By authority of state statutes and the Pennsylvania Borough Code, the Borough of West Mayfield is managed by a duly elected councilmembers (council) and mayor, as well as various duly appointed borough officers.
COUNCIL
MAYOR
BOROUGH OFFICERS
- Pat Lansberry, Secretary-Treasurer
- Bob Tate, Code Enforcement
- Tina Lampus, Zoning Officer
- Joseph A. Budicak, Solicitor
Pennsylvania Borough Code (HTML)
Pennsylvania Borough Code (PDF)
§ 1005. Powers of council.
(5) To secure indemnity bonds or policies of insurance as it may deem necessary to protect the borough from loss by reason of fire, flood, windstorm, burglary, larceny, negligence or dishonesty or insolvency of a depository, or otherwise, and to pay for the protection the usual or customary costs.
SUBCHAPTER A – GENERAL PROVISIONS
(f) Police officers and firefighters.–
(1) No police officer or firefighter may hold an elective office of the borough that employs the police officer or firefighter.
(2) No police officer or firefighter who is employed by a regional department, council of government or other cooperative venture may hold an elective office of any municipality that participates in the regional department, council of government or other cooperative venture.
(3) No police officer or firefighter may hold an elective office of the borough in which the police officer or firefighter resides if the department employing the police officer or firefighter is providing police or fire protection service to that borough by contract.
SUBCHAPTER J – CIVIL SERVICE FOR POLICE AND FIRE APPARATUS OPERATORS
Chapter 12. Corporate Powers
Read Borough Solicitor Joe Budicak’s memo to council re: council’s legal and statutory relationship to the West Mayfield Volunteer Fire Department
§ 1201. General powers.
[RE: AUTHORITY TO END PARKING LOT LEASE AGREEMENT WITH WMVFD]
§ 1201.1. Real property.
§ 1201.3. Exceptions.
(c) Reversion.–Real property sold under this section to a volunteer fire company, volunteer ambulance service or volunteer rescue squad, nonprofit medical service corporation or nonprofit housing corporation shall be subject to the condition that, when the property is not used for the purposes of the company, service, squad or corporation, the property shall revert to the borough.
§ 1202. Specific powers.
[RE: AUTHORITY TO REVISE BOROUGH FIRE CODE]
The powers of the borough shall be vested in the council. In the exercise of any specific powers involving the enactment of an ordinance or the making of any regulation, restriction or prohibition, the borough may provide for enforcement and penalties for violations. The specific powers of the borough shall include the following:
(15) To adopt and enforce a construction code, a property maintenance code and a fire prevention code and exercise any additional reserved powers pursuant to Chapter 32A (relating to uniform construction code, property maintenance code and reserved powers).
[RE: BOROUGH AUTHORITY TO MAKE CONTRACTS AND AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER FIRE SERVICE PROVIDERS]
24) To enter into agreements with other political subdivisions, in accordance with existing laws, in making joint purchases of materials, supplies or equipment and in performing governmental powers, duties and functions and in carrying into effect provisions of 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A (relating to intergovernmental cooperation), and agreements with the proper authorities of municipal corporations, regional police or fire forces or other public safety or governmental entities created by two or more municipal corporations under 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A, either for mutual aid or assistance in police and fire protection or any other public safety services, or for the furnishing to or receiving from the municipal corporations or governmental entities police and fire protection or any other public safety services, and to make appropriations for public safety services. In connection with agreements for police or fire protection or any other public safety services, it shall not be necessary to advertise for bids or receive bonds as required for contracts under existing law. When an agreement has been entered into, the police, firefighters, fire police or any other public safety services of the employing municipal corporation or governmental entity shall have the powers and authority conferred by law on police, firefighters, fire police or any other public safety services in the territory of the municipal corporation which has contracted to secure the service.
(25) To make contracts of insurance, with any mutual or other fire insurance company, association or exchange, duly authorized by law to transact insurance business in this Commonwealth, on any building or property owned or leased by the borough.
