Bristol Township Administration and Council Demonstrate Lack Of Communication With Newportville Fire Company
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Last night, the Bristol Township Council held their monthly meeting at the township building. There were many items on the agenda but closing Newportville Fire Company was not one of them. Still, the council meeting was well attended by members and supporters of the fire company. Many spoke during the public comment meeting. All were in favor of keeping the fire company operational. Not one person said it was a good idea to close it.
During the solicitors report, Attorney Scott Holbert, said that the township was on track to close the fire company and cited an outdated study that was commissioned way before the pandemic as a driving force. He also claimed that the fire company never tried to reach out, nor did their attorney, Kim Houser. He even dragged this publication’s publisher into the report when we last posted we made no attempt to contact either Randee Mazur, the Township Manager or Heather Satterly, Assistant Township Manager.
One red flag after another presented itself. Both sides are accusing the other of failure to communicate with them. During public comment, Jim Mulholland, a township resident and first responder for over 60 years was visibly upset. He called for a third party intermediary to sit down between the fire company and council. Both sides can bring their lawyers.
Township administration wants a merger between Newportville and Third District.
To come to the stage where you are talking about disbanding a fie company means you have exhausted all communication and the fire company continues to do whatever they want. According to Fire Company leadership, they presented previous correspondence that showed the township was happy with their services and was looking forward to letting the fire company celebrate their 100th birthday.
It’s obvious that not all communication has been attempted, In fact, according to Deputy Chief Ryan Cummings, meetings that were scheduled between Newportville and Third District have been canceled by Third District, and not rescheduled. No reason was given, according to Cummings. When he asked for a meeting, township councilman Patrick Antonello stated that no meeting would happen because the fire company is represented. That is why a third party intermediary makes the most sense. Otherwise, it appears the council and administration are trying to railroad a department closing.
Should that happen it is all but guaranteed that there will be an incident in the fire district that was run by Newportville and someone will be hurt or killed. Then lawyers, like Piranha’s will circle the township building demanding cash payouts in taxpayer dollars for their client.
Emergency New Network Photo- Township members Joe Glasson( right) and council President Craig Bowen attend the meeting.
Fire Company attorney Kim Houser said that he has reached out a heard nothing from Randee Mazur after he said he called multiple times. When questioned about the lack of communication, this reporter showed Holbert proof of the call attempts. His response was we possibly dialed the wrong number, even when voicemail greetings identified the correct people. It must be noted that our attempts were to get comment on the proposed closure and no other reason. Assistant Township Manager Heather Satterly later admitting to getting calls but not getting any message. She said the problem could be with the IT department, but neither she,or Mazur returned any call that she saw was coming in to her office, even to ascertain it was a wrong number. Houser did speak with Randy Flager, the township attorney who told him that “I’ve made some good points and agreed what I said made sense”, He was directed to call Mazur and those calls were not returned”. Houser said. The township will vote August 20 at their next meeting. Should that happen, voters have long memories of the elected officials that shut down their local firehouse.
Holbert was 100 percent correct when he said the township is not saving any money by closing the firehouse. Their money will go to other fire companies. Firefighters and community members expressed concern that other fire companies will not respond in a timely manner should the closure go through. Volunteering is down across the country.
When, for example , The Croydon Fire Company is tied up on a call and does not have the manpower to get another truck out, it will fall to Third District or possibly Bensalem or Hulmeville , to cover the call in Newportville’s District. That means extended response times, and trucks racing to the call from miles away, instead of just down the block. This year out of over 300 calls, Newportville could not get a truck out in a timely manner about five times. Their response time is far above the national average, according to their attorney Kim Houser.
Ed note this author is a member of NFC.