Feb 26, 2026 By Jon Andreassi 3 min read

The South Strabane Township Board of Supervisors moved toward paring back the 2026 budget after a snafu earlier in the month prevented elected officials from adopting a revised spending plan.

Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday evening to eliminate the position of administrative assistant and public safety specialist. Supervisors George Rowand, Jeff Bull and Zack Morgan voted in favor of cutting the position, while Bob Weber and Russ Grego voted against it.

The job, held by Kelsey Shriner, was on the chopping block when supervisors reopened the 2026 budget at the start of the year. Ultimately, supervisors could not approve the budget because it was not properly advertised prior to the Feb. 15 deadline.

The original spending plan budgeted $68,800 for the administrative assistant and public safety specialist job. At a budget workshop meeting, South Strabane Fire Department Chief Jordan Cramer had sharp criticisms for the decision to get rid of the job.

Cramer called it a cut to public safety and that the responsibilities would fall to him and to an “already extremely overburdened fire staff.”

“It’s dangerously falling onto us. It’s a risk to firefighter safety, it’s a risk to emergency response, disaster preparedness, regulatory compliance, our grant eligibility, our liability as a municipality and the continuity of government,” Cramer said at the January meeting.

When reached by phone Wednesday, Cramer called the decision to cut the job, “extremely disappointing.”

According to Cramer, Shriner’s role primarily was to help support both career and volunteer firefighters with logistics and administrative duties. He said the loss of her position will have a “lasting and rippling effect on public safety.”

“It leans back on our operational firefighters who are already overburdened with an incredible call volume in this area,” Cramer said.

In a phone call Wednesday, Bull argued the responsibilities of the position are part of Cramer’s contract, and that the position should not have been created.

“You either fix spending or you raise taxes. When George and I ran, we made a commitment to get the spending under control. When Zack ran, he made a commitment to get the spending under control,” Bull said. “We’re doing what the majority elected us to do.”

According to Bull, Shriner will remain through the current pay period, which runs to the end of February.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, supervisors voted 3-2 to advertise an ordinance to repeal the ordinance creating the township parks and recreation commission. Supervisors had planned to cut $10,000 for parks and recreation programming.

The ordinance, if passed, will eliminate the commission.

Supervisors also voted to advertise a special meeting on March 19 for hearings on ordinances regulating data centers, battery energy storage systems and noise.

The South Strabane Township Planning Commission will hold its own special meeting tonight where it will vote on whether or not to recommend that supervisors adopt these ordinances. The planning commission will meet at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.

The time and location for the meeting that will be held for the special meeting has not yet been set.

“We don’t know if it’s going to be at the township building, or if the fire department is going to allow us to use their facility,” Bull said.