[RE: BOROUGH AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE WORKMENS COMPENSATION INSURANCE FOR VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTERS]
(26) To provide for other insurance as follows:
(i) To appropriate an amount as may be necessary to secure insurance or compensation in accordance with Article VI of the act of June 2, 1915 (P.L.736, No.338), known as the Workers’ Compensation Act, for:
(A) volunteer firefighters of companies duly recognized by the borough, by motion or resolution, killed or injured while going to, returning from or attending fires or while performing their duties as special fire police;
[RE: BOROUGH PERMITTED TO PURCHASE OR HELP PURCHASE EQUIPMENT, PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS, ETC. FOR VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT]
(35) To purchase or contribute to the purchase of fire engines and fire apparatus, boats, rescue and lifesaving equipment and supplies for the use of the borough for fire, rescue and lifesaving services, including community ambulance service, and to appropriate money for fire companies and rescue units located within the borough, including for the construction, repair and maintenance of buildings for fire companies and rescue units, and to acquire land for those purposes. Appropriations may include funds to establish, equip, maintain and operate lawfully organized or incorporated fire training schools within the county or regional firefighters’ associations or an entity created pursuant to 53 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. A for the purpose of giving instruction and practical training in the prevention, control and fighting of fire and related fire department emergencies to the members of fire departments and volunteer fire companies in any municipal corporation within this Commonwealth. Annual appropriations may also be made to an ambulance service, or council may enter into contracts for use in providing community ambulance service.
[RE: BOROUGH IS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE FROM VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT AN ITEMIZED ACCOUNTING OF HOW BOROUGH MONIES WERE SPENT]
56) To ensure that fire and emergency medical services are provided within the borough by the means and to the extent determined by the borough, including the appropriate financial and administrative assistance for these services. The borough shall consult with fire and emergency medical services providers to discuss the emergency services needs of the borough. The borough shall require any emergency services organization receiving borough funds to provide to the borough an annual itemized listing of all expenditures of these funds before the borough may consider budgeting additional funding to the organization.
[RE: ARE THERE SPECIAL TERMS & CONDITONS THAT APPLY TO WATER FIRE SERVICE NEEDS (WATER PRESSURE, WORKING HYDRANTS, AMAINTENANCE OF HYDRANT SUPPLY LINES)?
§ 2406. Contracts to supply water for municipal purposes.
Boroughs may receive bids from water companies and municipal authorities authorized to do business within the borough and from other municipalities operating a water system for the supply of water for fire protection and for other municipal purposes. The borough may contract for the supply of water with the water company.
[RE: BOROUGH AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE FUEL FOR VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT]
§ 1404.1. Purchase contracts for petroleum products and fire company, etc., participation.
The council of each borough shall have power to permit, subject to terms and conditions as it may and, as specifically provided, shall prescribe, a paid or volunteer fire company, paid or volunteer rescue company and paid or volunteer ambulance company in the borough to participate in purchase contracts for petroleum products entered into by the borough. A company desiring to participate in purchase contracts shall file with the borough secretary a request to authorize it to participate in contracts for the purchase of petroleum products of the borough and agreeing that it will be bound by the terms and conditions as the borough may and, as specifically provided, shall prescribe and that it will be responsible for payment directly to the vendor under each purchase contract. Among the terms and conditions, the borough shall prescribe that the prices must be F.O.B. destination.
[RE: BOROUGH BUILDING CODE AUTHORITY TO ADDRESS FIRE PREVENTION]
§ 32A05. Reserved powers.
(a) Power.–If, as a result of legislative action or final order of court which is not subject to appellate review, the Uniform Construction Code or any replacement code is no longer applicable in boroughs, a borough may:
(1) Enact and enforce ordinances to govern and regulate the following in relation to a building and housing, parts of a building and housing or a facility and service in or about a building or housing:
(i) Construction, reconstruction, alteration, extension, repair and conversion.
(ii) Maintenance.
