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LOCK HAVEN -- Lock Haven City Council sent an amended ordinance regarding its fire companies back to the Fire Advisory Board a second time.
The ordinance, which is located within the City Code, was first brought to council in November with updates that reflected the merger of Hope Hose and Hand in Hand fire companies into East Side Fire Company. The merger is set to solidify in January 2024.
Council initially approved the ordinance, but due to some questions about various sections and verbiage, it was sent to the Fire Advisory Board - made up of representatives from Hope Hose, Hand in Hand and Citizens Hose - for further discussion.
Following the decision, Bill Bailey, who represents Citizens Hose on the board, told council the fire company had multiple questions regarding the proposed ordinance.
Bailey returned to council's meeting on Monday to reiterate these concerns during public comment before the new proposal would be put to council for a vote.
Bailey noted the advisory board did go over the proposal and voted to send it to council for consideration, however that vote wasn't unanimous.
"We're not trying to hold up the merger. We're not against it and we support the Hopes and Handies combining into one," Bailey said. However, there were certain parts of the proposed ordinance that Citizens Hose was concerned about. One of those concerns was regarding the rotation of chiefs.
Bailey said a concern was that the city fire chief would be appointed by the city manager and not elected.
"Currently, the chiefs are elected by the fire company members and approved and voted on by council," Bailey said.
Bailey also said Citizens were concerned about the removal of a foreman in the ordinance.
"The foreman position was eliminated and replaced by a district chief," he said.
City Manager Gregory Wilson said the term foreman was removed from the ordinance, but the majority of the language regarding personnel remained the same.
"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 each company may deem necessary' meaning that they can elect a foreman if they so choose," he said.
Bailey further noted the makeup of the fire advisory board would change with the merger. He said the current makeup of the board features two representatives from each fire company and the fire chief - which represents the city's interests.
"Under the proposal it would be two members from each of the fire companies and the city chief," he said. "Which is going to give whichever company the city chief belongs to a 3-2 advantage on the board."
Later, during council discussions, Councilmember Jeff Brinker echoed the concerns Bailey spoke about. He suggested possible term limits to avoid the same person serving as the fire chief/administrator for an extended time.
Brinker said he can understand concerns about a potential 3-2 majority for either fire company on the advisory board.
"I can see how you get a person in there, and I'm not saying good, bad or ugly - but three to two is still three to two," he said.
Wilson said he believes in his time with the city, no fire chief has represented its own fire company over another, noting their role is to represent the city on the advisory board.
"If the fire advisory board feels the chief, who is representing the city's interest, is consistently not making decisions that are in the best interest of the city, they have every right to come to the city manager and voice that concern," he said. "Because that person is a city department head and that's who you would come and make that concern known to."
Mayor Joel Long noted his own concerns about the potential makeup of the advisory board.
Long noted the city's fire companies are volunteer and membership based, with the city unable to financially support paying for full time firefighters and staff.
"If members feel disenfranchised, they won't want to be members anymore," he said. "And the way it was set before made me feel as though they had a say in things."
With the proposed changes, Long said he's concerned it could hurt volunteerism.
Councilmember Rick Conklin questioned why council was picking apart a proposed ordinance that was approved by the majority of the advisory board.
"My concern is that this comes to us approved by the advisory board and we in the city council want to pick it apart," he said. "We should do that with every single committee report that comes to us then."
Long said it was good to have the discussion and have council state their opinion on the matter.
"We're not here to rubber stamp everything that comes before us," he said.
Councilmember Barb Masorit agreed with Conklin's statement, but did note it might be best to send the proposal back to the board for further review.
"I respect and appreciate what they do and it sounds like there are issues that didn't get discussed as thoroughly as they wanted at the advisory meeting," she said. "If it wasn't agreeable to them, perhaps that's where it needs to go back to."
Councilmember Doug Byerly motioned to send the proposal back to the advisory board for further review and discussion.
"We have two more meetings to vote on this. If there's issues it should go back to that committee," Byerly said. "You should hammer them out and come to council with a final version."
Councilmember Richard Morris echoed Byerly's statement.
"We need to put this back and make sure the people who have to live with this ordinance are behind it before we vote on it," Morris said.
Byerly's motion was seconded by Brinker and pushed through in a 6-1 vote with Conklin voting against it.
It was reported in previous meetings the ordinance must be passed before the merger of Hope Hose and Hand In Hand takes place on Jan. 1, 2024.