The East Marlborough supervisors adopted a resolution at their May 2 meeting that designates Longwood Fire Company as the main fire protection responder in the township. Previously, fire and rescue coverage was divided between Longwood and Po-Mar-Lin fire companies, but with this ordinance Po-Mar-Lin will become part of the regional fire response command led by Longwood for incidents in and around East Marlborough.

The Po-Mar-Lin members voted recently to join the regional command, according to Cuyler Walker, the head of the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission. Longwood already has a regional fire command structure set up with Kennett Fire Company in the municipalities covered by those fire companies. Longwood, Kennett, and Po-Mar-Lin are governed by the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission for fire, rescue, and EMS funding decisions.

According to the resolution, Longwood Fire Company, “through a unified command structure involving other emergency service departments, will provide fire protection and rescue services throughout the entirety of the township’s municipal boundaries.” 

“They’re now all responding in a more regional way,” Walker said. “It’s something I think that is good for each of the fire companies.”

The resolution also designates Longwood Fire Company EMS as the township’s ambulance provider, and it names the Avondale barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police and the township’s part-time police department as the agencies tasked with providing police coverage.

This resolution is normally something that supervisors adopt at the beginning of each year, as municipalities are tasked under Pennsylvania’s Second Class Township Code with identifying fire, EMS, and police coverage within their boundaries. Any time there are significant changes with coverage, a new resolution is required.

In other business:

• The supervisors held a moment of silence for Jennifer and Ryan Prince, the East Marlborough mother and son who were killed April 22 in a double-murder and suicide. Supervisor Eric Matuszak was a longtime neighbor of the Princes, and described the event as “the most heinous act imaginable.”
  Supervisors’ Chairman Robert McKinstry said the township police department responded to the call, and its officers are receiving the “appropriate” counseling.
• The township solicitor received approval May 2 to appeal two county reassessments on township-owned property. At issue are parcels that contain cell phone towers, at 858 E. Baltimore Pike. Previously the land and buildings were assessed at $132,080; the county reassessed it at $496,740. May 2 was the last day to file an appeal. Solicitor Ryan Jennings said the reassessment would also discuss it in executive session following the meeting. “My office felt it appropriate to file an appeal for reassessment,” Jennings said. “We’ll see how the appeal plays out, if it’s even something we want to pursue.”
• The supervisors also gave a green light to more space for the East Marlborough Police Department. The township will be buying a $40,000 modular office for the police, for which supervisors voted at the meeting to add that amount to the department’s capital expenditures in the 2022 budget.