(iii) Occupation.
(iv) Sanitation.
(v) Ventilation, heating, egress, lighting, electrical wiring, water supply, toilet facilities, drainage, plumbing, fire prevention and fireproofing, including limitations under which only buildings of noncombustible material and fireproofed roofs are used in construction.
(vi) Erection or substantial reconstruction.
(vii) Use and inspection.
(viii) Sanitation and inspection of land attached to a building or housing.
(2) Require that the approval of plans and specifications are secured before construction, reconstruction, alteration, extension, repair or conversion of a building is started.
(3) Appoint and determine the compensation of the following:
(i) Building inspectors.
(ii) Housing inspectors.
(iii) Property maintenance inspectors.
(iv) Fire prevention inspectors.
(v) Electrical inspectors.
(vi) Plumbing inspectors.
COUNCIL
By authority of state statutes and the Pennsylvania Borough Code, West Mayfield’s council, as a body, has oversight authority and responsibilies regarding matters pertaining to fire prevention and fire protection.
FSRC QUESTIONS
- What are council’s duties and obligations re: municipal fire service and fire protection?
- Are these duties and obligations being carried out?
Fire & Police Committee
Council’s long-standing working committee relative to fire prevention and fire protection is the Fire & Police Committee, managed by a committee chair.
Committee Leadership (appointed January 2024):
- Chair: Lou little, councilmember, fire department member
- Member: Bill Heaton, councilmember, fire department member
- Member: Jason Heaton, councilmember, fire department member
FSRC QUESTIONS
- What is the committee’s description, mission, or clearly defined goals or objectives?
- What qualifies a council member to serve as committee chair?
- What are the duties and obligations of the committee chair (e.g., monthly, annual reports)?
- Who oversees this committee?
- How is the committee constituted (members selected)?
MAYOR
By authority of state statutes and the Pennsylvania Borough Code, West Mayfield’s mayor has some oversight authority and responsibilities regarding matters pertaining to fire prevention and fire protection.
FSRC QUESTIONS
- What are the mayor’s duties and obligations re: municipal fire service and fire protection?
- Are these duties and obligations being carried out?
FSRC QUESTIONS
- What is our community’s ISO Fire Rating?
- Is there a written report(s) with findings?
- To what degree is borough government a factor in this ISO determination?
- Was borough government actively involved in the ISO audit?
ISO fire ratings measure how well prepared a community is to fight fires. A search of the published council meeting minutes from July 2019 to date reveals only three mentions of West Mayfield’s ISO fire service rating (aka, Public Protection Classification or PPC):
March 10, 2022: “Fire & Police – Ms. Harker – everything is good at the fire department. She is getting information requested by ISO insurance.”
April 14, 2022: “Fire & Police – Ms. Harker – The ISO insurance inspection has been complete and the fire department received a rating of 6. In order to get a higher rating you must have paid fire fighters. The borough needs to adopt an international fire code and adopt an ordinance for it.”
October 13, 2022: “Fire & Police – Ms. Harker ISO insurance required all kinds of records and we were given a top rating after the records were reviewed.”
Neighboring ISO Fire Ratings
To put West Mayfield’s ISO fire service rating into perspective relative to surrounding communities, the “Regional Fire Study” (released in March 2023) shows the following:
- City of Beaver Falls = PPC class 3 “considered above average”
- Big Beaver Borough = PPC class 5 “average”
- Chippewa Township = PPC class 5
- Patterson Township = PPC class 5
Note: According to insurance analysts, only 57% of communities nationally are rated class five or better.
We Are Below Average
As reported by council’s Fire and Police committee chair in April 2022, the Borough of West Mayfield received a PPC rating of class 6, which is considered to be below average (in the bottom 43%), and certainly worse than many of our municpal neighbors.
By contrast, the Beaver Falls Fire Department’s class 3 rating puts it in the top 6 percent nationally (Beaver County Times, Nov. 12, 2013).
