State of Ross Township
By: Board President, Dan DeMarco
One of the primary responsibilities the Township of Ross has to its residents, is the maintenance and replacement of Township infrastructure. Among others, the infrastructure includes our streets, bridges, storm/sanitary sewers, and traffic signals. On October 16th, I presented the State of Ross Township - 2024 at a public meeting of the Board of Commissioners. Through the hard work of Township staff and our engineers, a total of $2.8 million in state and federal grants and reimbursements have been awarded to the Township in 2024. These are instrumental when it comes to setting the annual budget of the Township. It is important to understand that in many cases the Township will still be responsible for a percentage of the total cost of some of these projects. As an example, the Township will likely pay a total of $400,000 to $500,000 for the two (2) traffic signal replacements: one at Babcock Boulevard and Thompson Run Road, and the other at Babcock Boulevard and Rochester Road. Also included is a list of achievements in our public works, finance, police, parks and recreation, and community development/zoning/planning departments.
Additionally, in the April 2023 newsletter, I detailed The State of Fire Service in the Township. At that time the Township had engaged Robb Consulting, LLC to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the fire protection service in the Township. The assessment was launched in March 2023, and it involved many meetings and candid discussions with various stakeholders, most importantly current Township volunteer firefighters and their leadership. One of the largest challenges facing the volunteer fire service in the Township is recruiting and retaining individuals willing to serve as volunteer firefighters. Robb Consulting, LLC recently completed its assessment of the fire protection services: Organization Assessment and Strategy Recommendations. As part of the assessment, meetings were also scheduled and conducted to receive input from the public, and a survey was distributed for residents to complete and submit to Robb Consulting LLC. As a result, there are seven (7) strategy recommendations, and eight (8) objectives set forth to achieve those recommendations. The timelines for achieving them are aggressive and will involve an additional dedication of time by the firefighters and others. However, within a week of the release of the assessment, firefighters began discussing with the Township Objective 5: Adopt Performance Standards with Funding. Very important to the implementation of the recommendations is Objective3: Establish Community Engagement Committee. The Board of Commissioners will conduct outreach and interview individuals interested in serving on this committee, which will be responsible for educating and communicating the state of the fire protection service and building community support for the strategy recommendations. As I stated in April 2023, Harrisburg (nor any other government entity) will not provide us with solutions needed for the Township. We are on our own when it comes to deciding the best path forward.
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