Another regional police force may be in the works in Schuylkill County.
Earlier this week, Tamaqua Borough Council President Brian Connely said talks have begun with Coaldale officials on providing police coverage there.
According to a Times News report, members of the Coaldale Police force began resigning in September 2024 until everyone was gone by the end of the year. Since then, Pennsylvania State Police have been providing coverage to that borough.
Tamaqua’s police roster has nine full-time officers and four part-timers. Two of the part-timers are active, according to Chief Michael Hobbs. On Tuesday, Borough Council unanimously approved the hiring of part-time officer Fred Lahovski.
“Coaldale did approach us to try to work up an agreement to provide police services for the borough,” Connely said.
Tamaqua has formed a committee to explore the possibility of providing police coverage to Coaldale. Connely said, “We have an agreement drawn up,” but the talks are in the very early stages right now.
Connely stressed that Tamaqua isn’t planning on giving its neighbor a free ride if it does provide police coverage there.
“At no time is this a free charge. There are costs,” he said.
He also said that Tamaqua isn’t viewing this potential deal as a way to generate any revenue for the borough.
“We’re trying to do the best we can for a neighbor and it gives us the opportunity to have some growth within our department so we can do some things as a regional-type force,” Connely added.
Solicitors from each borough are currently involved in the negotiation process and that a “framework” for a future deal is agreed to already.
“We’re not going to give up anything. We’re setting this up so that we can stay where we are with what we do in Tamaqua,” Connely said. “I think they realized the structure we have in Tamaqua with our police department and the things we already have and that we can offer.”
Hiring Problems
Tamaqua is not immune to the recruitment and retention issues that are plaguing municipal police departments in Schuylkill County and elsewhere. So any agreement to provide police coverage outside its borders would present a challenge in finding enough people to fill the jobs such a deal might create.
On Tuesday, Borough Council approved a motion to authorize its Civil Service Commission to conduct a police officer exam and prepare a list of at least five potential candidates to fill cop jobs in the future.
A vote was also taken to approve the advertising of another part-time police job opening on the Tamaqua force. The job would pay $20 per hour.
Although the borough did approve a part-time police officer hire on Tuesday, Connely admitted that the $20 per hour rate “could be on the lower side” for a part-time job. But he feels Tamaqua’s pay for full-time officers is competitive.
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