Mahoning Township Police Department cruisers will have new first aid kits and CPR masks thanks to donations by volunteers of the Mahoning Valley Ambulance Association who were represented last Monday night by Treasurer Bob Miller and Volunteer Matthew Ruch.

Ruch said, "We also provided replacement pads for the AED [the defibrillator] which was used in an incident recently."Chairperson John Wieczorek accepted the kits and masks on behalf of the police department and thanked Ruch and Miller for their association's donations saying they appreciated their generosity and assured them they would definitely be placed in the vehicles in good use.Miller also mentioned there was an incident in which Palmerton responded to a mutual aid incident in the township due to a procedure followed by the county communications center in response to a signed regional mass casualty incident plan that was included in a recent mutual aid agreement that Mahoning Township signed that had designated Palmerton as the secondary responder instead of Mahoning Valley Ambulance Association."The form that you submitted designated Palmerton as the backup responder instead of us in the township if Lehighton cannot make the call," Miller said. He pointed out that Palmerton has quite a distance to travel to adequately cover the entire township. Supervisor Travis Steigerwalt said that the Dieter Hill area is close enough that Palmerton might be a good choice.Supervisor Bruce Steigerwalt observed perhaps the township should have lines drawn as to which organization should be the secondary responder in certain areas of the township. Millers said that would be possible to do. The township would just need to notify the communications center.Wieczorek asked Miller if the township couldn't just resubmit the form. The board eventually unanimously voted 5-0 to send a letter or resubmit the form depending on what was required to Gary Williams to correct the mutual aid issue make the Mahoning Valley Ambulance Association the secondary responder.