What’s the future of fire protection in Union Township? Social media post sparks ‘panic’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Union Township exited a 10-year fire agreement, citing concerns over contract length.
- Officials aim to rejoin with a 5-year agreement preserving coverage and funding.
- Residents voiced frustration over communication gaps and lack of website updates.
More than 50 people attended Tuesday night’s Union Township Supervisors meeting — a stark contrast to the six attendees the board is used to — out of concern the township would no longer have fire protection from the Citizens Hook and Ladder No. 1 of Milesburg.
The fire company posted a public notice on its Facebook page last week stating the Union Township Supervisors, with a 2-1 vote, withdrew from the intergovernmental fire protection agreement between the fire company, the Milesburg Fireman’s Relief Association, Milesburg and Unionville Borough, and Boggs Township. Therefore, after Dec. 31, 2025, the Citizens Hook and Ladder No. 1 of Milesburg would no longer be the fire and rescue provider for Union Township.
“We, the members of Citizen’s Hook & Ladder Co. 1, are deeply saddened by this decision. We have proudly served Union Township since the 1900s, building lasting relationships with the residents, who are our friends and neighbors,” fire company president Jonathan McClure wrote in the letter, urging residents to attend Tuesday’s supervisors meeting.
But during the meeting, supervisors said it wasn’t their intention to completely drop fire protection for the township. Rather, they were concerned about the length of the agreement. The proposed agreement would have locked them in for 10 years, Supervisor Nicholas Taylor said, and they felt that was too long. Their solicitor drafted a five-year agreement, and it is their understanding that the other municipalities will sign onto that.
The reason they had to opt out of the agreement last month was due to timing. The entities part of the agreement previously voted to extend the opt-out deadline by one month, and they were set to do so again in July.
“Everybody agreed in a meeting on (July 15) … to extend it but there wasn’t enough quorum of people there to vote on it. So everybody had to have a special meeting. ... Our meeting was on Monday night, (July 28), and everybody else had meetings after ours,” Taylor said.
Supervisor Michael MacNamara said if they didn’t opt out then, it would have auto-renewed for 10 years. By the time other municipalities told Union Township what they voted on, they weren’t able to advertise for and hold a special meeting before the deadline.
“When we had ours, without knowing if everybody else was going to extend or not, we opted out of ours with the condition that if we could get the five-year term instead of the 10-year term, we would sign back into the agreement before the end of this year,” Taylor said.
The future of fire protection
Other than the change in length, MacNamara said the agreement is the same. The township will provide the same amount of funding and the coverage the township will get is the same.
Regardless of the fire protection agreement at hand, Taylor said it is the township’s job to provide fire protection to residents.
“Come the first of the year, hopefully this agreement works out ... but if it doesn’t, we will pay somebody to be our fire protection. That is a reality. Like I said, I can’t see any reason this doesn’t work but we have five more months to figure that out,” he said.
Still, residents were concerned and frustrated with how this has played out. Resident Regina Bowers said she was tired of the innuendos between the residents and the fire company. There needs to be an agreement between the township and fire company, and using social media is a road block, she said.
“People throwing stuff out there on social media, saying everything is the township’s fault. It’s not. And then what you see people post on Facebook from your department, then you have this whole community in an uproar saying that they’re not going to have fire protection or emergency services, that is totally incorrect,” she said. “...We need level heads, not stuff posted on the Facebook and the other medias that you do to cause and stir crap. Plain and simple.”
But McClure defended the post as a way to notify residents of what was happening. If they were no longer the primary fire protection for Union Township, response times in an emergency would increase, he said, and residents needed to be aware of that.
“That was not a smear campaign. There was no ill will put in that letter. If you read it, everything was factual,” he said. “That’s the only thing that was in that letter, was facts. There was nothing bad about Union Township. We did try to negotiate twice. However, the last negotiating sessions, Union Township was supposed to set up the agendas. There was no agenda posted, therefore we could take no official action at the negotiation session.”
He continued: “Everything we do is for the betterment of the community. We are not here to hurt the residents. We are not here to hurt the township. We are here to serve and protect. Everyone deserves to know what is going on, which is why I put out the press release.”
Calls for transparency
Some said they didn’t know anything about this until the fire company posted about it on Facebook.
“This has been going on for four months at the meetings. I don’t know how else to get that out to you guys,” Taylor said.
But one resident said they just don’t have the time to attend monthly meetings and would rather check the meeting minutes to stay up-to-date on township business. But the township website does not have any meeting minutes available.
Another said a supervisor previously said a main reason they were looking at opting out of the agreement was because Union Township was paying more than other municipalities. She questioned what the real reasoning was behind opting out of the agreement.
“I think everybody in this room — they made the post and put everybody into a panic. Not everybody knows what’s going on. There’s not meetings on the website. People want answers, transparency would be nice. What is it? Is it because we’re paying more? It makes sense. We’re further out,” Kalina Kelley said.
Taylor said they had a list of things they wanted to talk about when they began negotiations four months ago, and how funding was divided up between the municipalities was one of them. Based on the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors funding formula, Union Township does pay more than they should, and Boggs Township pays less than they should, he said.
“When we went to that meeting to negotiate, nobody else was interested in changing the way we fund. So we gave up on that. One of the other items in terms of how long this agreement was, that’s something we could get done with them,” Taylor said. “...So at the beginning, money was an issue. It was never about defunding the fire company or the budget. It was just how we were trying to break it up amongst four municipalities.”
As far as the website goes, Taylor said it includes basic information, like when the meetings are. Secretary/treasurer Renee Swancer said the public needs to understand that it’s a simple website and only a limited number of things can be posted on it at one time. Pennsylvania’s open meetings law states if the entity has a publicly accessible website, it has to post the meeting agendas online no later than 24 hours in advance of the meeting time but does not include anything about minutes being posted online.
“All the minutes are posted. Meetings get posted as well. But some things have to be taken down because you’re only allowed so many things on there at one time. So if something goes on, something has to come off. So I can’t keep a whole year’s worth of minutes and things like that,” she said.
MacNamara said the minutes will be updated on the website soon.
