Officials at the volunteer Belle Valley Fire Department in Millcreek Township have refused to sign a new services agreement with the township over several concerns, including statements and action indicating the township seeks to merge its four volunteer departments into the paid township department.
GREG WOHLFORD/ERIE TIMES-NEWS
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Millcreek Township and one of the township’s four volunteer fire departments have reached an agreement that addresses one of several key issues at the heart of what has become a contentious relationship.
But officials on both sides have yet to resolve some other key issues, although township and Belle Valley Fire Department representatives said talks are ongoing.
At a meeting Oct. 1 involving Millcreek Township supervisors, Millcreek Fire Chief Michael Cliff and representatives of the Belle Valley Fire Department, Belle Valley agreed to implement the township’s records management system, with a target of Jan. 1 for full implementation, a spokeswoman for the township told the Erie Times-News Oct. 2. Belle Valley will work with the township’s career department to onboard and train firefighters on the program, the spokeswoman said.
Belle Valley’s failure to utilize the records management system was one of several issues township officials raised in a Sept. 1 news release, and at a news conference that same day. Failing to utilize the records system was in breach of regulations the township passed in 2021 requiring all volunteer departments utilize a common records management system – a requirement adopted on the recommendation of the township’s fire commission, “of which BVFD is a member,” according to the news release.
The other issues raised by the township had to do with Belle Valley’s refusal to sign onto a Fire Protection, Ambulance and Emergency Services agreement, as the township’s other volunteer departments – Kearsarge, West Lake and West Ridge – had; and the township’s concern about Belle Valley’s ability to respond to calls in its area, citing what they said was a large percentage of calls with no recorded response in 2025 and through the first eight months of 2026.
Belle Valley was given until Sept. 30 to comply with the records management system requirement and to move forward with discussions on the other matters.
Supplement or consolidate?
Belle Valley officials have said they did not sign the emergency services agreement for a number of reasons. The big sticking point, according to Belle Valley President David Nientemp, is that, when the paid department was created, the plan was for it to supplement the service already provided by the volunteer departments. That was stated during a January 2023 township supervisors meeting where the board voted to enact the ordinance creating the paid department.
The ordinance recognized Belle Valley and the other volunteer departments as the volunteer fire departments in Millcreek.
“Now they’re talking about consolidation and merger, which is totally different from the original intent,” Nientimp said.
As a result of not signing the contract, the paid department does not have access to Belle Valley’s fire station, apparatus and equipment.
Officials at Belle Valley and the township’s other volunteer departments have said they supported the creation of a career department to augment the services they currently provide for a number of reasons. They include fewer number of volunteers, an increase in calls in the growing township, and less time for members to be available due to work and family commitments.
However, in an open letter sent to township supervisors Sept. 4, Belle Valley officials noted an Erie Times-News article from Sept. 1 in which Cliff was quoted as stating that, if Belle Valley signed the agreement, they would work toward a merger and a plan to fully merge into one department.
Among the goals outlined in a 2025-2030 strategic plan for the career fire department are consolidating local volunteer departments into the Millcreek Fire Department “to provide seamless service to the community.”
“That is not preserving an independent volunteer fire department. That is describing its eventual absorption into a single township fire department,” the Sept. 4 letter reads.
Cliff, who oversees a paid department that has grown from nine members at its start to 33 full-time employees and 15 part-time firefighters today, according to the township, said the concept of a merger is nothing new. According to a timeline provided by the township that outlines what they called the evolution of fire protection in Millcreek, a new vision for fire and emergency medical services as recommended by the Fire Commission and adopted by the township in August 2019 called for long-term consolidation of services under a nonprofit structure.
“At the end of the day, the township wasn’t the one driving that. That was actually from the volunteers and the strategic planning,” Cliff said. “There has not been any force from the township.”
Cliff likened it to two people dating who mutually want to take their relationship to the next level.
“But we’re not forcing that. If people don’t want to merge, fine, we just have to have an agreement in place,” he said.
Cliff said the departments that have been working with the township are able to see how well they are working together. There have been bumps in the road, he said, but ultimately the partnership is providing a better level of service today than prior to that when Millcreek just had volunteer departments.
Nientimp said Belle Valley officials have gone through the agreement Millcreek Township wants them to sign, took out some things they did not like and presented their proposed agreement to township officials at the recent meeting, one of two he credits Supervisor Kylie Morris with setting up to begin the conversation. He said the meetings have been productive and they will continue as both sides work on a resolution.
“We do support the paid department. We have nothing against them. We want to stick to the letter of the original contract, where they supplement the volunteers,” Nientimp said.
Cliff said township supervisors are ultimately the ones in the driver’s seat as to whether or not to take any action against Belle Valley, noting the department did miss the Sept. 30 deadline. So there’s still a sense of urgency in signing on to the agreement, he said.
“I think that, obviously, there is uncertainty on their end. We will continue the conversations to bring closure to any questions they have on signing the agreement,” he said.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Millcreek, Belle Valley resolve one fire-services dispute; talks ongoing
Reporting by Tim Hahn, Erie Times-News / Erie Times-News
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This story was originally published October 5, 2026 at 4:48 AM.