Eldred Township's board of supervisors introduced an ordinance that would relegate Kunkletown Volunteer Fire Company with sole responsibility for fire protection services in the township, in addition to giving the board final approval over the selection of fire chiefs.

"About a year and a half ago, the board of supervisors felt that it should clarify and also strengthen its relationship with the volunteer fire company," Supervisor Mary Anne Clausen said.During that time, Kunkletown Volunteer Fire Company had been in the process of revising its constitution and bylaws."One of the things that we learned at the time was that Polk's board of supervisors approves the selection of the fire chief at its January reorganization meeting. It was something that we thought would also be a good practice for Eldred, and consistent with our effort to strengthen our relationship with the volunteer fire company," Clausen said.Solicitor Michael Gaul drafted an ordinance to reflect the change, as well as to charge Kunkletown Volunteer Fire Company "with the responsibility of providing fire prevention and protection service in the Township of Eldred." No other company would be able to operate in the township without approval from the board.The major factor of the ordinance revolves around the board's annual final approval of the company's fire chief, which would be conducted by Dec. 15 of each year."I think that the viewpoint of this board was that they wanted to minimize any kind of interference with the internal workings of the fire company, except to the extent that they though it was a good idea for the township to approve who the fire chief is, as the ultimate commander of who's responsible in times of fire emergency," Gaul said.The board approved the advertisement of the ordinance, with a consideration of adoption tentatively set for next month's meeting. The ordinance will be on display at the municipal office so residents may evaluate it.At Wednesday's meeting, the board also announced the receipt of and approval of the Kunkletown Volunteer Fire Company Relief Association Disbursement in the amount of $18,019.24."It's money that we receive from the state annually, and we just forward it on to the fire company," Clausen said.