Verisk ISO Auditors
https://www.isomitigation.com/ppc/survey/scheduling-the-survey/
Scheduling the Survey
We rely on several sources of information to help us decide when we should reevaluate your community’s Public Protection Classification (PPC®) grading:
Community Outreach Program
About every two years, we send a Community Outreach Questionnaire and map of the fire protection area to officials in your community. The questionnaire asks about any significant changes in your fire protection capabilities since your last PPC evaluation. On the map, we ask you to indicate changes in protection boundaries, locations of fire stations, and other relevant items.
We can also accept your community information in GIS format in place of paper maps.
We carefully reviews the information your community provides to determine whether a new survey would result in a change to your PPC or the geographic area covered by your PPC. If so, we’ll contact the appropriate officials to schedule a survey.
Community officials contacting us
If your community makes changes that might affect your PPC, call us at 1-800-444-4554 to request a Community Outreach Questionnaire. We’ll evaluate your changes and, if appropriate, schedule a survey.
Miscellaneous information sources
We monitor local newspapers for announcements about issues related to fire protection. We also receive such information from insurance companies, agents, and local citizens. When we learn of changes that might affect your community’s PPC, we contact appropriate senior officials in the community for confirmation and additional information. If warranted, we’ll schedule a survey. Sometimes we learn of problems that could lead to a worse PPC. After discussions with community officials, if it appears that such a problem is a temporary situation, we schedule a follow-up before initiating a survey.
Even if we have no information about changes in your community’s fire protection capabilities, we periodically perform a survey to confirm or update your existing PPC and the geographic area to which it applies.
Information about a community’s public fire protection should reflect current capabilities and geographic area of responsibilities. You should report even minor changes regarding your community or fire protection area to reflect the most current level of protection.
When we initiate a survey, we will contact appropriate officials in your community. To let you make the necessary arrangements, we normally make our request several weeks before the targeted inspection date. And we generally follow up with a phone call to the mayor, city manager, or other appropriate official to finalize the arrangements.
Because your PPC depends on multiple factors, including emergency communications, fire department, water supply, and community risk reduction efforts, we may not evaluate every aspect of fire protection at the same time. We could evaluate a major water project, for example, and apply that information to the grading without completely revisiting each fire department item.
For more information on any topic related to the Public Protection Classification (PPC®) program or the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, Contact us, or call our mitigation specialists at 1-800-444-4554.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
- Foreign Fire Insurance Premium Grant
- Annual monies passed through to the borough from the Pa Auditor General office
- May vary each year
- Budget item: General Fund (note: not a budget expense or asset)
- Borough Cash Contribution
- Annual monies
- Budget item: General Fund
- Determined by council
- May vary each year depending on available funds
- Insurance & Bonding
- Annual monies
- Budget item: General Fund
- Determined by council
- May vary each year depending on need
- Other Budgeted Items (as appearing in general fund budget documentation)
- “Vehicle Parts”
- “Minor machinery & Equipment”
- “Improvements other than buildings”
- Diesel Fuel Reimbursement
- As of April 2024, the borough will reimburse WMVFD for diesel fuel purchases
- Budget item: General Fund
- Note: As of April 11, 2024, council ended its direct diesel provision to the WMVFD because the borough’s diesel is the off-road type. It is unlawful to use this type of diesel in road vehicles. WMVFD may still purchase diesel and present receipts to the borough for reimbursement.
- The Commonwealth does allow fire departments to apply for a liquid fuels tax refund
- The PA Liquid Fuels and Fuels Tax, under section 9017(b)(2), allows volunteer fire, rescue and ambulance squads to petition Board of Finance & Revenue, located in the Department of the Treasury, for a refund of the tax paid on fuel consumed in such operations. Petitions must be filed for the year ended June 30 by the following September 30 in accordance with Department Regulation found at 61 Pa. Code 315.6. In order to claim the refund, volunteer fire companies and ambulance squads must register and receive an account number from the Treasury Department. Once the company registers, it will each year automatically receive the forms to claim their refund.
