By Mark Walters
The Evening Sun
HANOVER, Pa. — An Adams County fire company is shutting down on its own terms.
Kingsdale Volunteer Fire Company’s membership opted to dissolve the company, according to a statement posted to the company’s website last week.
Kingsdale was under scrutiny from the state attorney general’s office, which filed a lawsuit against the company on Oct. 31, in Adams County Court. The attorney general maintained the department, located at 1789 Frederick Pike in Germany Township, was raising money through fundraising events but had not been providing firefighting services since 2008.
Two Germany Township supervisors, Jack Ketterman and Thomas Osborne, had no intention of reinstating Kingsdale, according to the statement on the company’s website.
But Ketterman refuted the allegation.
“I have never said a word about that and to my knowledge, Osborne has never said that at a meeting either,” Ketterman said. “That is their opinion.”
Osborne and officials from Kingsdale did not immediately return phone calls.
The company was decertified by Germany Township in August 2008, and the commonwealth was told that Germany and Mount Joy townships did not intend to recertify Kingsdale at any future time, according to the attorney general’s October petition.
Because the company was not fulfilling its charitable purpose, the attorney general asked the court to issue a citation to Kingsdale, requiring the company to account for all funds received and expended from Jan. 1, 2008, to the present, the petition stated.
Adams County Judge John Kuhn granted Kingsdale officials a continuance in the case on May 2, after John Dowling, deputy attorney general, requested the company be dissolved. The continuance was granted with the understanding that Kingsdale officials would not raise any money, host any events or conduct operations until told otherwise by the court.
As part of Kuhn’s continuance, the Germany Township Board of Supervisors was tasked with deciding the company’s fate at the township’s June 9 meeting, where the three-member board would vote on whether or not to recertify the company.
Kingsdale intends to sell its property and assets to pay off its $408,000 mortgage, according to the company’s website, and company officials will petition the court to reassign any remaining money to the charity of the company’s choice.
But the defunct fire company does not control the disposition of its remaining assets, the court does, according to the attorney general’s office.
The Adams County Orphans’ Court will likely appoint a receiver who will sell off the company’s assets, pay off the creditors and distribute any assets to a successor fire company serving the community, said Carolyn E. Myers, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, in an email.
Company officials are still scheduled to appear at the township’s June 9 meeting, Ketterman said.
Kingsdale’s legal counsel, Hanover attorney Art Becker, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Alpha Fire Company in Littlestown is the sole provider of emergency response in Germany Township, according to an Alpha official.
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(c)2014 The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pa.)
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