HISTORY
OF THE

MONTGOMERY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Although the very beginning of what we now know as the "Montgomery Emergency Management Agency" (EMA) began during the early 1960's, it wasn't until the mid 1970's until regular meetings were being held and minutes retained. The purpose of the EMA is to provide a community emergency preparedness response plan and self-help training, provide disaster event public warnings and information, respond to emergency events with life-saving skills and equipment, provide for event management and coordination, and assist with the community recovery effort.

On July 27, 1964, Leslie Gruver, upon recommendation by the Borough Council, was appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania to the volunteer position of "Civil Defense Director" for the Borough. Through the following few years, meetings were held with Borough Council representatives and discussions were held concerning activities to be conducted during a disaster event A project was presented to the Borough Council each year with hopes that they would place funding in their budget so that the project could be carried out. In January 1970, Leslie took on the organization’s position of Administrative Assistant with the duties of secretary, treasurer, and newsletter editor.

On December 29, 1969, Dennis Gruver, upon recommendation by Borough Council, was appointed by the Governor to the volunteer position "Civil Defense Director" (EMA Coordinator) for the Borough. With his leadership and guidance, our Civil Defense (Emergency Management) organization has continued to greatly prosper and grow.

Although a couple of informal meetings were held during 1973, regular meetings did not begin until March 1975. This was mostly prompted by the flood that had occurred on February 24, 1975. This flood followed the community’s most disastrous flood in recent history of June 1972. From that time until present day, regular monthly meetings have been held on the second Thursday of every month.

On December 6, 1975, the first monthly "Montgomery Civil Defense" newsletter was issued. Les Gruver was the editor and has remained so to this day. Content input is provided by the current EMA Coordinator. The intent of the newsletter is to inform the members of the next monthly meeting, announce upcoming events and advise them of recent activities of the organization. Soon after, the minutes were also included with each monthly newsletter. Today, the monthly newsletters and minutes are emailed to those members with internet access.

The great success of the Montgomery EMA over the years can be directly contributed to its long-time and extremely faithful volunteers. Many of the current members have been volunteers for many years and have volunteered their time and skills to assist with many meetings, projects, work parties, parades, fund raisers, and civic events as well as participating in many hours of training, exercises and actual events.

The Montgomery Borough Council has been most helpful over these many years by providing funding, equipment, manpower and approval of the many projects and grant requests the EMA continues to undertake.

With the wonderful community effort supporting the Montgomery EMA, the organization will continue to serve the community for many years to come.

Montgomery Emergency Management

Borough of Montgomery, Lycoming County, PA 

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