ADAMS TWP — The Adams Township supervisors on Monday appointed one of their own to serve on an advisory board for the Mars Public Library.

During the regular meeting, the board voted to appoint Russ Ford to the library board, which was created earlier this spring after public complaints about transparency on the library’s board of directors, as well as with finances.

In April, township supervisors asked library board members to consider changing their meeting times to allow more residents to attend, and also consider ways to address a perceived imbalance in representation.

At the time, four of the board’s members were from Adams Township and three were from Middlesex Township. Supervisors asked that library bylaws be amended to allow for equal representation, with two members each from Adams and Middlesex and Mars, and one from Valencia.

On Monday, Thomas Franceschina said those requests and others were submitted to the library board. The library board, in turn, is seeking members for an advisory board, with one elected official from each borough or township chosen to serve. Ford was selected via a 3-0 vote, with himself and Supervisor Linda Lees, a library board member, abstaining.

Ford and Francheschina said the advisory board is intended to be a short-term project.

“The advisory board’s job is to go in and pretty much be the watchdog of what the actual board is doing at the library,” Ford said.

“Hopefully, once our bullet points are taken care of, (the board) can go away,” Franceschina added.

In other business, supervisors held a special meeting to consider a firefighter tax credit ordinance. The ordinance allows volunteers with the Adams Area Fire District to earn up to a $250 tax credit from the township. Firefighters would need to meet criteria set forth in the ordinance.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation in November 2016 that authorizes townships to grant tax credits to active fire and emergency medical services volunteers. Ford said neighboring boroughs and townships agreed to adopt the same ordinance, and asked that the Callery Volunteer Fire Department be included in the wording of the ordinance.

Michael Gallagher, village solicitor, said adding Callery would be a substantial enough change that a new public hearing would need to be held. Supervisors voted unanimously during the regular meeting to approve the matter for the Adams fire district, and expect to consider the Callery portion at their next meeting.

Also Monday, Hayley Geyer, township parks and recreation director, said the annual township Community Day on June 9 was a success. She said the 5K race held that morning saw 76 participants raise $1,520 for the Adams and Callery fire organizations.

“You did a marvelous job,” Lees told Geyer.

The board also voted Monday to change the time of its regular meetings from 7:30 to 7 p.m., with a pre-agenda meeting beginning at 6 p.m. The next meeting is set for 7 p.m. July 9.