeting. “The Fire advisory board did go over the ordinance and passed it, but not unanimously. The Citizens members were still against the ordinance for several reasons,” he said.

According to Bailey, the advisory board has expressed their specific objections to City Council twice. Bailey clarified, “We’re not against the merger,” he said, “We support the Hopes and the Handies combining into one and we don’t want to hold that up, but we do have concerns about some of the items in the ordinance,” he said. 

Bailey explained that the fire advisory board has raised concerns about a portion of the proposed ordinance that states the fire chief will now be appointed by the City Manager. “Currently the chiefs are elected by the fire company members and then approved by the Council. For the last 40 years at least it’s been that way; it’s been rotated, and we’ve not been given any explanation as to why it’s being changed at this point,” Bailey said. 

Section 59-3(B) of the proposed Ordinance reads, “The Fire Chief and Administrator will be appointed by the City Manager with the consent of City Council. The companies will elect, from their members, a qualified District Chief which will then be recommended to the City Manager for appointment by City Council.”

Barb Elling, a Lock Haven resident in attendance at the meeting spoke up about this section of the ordinance, suggesting that members of the fire department seem most suitable to determine who should hold the positions of fire chief and administrator, stating, “When I heard that the City Manager would be appointing the fire chief, I thought, ‘wait, I would think that the firemen would know who they should appoint, who they could elect, or how they operate,”.  

Bailey also pointed out that the foreman position has been eliminated from the proposed ordinance, to be replaced with a District Chief, which Bailey claims is also of concern for members of the fire advisory board and Citizen’s Hose Co. 

City Manager Greg Wilson cited Section 59-1 of the ordinance as he responded to the concerns Bailey had addressed, “The Fire Advisory Board agreed, in the majority, that the inclusion of the language which has always been in the ordinance, ‘Of such other officers as each company may deem necessary’, that they can elect a foreman if they so choose,” Wilson said. 

With no clear resolve as to why the fire chief will no longer be elected by members of the fire company or why the foreman position had been eliminated from the Ordinance, Bailey continued, addressing other personnel issues that have caused concern. 

“The Advisory Board has been removed from the recommendation process for the district chief and we’re not sure why that happened,”. Silence hung in the air, however, Bailey continued, “In Section 59-9 of the proposed Ordinance, it removes the Advisory Board from the suspension process and gives the chief the power to suspend somebody on his own without bringing it to the advisory board,” he said. 

Wilson responded, stating, “59-9 has not changed. Nothing has been removed from that section. It’s the same as it was in 1972 and still today.”

Mayor Joel Long chimed in to clarify the section of the proposed Ordinance that Bailey was referring to, however, Wilson asserted that the Fire Advisory Board “doesn’t have the ability to suspend anyone”. “They have the ability to receive a report or discipline someone and then they can send that report to me, but that’s just kind of a formality that’s taken,” Wilson said. 

Without receiving clarity, Bailey continued to another issue that had been raised by the advisory board, “Section 59-9(E) says something to the effect that the fire chief is in charge of all fire apparatus’,” he said. “The Citizens Hose Company owns several pieces of apparatus privately; we pay for maintenance, we pay insurance, fuel, everything and we believe that fire chiefs should not have control of privately owned apparatus.” No response was provided by City Council in this regard.

Bailey concluded his statements by saying, “Citizen’s Hose Company’s concerns are about the Ordinance,” he said, “We’re not concerned with the merger and we don’t want to hold up the merger. We’re looking forward to operating with two companies rather than three, but we just want it to be fair and we want to have an equal say.” 

Other issues regarding various sections of the ordinance were brought to the attention of Councilmembers throughout the meeting by individuals who attended the meeting, with other items on the agenda being addressed in between. 

Before suggesting that the meeting move forward, Mayor Joel Long assured Lieutenant Bailey that the Council “will be addressing” the issues he’d brought to their attention. 

A copy of Ordinance No. 2023-12 amending Chapter 59, “Fire Department” of the City Code is available for public review on the home page of the city’s website at lockhavenpa.gov, or in person upon request at City Hall.