Exception to PA House Preliminary Map
Exception Request – Adams County: Moving Oxford Township, New Oxford Borough, Berwick Township, and Abbottstown Borough from the PA House 91st District in the preliminary map and rejoining them with Reading Township and Hamilton Township in the PA House 193rd District as communities of interest. My name is Kevin Moul and I am reaching out on behalf of Fire and EMS providers in Northeast Adams County. I am issuing an exception request on behalf of United Hook and Ladder Company 33 and The Fire Store, a local provider of fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement equipment. I am reaching out over our strong concerns with parts of Northeastern Adams County being separated in the current Reapportionment proposal presented by your commission. In your plan, the municipalities of Oxford, New Oxford, Berwick, and Abbottstown are listed in the 91st Legislative District, while the municipalities of Hamilton and Reading are listed in the 193rd Legislative District. The focus of our Exception request is to recommend all 6 of these municipalities be rejoined together within the 193rd District as communities of interest. While there may be other reasons these 6 communities should be joined together, I am specifically requesting this exception on the grounds of the Emergency Response they provide to the greater Northeast Adams County area. All 6 of these municipalities fall under the coverage area of United Hook and Ladder Company 33 (located in New Oxford Township), the largest emergency service provider in Northern Adams County. Company 33 maintains a station within Reading Township, our largest geographic service area, along with Abbottstown Borough. Company 33 also provides mutual service aid to other municipalities throughout Northern Adams County, including Butler, Tyrone, Huntington, and Latimore Townships, all of which are located in the currently proposed 193rd District. Northeast Adams County is a close-knit community that United Hook and Ladder is happy to be a part of. Not only do we provide emergency response to this area, we are also active in the community and the 2 school districts that represent Northeast Adams, Conewago Valley School District and Bermudian Springs School District. Each of the municipalities listed above have strong ties and are communities of interest, sharing the same schools, businesses, churches, and emergency and public services. Currently, this area all resides within the 193rd Legislative District and I respectfully request that an exception with your preliminary map be made to allow them to continue to do so. The Northeast Adams County community relies heavily on our state officials for answers to questions, assistance with government forms and programs, and representation of our community in Harrisburg. Keeping our entire community represented in just one House District and one Senate District, as it currently is, would provide continuity and fair representation that we rely on so much. I understand that making this exception would require other changes to be made to surrounding PA House Districts. In this circumstance, it would be possible to do this by only changing 1 or 2 other districts at most. In your preliminary plan, the municipalities of Hamiltonban, Fairfield, Franklin, and Straban are all represented in the 193rd District. Moving these 4 municipalities back to the 199th District, would allow them to rejoin the rest of Fairfield Area School District and Gettysburg Area School District. Doing this would better combine communities of interest by nearly every aspect of the definition. If it is needed to further increase the population of the 193rd District closer to your average deviation, you could also make a small change in Cumberland County, by swapping Penn Township (located in the 199th District in the preliminary plan) back to the 193rd District in return for Upper Mifflin (located in the 193rd District in the preliminary plan). Thank you for the opportunity to express my views regarding your preliminary PA House map. For a summary and breakdown of the numbers, please see the following: 193rd District: Population of 64,369 after changes Adams Co – Receives Oxford Township, New Oxford Borough, Berwick Township, Abbottstown Borough Cumberland Co – Receives Penn Township 199th District: Population of 63,969 after changes Cumberland Co – Receives Upper Mifflin 91st District: Population of 65,612 after changes Adams Co – Receives Hamiltonban Township, Fairfield Borough, Franklin Township, Straban Township