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MILL HALL -- During the police department report of this month's Mill Hall Borough Council meeting, Mill Hall Borough Police Chief Brandon Coleman brought up a discussion recently held at the Bald Eagle Township monthly meeting regarding police coverage.
The discussion about Mill Hall Borough Police entering a contract with Bald Eagle Township for traffic enforcement assistance has been ongoing with discussions held with Mayor Tom Bossert and Coleman, as well as Bald Eagle Township Supervisors Steve Tasselli, Kenny McGhee, Jr. and Shawn Adrian.
During a recent township meeting, Brian Evarts from Pennsylvania State Police-Lamar came to inform supervisors of what that contract would mean.
The contract between the Mill Hall Borough Police Department and Bald Eagle Township specifies a need for a police presence specifically for traffic enforcement, not criminal coverage.
"Once that agreement is met, Bald Eagle Township would be partial coverage time for us. We would be covering crashes, active domestic disputes and other serious police incidents that need action right now. We do this with Castanea Township (and) Lamar Township... That incident holds until Mill Hall police (can take care of it.) If it's not currently active, it's something that will hold," Evarts had said.
"The mayor and myself have put out some inquiries about the information he produced," said Coleman.
The pair did research into the topic -- spanning outside of Clinton County to a small police department in Christiana, Pa. -- and his findings said this statement is incorrect.
At this time, Coleman is waiting for calls to come back from other police chiefs in the state of Pennsylvania to get more details on this issue.
"(In other areas) there is already a precedent that has been set where a local part time police department is doing traffic enforcement and traffic enforcement only specific to a municipality. They don't have the issue where state police comes secondary. What he explained is not what has been a precedent in that area since 2013. I can find contracts online from 2013," said Coleman.
Coleman specifically references a municipality smaller than Mill Hall Borough that contracts out for traffic services only to municipalities.
In a LNP LancasterOnline publication titled, "Sadsbury enters 6-month agreement for traffic policing by Christiana Borough department" author Marcella Peyre-Ferry gives an overview of a Sadsbury Township meeting that took place in October 2023.
The background of the article states, "The agreement, initiated by the township, has been in the works since earlier this year. The township does not have a police force of its own, and the availability of state police for traffic enforcement is limited."
"I've had phone calls, the mayor has made inquiries. (We) are waiting to pull information (and) compare to ours. We will present that to Bald Eagle Township. (The contract) was nothing more than a draft form for them to review. It wasn't anything official," said Coleman.
Coleman said he spoke with the Sergeant in PSP's Lamar barracks and had a good conversation about the contract, and are in the process of hashing out details.
"We were both looking at it from our (angles.) It's basically that we've never seen this, we've never heard of it, so this is the way we're looking at it. (The other municipality) contracts for (approximately) 20 hours a month for enforcement," said Coleman.
"There's (a) precedent established in the state of Pennsylvania where this contract has been either approved or overlooked by the Pennsylvania State Police because it does exist in Lancaster County. It has already taken place and moved forward. I think our contract is a viable, strong contract," said Bossert.
The Bald Eagle Township Supervisors previously tabled the agreement for further discussion.
In other news:
-- Mill Hall Borough will be contracting Vassallo's to survey Frederick Street.
-- The borough's old pump station will be put out to bid on Municibid.
-- The borough will be advertising for bids for the Mill Hall Park main bathroom remodel.
-- Borough Secretary April Bittner is furthering her municipal education by attending a webinar, approved by council.