The Upper Milford Township supervisors announced at their Feb. 7 meeting they will hold a special meeting 7 p.m. March 12 to update the township's emergency management plan.

Supervisors agreed some changes need to be made after residents urged the board, in the wake of the extended power outage after Hurricane Sandy, to update procedures for shelters and helping people stranded during emergencies.

Otherwise last week, insurance issues dominated the discussion.

Robert Longley, of Longley Insurance Agency, Inc., the township's current insurance carrier, briefed supervisors on the implications of a new law, the Fireman's Cancer Presumption Law, which expands the ability of firefighters who develop cancer to make a disability claim on the township's insurance.

Also, Paul Pugielli, of Brown and Brown Insurance Agency, who had submitted an unsuccessful proposal last year to be the township's insurance carrier, reviewed his company's credentials and asked whether supervisors will be considering making a change to a different carrier this year.

He said he believed his company, which represents many municipalities in the Lehigh Valley and beyond, could offer some savings.

Supervisors, and Township Manager Daniel DeLong, however, indicated they are satisfied with the current insurance carrier and probably won't be requesting proposals for at least a couple of years.

During Pugielli's presentation, Longley asked a question about his proposal, leading to some testy exchanges between the two men. But later, Longley told the board "Paul is still on my Christmas card list."

The cancer presumption law which Longley described is a "game changing law." It makes any type of cancer an occupational hazard for firefighters. If they are diagnosed with cancer within 300 weeks of exposure to carcinogens while fighting a fire, they are presumed to have gotten the cancer as a result of that exposure.

The municipality has the right to challenge the claim, for instance, if the firefighter has been a heavy smoker.

But Longley warned a typical claim under the new law could be as much as $500,000, and said lots of insurance carriers are simply dropping the coverage.

"The law clearly was not thought out," he said.

Pugielli concurred, calling the law "basically an unfunded mandate." Both agreed the law is likely to be amended, to perhaps cover just certain types of cancer.

In other business, supervisors adopted several ordinances, some of which just reworded sections of the zoning ordinance so definitions aren't in conflict with other parts of the ordinance, and two related to stormwater management for the Little Lehigh and Saucon Creek watersheds.

Three others dealt with changes in how the elected tax collector will be compensated since a change in the way the local services tax (formerly the occupational privilege tax) will be collected.

DeLong also explained an item on the list of fund disbursements for $184,134 to the Western District Fire Company. That is money the township holds for the fire company for substantial expenses, and the company is planning to buy a new pumper for $405,376.