Council comes to fire company’s rescue
Pottstown Borough Council voted to give $40,000to North End Fire Company to replace a gas boiler.
“This is a crisis thatwe have to address immediately, but the underlying problem is they are not financially sustainable at this time.”
Dan Weand, Pottstown Borough Council President
POTTSTOWN >> With a 4-3 vote Monday night, borough council voted to provide up to $40,000 to the North End Fire Company to help with the replacement of the gas boiler at the firehouse at Prospect and North Evans streets.
Voting in favor of providing the funding was Council Vice President Sheryl Miller and council members Ryan Procsal, Dennis Arms and Rita Paez.
Council President Dan Weand was joined by council members Carol Kulp and Joe Kirkland in voting against the proposal put together by Borough Manager Mark Flanders.
According to the terms of the conditions, which Flanders provided to The Mercury, once the work is completed, the borough will “provide the full amount needed to replace the boiler in an amount not to exceed $40,000.”
In exchange, North End must agree to four conditions: hiring a financial advisor to help them become financially stable in the long-term; provide a written report of that long-range plan in three months; provide written progress reports on the path to financial stability every two months and seek out funding to pay back the borough for acquisition of new county radios.
Financial sustainability was Weand’s primary focus in his comments.
He agreed that the fire company is facing an emergency, but instead proposed giving some “cash up front” and making the rest of the money provided by the borough come out of the annual allotment each of the fire companies receives from the borough fire tax.
“The financial stability of the borough must be paramount,” said Weand.
Miller argued that keeping the fire companies operation is part of the borough’s financial stability and said that North End is
alreadymaking progress toward stability and “putting them in debt” won’t help.
“This is a crisis that we have to address immediately, but the underlying problem is they are not financially sustainable at this time,” said Weand. “This is a problem I’ve seen in companies I’ve advised. It’s a problem I’ve seen in my own household. If its not a boiler, it will be something else next time.”
Kirkland also said he did not support providing all $40,000 to the fire company, with was the outside estimate Assistant Chief Dave Saylor gave to council last week.
“We can’t not have North End operating” said Procsal. “If they don’t have heat and the pipes freeze it is going to jeopardize the safety of borough residents.”
Kulp said she wanted to wait to see if the fire company could get help installing the heater to cut the cost.
“I don’t have time to wait if my house is on fire,” said Arms.
One bright spot which may cut the cost significantly was offered by Charles Pierce, president of the Phillies Fire Company.
He said he spoke to a representative of Columbia Boiler in West Pottsgrove, which may be willing to provide a new boiler free of charge or at a greatly reduced price.
“I’ll let you know after they’ve looked into it,” said Pierce.