New Stanton council members discussed this week having more oversight in the borough fire department.
President Scott Sistek told council Thursday the fire company is exploring buying a used ladder truck. Some council members reacted to that statement.
Councilman Brandon Clawson said he wants a borough committee to sit down with fire officials and “start laying down some ground rules.”
“There are going to be changes,” he added. “We need more transparency.”
“We're going to have to talk about it more,” agreed Councilman Wilbur Bussard, the borough's liaison with the fire department. “It's in the fire, so now we've got to get it going.”
Sometimes, only two firefighters respond to calls on weekdays, not enough for a ladder truck, Councilman Tom Smith noted. The company averaged six firefighters per call last month, he added.
Fire Chief Rob Cammarata said Friday he would welcome more involvement by council.
He explained his department was exploring buying a 2001 ladder truck for $80,000 from a fire company in South Carolina because of development expected with improvements proposed for the New Stanton interchange of Interstate 70.
Cammarata said he wanted to give council notice about his department making inquiries on the truck.
“We're just doing research,” Cammarata said. “It's part of the whole planning in the borough with new development they're anticipating. We're doing an exploratory.”
Council has expressed wanting more oversight with the fire company in the past. Relationships have improved over the last few months, with fire officials agreeing to present financial and other records to council for review, Sistek said.
The borough designates $1,000 a month to the fire department for maintenance, Sistek said. Another $43,239 is generated by a 1-mill tax imposed annually on property owners, and $107,866 in revenue from the Local Services Tax was used to pay for the department's new brush truck, borough records showed.
A mill raises about $30,000.
Cammarata said business and homeowners' insurance would be lowered if the department had a ladder truck. He said he wasn't certain about the amount of discount, saying that was one issue firefighters are exploring.
In another matter, council met behind closed doors to discuss the new borough municipal building and a 200-day deadline set to have that work completed.
Councilman Dean Clark noted the 200th day comes in mid-March, and the building isn't finished.
“I'm not 100 percent sure what we're doing yet,” Sistek said after the executive session.
“My personal feeling on this is, I want to make sure the building is done right. That's priority No. 1. We do have a contract, and as far as I'm concerned, we followed the rules of the contract.”
Engineer Emil Bove said he would like to see Center Avenue included in bidding for borough street work this year.
“It's getting really bad,” Bove said.
Bob Stiles is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-836-6622 or [email protected].
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