Council hears extended warnings about police staffing shortages and budget trade-offs

Council heard an extended report from borough police leadership about a growing staffing shortfall among part-time officers and the operational strain on full-time staff. The chief described repeated vacancies and pull-outs to neighboring departments, saying the borough is "training people left and right" who are quickly recruited elsewhere.

Council members and staff discussed short-term fixes such as creating a civil service candidate list and holding recruitment testing and longer-term choices including whether to shift more positions to full time. One council member said current part-time policing costs are "roughly 30% of our budget" and estimated a move to a full-time force could raise that share to about 35%, a change that would likely affect property taxes.

The conversation touched on practical constraints: Lackawanna County’s academy schedule and training lead times, the limited pool of applicants, the costs of benefits for full-time hires, and collective-bargaining considerations (including negotiated hourly rates for part-time officers). Council directed staff and the personnel committee to work on immediate candidate-list options and to bring back recommendations on recruitment, budgeting and contract negotiations in the coming weeks.

No formal policy change was adopted at the meeting; council members agreed to pursue the civil service list and further analysis before deciding on any structural staffing change.