By Winthrop Rodgers
Contributing Writer

Kennett Square Borough is actively considering whether to rejoin the Kennett Fire and EMS Regional Commission, according to people involved in the discussions. The timeline is not clear, but it is possible that it will happen.

“We haven't voted on it, but I believe that the majority of the Council — if not unanimously — is very open to asking for the Commission’s approval to get back into the Commission,” incumbent Kennett Square Borough Council President Bob Norris told the Chester County Press. “We’re in some of those discussions right now.”

“I strongly believe and support that it will come back, or will request the privilege to coming back to the Commission,” he added.

The borough was an original member of the Commission, along with Kennett Township, East Marlborough, Newlin, Pennsbury, and Pocopson, when it was first established in 2017. As an inter-municipal body, the Commission oversees public funding for operating and capital expenses at the Longwood, Kennett, and Po-Mar-Lin fire companies.

However, the Kennett Square Borough Council voted unanimously — a 5-0 vote with two members absent from the meeting — on June 29, 2023 to leave the Commission at the end of that year over concerns about the cost-sharing agreement between its members.

At a mayoral town hall sponsored by the Chester County Press in October of last year, Mayor Matt Fetick explained that the borough wanted to ensure that it could control its own budget. He said that if the other municipalities in the Commission voted to increase their contributions to the fire houses, the Borough would have been obligated to do so by the same amount.

“My biggest concern was with the document between the municipalities,” said Fetick. “For the last several years, we underfunded fire and EMS. They had a lot of catching up to do.”

“We can't have that exposure out there to an unlimited number,” he said, referring to the increases that were being considered at the time.

The borough had other competing priorities for its budget and was “capped out,” as Fetick termed it at the town hall, in terms of what it could contribute. As a result, it received financial relief of $114,000 for fiscal year 2023 from the other members.

Fetick said that other municipalities “were understanding about that issue…But I think, again from my side, it was always about the risk that if that didn't happen. It just exposed us to numbers that we couldn't manage.”

The three fire companies overseen by the Commission continue to serve Kennett Square Borough even though it is no longer a part of the Commission. Instead, it has a two-year contract with them to provide fire and EMS services through the end of 2026.

But withdrawing from the Commission has done little to contain costs. In 2023, when it left the group, the borough paid $457,957 for fire and EMS services. In this year’s Commission budget, it paid a fee of $868,882.77, which will increase to $976,018.90 in the budget that the Commission adopted for 2026.

These cost increases are caused by a number of factors, including past underfunding and delays in capital expenditures, inflation, and the rising expense of fire equipment. The fire companies are also dealing with increased call volume and have come to rely more on career firefighters, who cost more than volunteers.

Norris said that the most important consequence of withdrawing from the Commission was that the borough no longer has a voice in decision making.

“We’re still paying into it as if we were a Commission member, we just don't have a vote, which, to me, is silly,” Norris said. “So, let's get back in there. Let's work with our neighbors. I mean, we all depend on each other.”

However, he agreed with Fetick’s stance that some of the provisions of the original commission agreement should be reconsidered.

“Some of the initial provisions of the original Commission just need to be reconsidered and tweaked…to realize that things have changed since it started,” he said. “The borough is hoping the Commission will consider a maximum annual [cost] increase.”

Representatives from remaining municipalities in the Commission have formed a working group to look into the issue and what sort of arrangements need to be made.

“I am thrilled that the borough is potentially interested in rejoining the Commission. I’d say the other members of the Commission are similarly involved, and that we just need to make sure that things are fair and equitable,” said Richard Leff, who was the outgoing chair of the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors at the time of the interview. Leff’s term on the Board of Supervisors has since ended.

However, Leff pushed back on the idea of a cost increase cap and indicated that all six municipalities will have to work through a range of considerations about their past and future relationship.

“I don't think we can do [a cap] and I don't want to get into a situation where one municipality can basically hold the others at bay,” he said.

One administrative hurdle for the borough’s readmission is that such a process does not exist in the Commission’s by-laws. That must be crafted and voted on by the representatives of the five remaining municipalities before any other formal steps can be taken. Then the Kennett Square Borough Council will have to take a public vote on the question of rejoining.

Leff said that the situation has also given the Commission an opportunity to think more broadly about what procedures should be in place in case new municipalities outside the original six want to join.

It is unclear when the Borough might vote rejoin the Commission, particularly if it involves renegotiating the inter-municipal agreement. Kennett Square’s current contract with Longwood runs through the end of 2026 and the Commission needs to set a budget for 2027 no later than September.

The borough’s withdrawal from the Commission and possible return shows that regionalization of fire and EMS services is hardly a straightforward process, but one that involves much trial and error.

However, the appeal of inter-municipal arrangements for emergency services is apparent across Chester County. Nearby West Grove and Avondale fire companies are in the midst of discussions about how to work as a single unit, which could include merging the two into a single entity. Some local municipalities are looking into ways to regionalize local police forces.

“Hope springs eternal that we can come up with some agreement that not only the borough thinks is in their interest, but might move things forward in terms of the Commission and how we function too,” Leff said.