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Pennsylvania training regs creating a ‘heavy, heavy lift’

An enhanced training obligation for municipal-level emergency management coordinators drew the ire of elected leaders during Wednesday’s Council of Government’s meeting.

Every municipality is required to have a person in that position, but Public Safety Director Ken McCorrison said it has “been a struggle” to find a certified person given substantial increases in the training obligations. He said that some municipalities are sharing a certified individual but said there are six vacancies throughout the county.

“It’s a heavy, heavy lift,” he said of the training requirements.

Mead Township Supervisor Al Fox said the obligations are “just unbelievable.”

He said this is an instance of “overregulation (that) went crazy on us.” The legislature, he said, gave the opportunity to agency staff to craft.

“This stuff came from a bunch of bureaucrats,” he said.

McCorrison also said that state officials are seeking to learn whether the elected officials themselves have completed National Incident Management System certifications. NIMS provides ” shared vocabulary, systems and processes” that allow cohesive responses to incidents, according to FEMA.

McCorrison said that there is funding tied to being compliant with the training.

“Harrisburg has now gotten out of control,” Pleasant Township Supervisor Arden Knapp said.

As part of a broader formalization process, the COG elected officers during Wednesday’s meeting.

Clarendon Borough Councilman Paul Pascuzzi was elected chair, Knapp was elected vice-chair while Youngsville Borough Councilman Troy Clawson was elected secretary/treasurer.

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