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westfall township supervisors have given notice to the borough of matamoras that the township intends to pull out of the eastern pike regional police department in one year unless certain demands are met.
westfall township supervisors have given notice to the borough of matamoras that the township intends to pull out of the eastern pike regional police department in one year unless certain demands are met.
westfall is asking matamoras to meet within the next 30 days to discuss the joint police agreement and to have it renegotiated. if that is not accomplished, westfall will withdraw from the agreement within a year, westfall said in a letter faxed to matamoras this week.
it was very sneaky, the way they went about it, said eastern pike regional police department chief chad stewart.
the decision to write the letter came at the very end of mondays monthly supervisors meeting. a large crowd attended, but the police department was not on the agenda.
supervisors went into a closed-door executive session. most of the crowd went home. immediately following the executive session, with no public discussion, reading from a paper, supervisor larry flansburg recited a motion to send the letter to matamoras.
that is according to supervisor lester buchanan, who could not say what was discussed in executive session, but based on the motion immediately following the executive session, he said, one could draw their own conclusions.
closed-door executive sessions among elected officials in pennsylvania are allowed when discussing matters of litigation, personnel issues or real estate deals. if the fate of the police department was discussed during this executive session, it is unclear which of the these three, if any, was met.
buchanan was alone is his vote against sending the letter. supervisor bob melvin was not present.
supervisors flansburg, jerry dotey and ray banach voted to send the letter. banach was not present, but participated by speaker phone, as he often does during supervisor meetings.
it seems to be a tactic supervisors use frequently. i think its sad, stewart said of the letter.
supervisors also threatened to pull out of the department last year.
people of westfall need to express their concerns, and supervisors should listen to the people who elected them, stewart said.
the three supervisors who support putting matamoras on notice cite budget problems as the reason to pull out of the department, which formed in 2008 through the consolidation of the former westfall and matamoras police departments.
it is funded partially through grants, fines and contracting services. the rest is split between westfall and matamoras through a formula.
westfall has a slightly lower population, 2,323 residents, but with 31 square miles, it has more taxable lots, plus businesses including wal-mart, kmart, home depot and lowes, which produce many shoplifting calls.
in 2012, 2013 and 2014, westfalls contribution was $385,655 a year for police service.
matamoras borough, with 2,469 residents but less than one square mile, contributed $341,996 each of those years.
in my opinion, there is no way it should ever be 50/50. how can you ever compare the two? buchanan said.
he considers police an essential service and says there are other ways to raise money, such as an earned income tax that would raise around $400,000.
the matamoras council discussed westfalls letter, received tuesday, and decided to propose a meeting with two representatives from each board, with no attorneys.
matamoras will send councilmen david clark and joe sain.
lets get four people in a room and find out what the real issues are, clark said.
it might be politics instead of money.
at the same time supervisors have been threatening to withdraw from the police department, there was a private investigation of eastern pike regional assistant police chief eric stewart.
stewart has a neighborhood squabble with ray banachs brother-in-law, rollin cook. the men are neighbors. cook complained about stewart using his own backyard for gun target practice. after that, accusations of wrongdoing by stewart escalated. but the investigation showed stewart was not breaking any rules.
if westfall bails out of the police, it will be the biggest mistake theyve made in a long time, clark said. i truly believe the majority of westfall people do not want to withdraw.
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The text includes four hundred and forty-six "e"s in total.
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