IN-KIND SUPPORT
- Fuel Provision
- Borough offers WMVFD both gasoline and diesel fuel from bulk stores at the borough building
- Budget item: General Fund
- Note: As of April 11, 2024, council ended its direct diesel provision to the WMVFD because the borough’s diesel is the off-road type. It is unlawful to use this type of diesel in road vehicles. WMVFD may still purchase diesel and present receipts to the borough for reimbursement.
- Park Shelter Rental Concession
- As of February 2024, council ended the park shelter rental concession managed by WMVFD for many years. Council awarded the concession to the Recreation Board.
EQUIPMENT / MATERIEL – Relative to the fire service, what equipment or materiel has been purchased by, on behalf of, or is actually owned by the borough?
REAL ESTATE – Relative to the fire service, what real estate is owned by the borough?
- Parking lot lease ($1/annum)
- Budget item: General Fund
Note: The following recommendations are to be presumed speculative and incomplete until the FSRC has finished its fact-finding. Concluding recommendations will be listed in its final report to council.
LEADERSHIP
- Council should define its administrative leadership structure giving the president of council executive authority over all fire service matters. The president of council should delegate managerial authority over all fire service matters to the chair of a Public Safety Committee (PSC) (formerly the Fire & Police Committee).
- The PSC chair should not be a member of the current fire service provider, but committee members are permitted.
- Council should appoint at least one citizen representative to serve on the PSC.
- The PSC chair should abide by all reporting and accountability requirements implemented by council.
OVERSIGHT & ACCOUNTABILITY
- Council should revise, update, and modernize its current fire services ordiances recodified under a comprehensive “Fire Prevention and Fire Protection” ordinance.
- As authorized by ordinance, council should be included in any ISO Fire Service audits.
- As authorized by ordinance, council should have the sole authority to enter into mutual aid agreements with other municpal fire services.
- As authorized by ordinance, council should receive relevent financial records from the the current fire service.
FUNDING AND FINANCES
- Foreign Fire Insurance Tax monies should be kept separate and apart from from the general fund, and not included as part of the general fund for “fire servies” budgeting purposes.
Example: Borough of Huntington, Fire Prevention and Fire Protection Ordinance – §7-201. Foreign Insurance Tax Money to Be Kept Separate. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer of the Borough to keep the money received from the State Treasurer for tax on foreign insurance companies under the second section of an act entitled “An Act to Provide Revenue by Taxation, etc.,” approved the 28th day of June 1895, separate and apart from the other funds of said Borough. (Ord. 2/25/1896)
2. After the borough’s annual financial audit is complete, the PSC chair should be required to review and evaluate the auditor’s findings for the “Public Safety – Fire” section of the audit.
3. The PSC should review the borough’s annual budgeted/actual financial and in-kind support for the fire service, and evaluate if the borough’s support is sufficient. If not, the PSC should request more accurate appropriations.
4. Council might consider supplementing from the general fund any annual Foreign Fire Insurance Tax payment to the WMVFD so that the payment is at least $5,893, the 16-year average annual allocation from the state. No financial supplement will be provided to WMVFD if the state’s allocation is over $5,893.
5. Council might consider formulating a fixed schedule for its annual cash “contribution” to the WMVFD over defined periods of time (e.g., 3 years or 5 years). This schedule of payments could be indexed to inflation, and it could provide more stability for the borough’s budeting process.
6. The borough secretary-treasure should explain and possibly remedy the apparent discrepancy between the borough’s annual budgeting for “Insurance and Bonding” and the WMFRA’s financial reporting for “Insurance Premiums” and “Bond Premiums” as listed in the Auditor General’s reports.
7. The borough might request that the WMVFD apply for the liquid fuels tax refund each year and remit the refund to the general fund. Alternatively, the borough should seek this refund itself, if possible. This would save taxpayers money and reduce the cost of fire service expenses.
