Colonial Regional Chief, Commissioner Explain Controversial Presentation to Borough

Miscommunication is the likely reason why Lower Nazareth supervisor Robert Kucsan in anger about so-called merger talks between Colonial Regional police and the borough of Nazareth, according to the head of Colonial Regional's police commission. 

Kucsan said at Wednesday's supervisors meeting, “We should at least know what’s going on. It’s ridiculous."

But commission president Glenn Walbert of Hanover Township sees it differently. "There's no hidden agenda, no trying to slip something behind the commission's back," he said in an interview Thursday.

Kucsan was referring to an announcement made by Nazareth Mayor Fred Daugherty regarding an April 28 presentation to borough council by Chief Roy Seiple. The mayor said Seiple would give a presentation on what police coverage Nazareth could expect should a merger be approved.

“I don’t recall, in any commission meetings, giving [Seiple] permission to give any presentations,” Eric Nagle, a supervisor and police commission member, said at Wednesday's meeting. “All the municipalities need to be involved. If this regards the people of Lower Nazareth, we should know about it.”

Two representatives from Hanover Township, two from Lower Nazareth, and two from Bath make up the police commission, which makes decisions about where Colonial Regional can and can’t go.

Seiple, who was not at the supervisors meeting, said in an interview Thursday that the permission question will be decided at the next police commission meeting on April 25 -- three days before his proposed talk.

“I’ve done this presentation for Upper Nazareth, I’ve done it all over,” he said. “All I’m going to do is say, ‘This is the Colonial Regional Police department, this is how we formed, these are the services we provide, this is how we provide those services.’ I’m going to give you some advantages and some disadvantages of regionalization.  It’s a simple and objective presentation of the Colonial Regional Police department.  That’s it.”

Thursday morning, Seiple received a formal letter from Daugherty requesting a public presentation about providing services to Nazareth, and he immediately forwarded it to commission members, he said.

No formal merger or contract talks will happen at the April 28 council meeting, added Seiple. “I will not be going into great detail with this presentation.  There will not be any figures or facts of what it’s going to cost.  This is an informative presentation about what Colonial Regional Police provides.”

The chief said he plans to simply help Nazareth make an informed decision.

“It does not matter to me which way they go, but at least they’ll have the proper information,” he said.

Walbert, meanwhile, said he was aware of the proposed presentation, but didn’t immediately tell other commission members.

“I told [Seiple], ‘OK, let’s have [the presentation] ready for the police commission meeting on April 25,’” he explained. “I probably should have made a few calls, but I didn’t anticipate that a newspaper article would come out of this thing.”

“This thing” was the announcement made by Daugherty.

“The mayor made an announcement at a public meeting and it was taken out of context,” Walbert said.

Supervisors also raised the issue of possible misconduct by Seiple. The chief said he was “taken aback” by these comments.

“As far as misconduct, I’m kind of taken aback and a little surprised that they would make comments like that when in fact the entire thing is a miscommunication,” Seiple said.  “I’m really concerned about that. There’s no basis for that. There really isn’t.”

After Nazareth Patch’s article ran Thursday morning, proper communication now seems to be restored.

There’s no “sensationalizing” it, Nagle said.

“[Seiple] was just as shocked as we were,” he said. “I think we can appreciate each other’s positions a little better.  It was a misunderstanding and the more we communicate the better off we all are.”

Nagle said a letter outlining the board’s concerns about the chief’s conduct – a motion unanimously passed Wednesday night -- would be revisited.

Speaking from both his roles as a supervisor and a commission member, Nagle is concerned about Lower Nazareth residents.

“We’re not against merging, we’re not against adding municipalities,” he said. “But how will it affect Lower Nazareth taxpayers?  If you bring on a new member, is it going to be a good or a bad contribution?  These are the things we need to know.  But until we really know what Nazareth wants to do, we can’t answer those questions.” 

The April 25 police commission meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on April 25 at the Colonial Regional Police department. The meeting is open to the public.