Oct. 8--PLYMOUTH TWP. -- After decertifying the township's lone fire company, Plymouth Twp. leaders say they are negotiating with officials in neighboring towns to provide fire coverage and have no plans to reconsider their decision to stop using Plymouth Twp. Fire and Rescue.
"We can't afford that fire hall," Supervisor Joseph Yudichak said. "It's not been an easy decision."
That's not what many people attending Monday's supervisors meeting wanted to hear as the gathering ended with Supervisor Gale Conrad banging her gavel to adjourn during a heated argument over the topic.
"We'll let you know in November," township resident Mark McHugh, 59, shouted, a reference to the upcoming election that has become a hot topic since two firefighters of the department announced write-in bids to unseat two of the three supervisors.
Fire Chief Barry Lore and firefighter Merritt Nash vow to bring back the fire department if elected.
Conrad said the volunteer department long has misled the township about its finances, never revealing for six years it took out a $600,000 loan in 2008.
The final straw, she said, came in July when the department asked for $9,000 to assist in paying bills. Supervisors later learned the department had money, but used to for its Horror Hall haunted house fundraiser -- a fact Lore acknowledged at Monday's meeting.
"You had money to use for your fundraiser, but you came to the township to ask for taxpayer dollars? I'm not understanding why on behalf of the taxpayers, why you come to the township to ask for taxpayer dollars when you have your own money?" Conrad said.
Lore said the department needed the money to run Horror Hall, a fundraiser that accounts for 80 percent of the fire department's revenue. The department made the request during a lull in funding for the year, but now is up to date on bills, Lore said.
Despite not being used by the township any longer, the department is still recognized by the state as a fire company and is still maintaining its station and paying loans for its fleet of apparatus, Lore said.
"We can totally walk away right now," Lore said. "We don't want to do that."
Township resident Rick Jackson, 60 said it doesn't make sense to have fire trucks in the township going unused.
"You have a fire department existing in this town for 70 years and are just going to put it aside and let all the equipment sit in that garage for nothing?" Jackson said. After voting to decertify its fire company, supervisors announced crews from bordering towns -- Nanticoke City, Plymouth, Larksville and Lake Silkworth -- would now answer calls.
Conrad thinks overall costs will be cheaper than the subsidies it gave its own volunteer department.
"We will not be raising taxes. We will not be putting a fire tax on," Conrad said. "We don't want to do that for out folks."
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