Cranberry Township honored one of its firefighters, who has been in the service over 50 years and is now retiring, at its meeting Thursday.
Seneca Volunteer Fire Department Medical Officer and Former Chief Bill Boyer was honored by a proclamation from the township supervisors, lauding his 54 years with the Seneca VFD.
Boyer joined the department in 1970 after completing industrial fire training.
“Over the decades, he pursued extensive fire and medical training, earning his EMT (emergency medical technician) and instructor certifications and mentoring countless responders,” said supervisors chairman Mike Deibert, who read the proclamation.
Boyer also served as assistant chief and became fire chief in 1989, holding the position for 17 years and overseeing the construction of a new station in 2001.
He has been medical officer since 2006 and has been the department’s top responder every year, Deibert said.
“Bill’s remarkable service, leadership and commitment to the community leave a lasting legacy, and we honor him with gratitude as he retires,” the proclamation concluded.
Supervisor Bob Betzold said that if he needed medical attention, Boyer was “who I would want to come.”
“I appreciate working with the township over the years, and basically the public, residents of township and visitors to Cranberry Township,” Boyer said after the proclamation was read. “We’ve got some good people.”
Several members of the Seneca VFD also attended the meeting for the reading of the proclamation, and the supervisors thanked them for their service as well.
“Bill, it was from your leadership that a lot of these folks are here tonight,” Deibert said to Boyer. “That’s a true testament of your leadership within the department.”
Deibert also thanked the firefighters for their service to the community.
“It would be wonderful if we had people knocking down doors for volunteerism,” he said. “The people here tonight do a yeoman’s amount of work, and it’s really appreciated.”
“You guys do an excellent job,” added supervisor Matt McSparren.
The only other agenda item Thursday, a change to one item in the employee handbook, was tabled.
Township Manager Sabrina Backer said after the meeting that the supervisors had decided to update the whole handbook at one time rather than make piecemeal changes.
In other business Thursday, two members of the public addressed the supervisors with questions.
Josh Scrivens, president of the Cranberry Small Business Association, said the association is thinking about bringing the Cranberry Festival back to Morrison Park and asked if the township would be able to clean up the pond there so the fishing derby could be held in it.
Deibert, who is on the township Parks and Recreation Committee, agreed that the pond was overgrown and needed maintenance, but said “we’d have to get somebody to help us with that process. It wouldn’t just be taking an excavator over and dipping it out, I’m afraid.”
He added that it probably couldn’t be done by this year, but “it’s something we definitely would look at.”
And township resident Gordon Bickel asked supervisors how many people would be employed at the Commonwealth Charter Academy administrative building, which the Venango County Regional Planning Commission approved Tuesday to be built near the Home Depot.
McSparren estimated about 100 people, and Bickel observed he thought more housing would need to be constructed to house those jobs.
Backer also praised the road crews for their work keeping the roads clear “in this frigid weather.”
