CRANBERRY TWP — A citizens committee is recommending that the Cranberry Volunteer Fire Company hire a full-time chief/executive, restructure its leadership and make other changes.

The 14-member ad hoc citizens committee was formed in June after the township supervisors passed a resolution asking for the creation of a long-term strategic plan for the department.

The supervisors Thursday accepted the plan after hearing a presentation from members of the committee.

The committee made several recommendations for how the department can meet the needs of the township.

These included revising the agreement between the department and the township to acknowledge the plan and establishing a board of trustees made up of township and fire department representatives.

The agreement originally was adopted in the 1990s and was last revised in 1998.

Restructuring the leadership of the department will be a challenge, President Ed Hestin said.

“We’ve got 56 years of history of an organization that has pretty much operated the same way, but looking forward and trying to understand at what the fire company might look like in the future, I think this is a very appropriate time to step back and look at the leadership structure of the fire company,” he said.

The plan also recommends that the department develop a long-term capital expenditures plan and hire a full-time chief/executive and

This person would be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and would possibly handle the duties of either the president or the fire chief, said Jeff Schueler, Cranberry’s director of public safety.

The department already has one full-time employee, an administrative assistant who acts as a liaison to the township.

The committee found that there was a high turnover rate for officers in the department, which has led to a lack of continuity.

The responsibilities and burdens placed on volunteer leaders are often more than can be expected from someone for no pay.

“We recognize, certainly with the leadership positions, it’s very difficult to maintain the high level of time and commitment it takes,” committee member Dan Santoro said.

Supervisor Bruce Hezlep agreed that being an officer for the department is stressful and can lead to burnout.

“I was president of the fire company for five years. It is a full-time job in addition to your normal job,” he said.

The committee recommended the department set a new standard of response. This would state how quickly the department expects it will be able to respond to a call, Schueler said.

The department may look into starting a live-in program where volunteers stay overnight at the station, but that would require money and space to implement, he said.

Another recommendation made by the plan is for the department to revise its membership requirements to be respectful to the time commitment of volunteers and to institute a competency-based training program to evaluate members based on ability and not solely on attendance or certification, according to the report.

One problem facing the Cranberry department and fire departments all around the state is a lack of volunteers.

Having a sufficient number of healthy and engaged volunteers always is a priority, Santoro said.

“We need to have that in order to have a professional volunteer organization if we’re going to achieve the mission of the organization and meet the community needs,” he said.

The department has 37 active firefighters, six fire police and three junior firefighters, according to its website.

In 2015, the Cranberry Township Community Chest made firefighter recruitment and retention its project of the year. The group raised almost $400,000, which was used to buy two emergency trailers used for recruitment, training and educational purposes by departments around the county. It also established a scholarship at Butler County Community College that awards money to any student who pledges at least two years of service to a volunteer fire department.

Officials said the department leaders and the township now will take time to study and discuss the recommendations.

The department is not obligated to follow the recommendations and it may be months, or even years, before some of the items are addressed, Schueler said.

Revising the agreement with the township and setting a standard of response time will be looked at first because those items will likely affect the other recommendations, he said.