Muncy Township firehouse sewage fiasco drags on

Muncy, Pa. — Over two months ago, sewage backed up in the Muncy Township Volunteer Fire Company’s station. It’s still on the floor, and has creeped up the walls and into the air. 

Chairman Terri Lauchle had indicated she would sign necessary insurance documents to get cleanup started on three separate occasions this week, and each time, has not followed through. 

First fake out

On Monday, June 22, firefighters were set to move their trucks to Station 39 in Muncy Creek Township at 5 p.m., following the filing a lawsuit on June 18 asking a judge to order the township to let cleanup crews into the Village Road fire station. 

Then, Company President Nick Palmatier told press members gathered to capture the vehicles rolling out that it had been delayed, as Lauchle had just informed them that she would be able to sign insurance documents “around lunchtime” the next day. 

Palmatier recalled the conversation with her that day as follows:

“I said, ‘Terri, we’re moving the trucks today.’

“She goes, ‘Well, why? Why?’

“Because I don’t go back on what I say. I said we’d move if you don’t have anything done by Monday.

“She says, ‘Well, can’t you give us one more day?’

“And I said, ‘Terri. You’ve known about this for a week now!’”

Still, Palmatier relented and paused the move, hoping Lauchle would keep her word. 

Chief on the move: ‘Hardest thing that I ever had to do’

Then came Tuesday, June 23. The notification went out that the move was on again, and set for 5 p.m. 

“She didn’t sign,” Palamtier said, referring to the insurance documents that would allow cleanup crews to come in. 

Several company members, including Palamtier and Muncy Township Fire Chief Scott Oldweiler, made the approximately 7-minute drive in their 261 Village Road station’s vehicles to the Muncy Area Volunteer Fire Company at 932 E. Penn Street. 

They arrived one-by-one at Station 39, and backed their vehicles into their new temporary home.

Oldweiler, who has been Muncy Township’s fire chief for about 14 years and a company member for 40, shared, “It was the hardest thing that I ever had to do as a fire chief — and I’m sure it’s the hardest thing (Palamtier) ever had to do as a president — to take our equipment and our responders from our hometown.”

Oldweiler added that he hopes to see the move reversed sooner than later, and that he would “really like to urge the residents to speak to the supervisors and stress their opinions on why we had to move these trucks.”

“This is uncalled for,” the chief concluded.

Lloyd Hubert, a 77-year-old member who has been part of the company since he joined at 19, said that back when he started, he “didn’t have to go through all the stuff that they go through now, except it was little different.” 

Then, phones started buzzing. Standing by the trucks they had just moved, Chief Oldweiler flipped his cell around to the group of members around him, and revealed Lauchle was calling him. He defiantly pressed the red decline button on the screen. 

“Done,” Oldweiler said.

Hubert then asked Oldweiler and Palmatier if during the company’s upcoming 2 p.m. hearing on Friday, June 26, that they could present to Judge Eric Linhardt a petition including gathered township residents’ signatures calling for Lauchle’s removal.

“That’s not how it works,” Palmatier sighed. 

Palmatier encourages any resident or firefighter in the surrounding area to attend the court case on Friday to show their support, he said.

Lauchle’s side

Back at the Muncy Township building above the now-empty fire station — besides the 2-month-old human waste on the floor — Lauchle paced back and forth on the lawn, leaving voice message after voice message on the firemen’s phones as each of them ignored or declined her calls. 

Frantic, she explained that she had wanted them to hold off again on the move, and arrived to the station to find they already left.

When approached, Lauchle maintained that the delays were not hers to control. The decision to authorize cleanup, she said, rested with the insurance company — not the township.

“We can’t make that decision,” she said, explaining that the company had told her it would provide a form confirming the township was cleared to sign. “It’s relying on them to allow us to do it.”

Additionally, she told Chief Oldweiler that she had never meant to insinuate she would sign midday on Tuesday. 

Lauchle said she had spoken with the township’s insurer that afternoon, and that they got back to her shortly after 4 p.m., near the end of their business day.

By her account, the confirming form was expected “first thing tomorrow morning,” and once company President Palmatier received it, he would take it directly to their attorney, Marc Lovecchio. 

If that happened, she said, there would be no need for Friday’s hearing.

She also pointed to the timeline she felt had been working against the township from the start, noting it had taken two weeks just to get an insurance adjuster to the site, and that the adjuster had only arrived the day before. She said she had pushed the insurer on how quickly the matter could be resolved.

Lauchle attributed the standoff in part to the terms binding the township, describing the company as bound by both the lease and the insurance policy, with the insurance “going by the lease.” Still, she said she held no personal grievance against the firefighters.

“I have no problem with them,” she said.

Friday hearing still on

Wednesday morning came and went. As of the time of publication, no indication that Lauchle signed the documents exists. Palmatier maintains that he is not aware of her making any effort to sign or forward the documents to Lovecchio.

On the Lycoming Courthouse’s schedule, the hearing at 2 p.m. on Friday is still set in Courtroom 1 before Judge Linhardt for him to hears the fire company’s argument for a preliminary injunction being placed on the township.