Lower Nazareth Supervisors Not Happy With Colonial Regional Police Chief

The Lower Nazareth Supervisors say they have been left "in the dark” about merger meetings between the chief of  and Nazareth Borough Council, and they’re not happy about it.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, Supervisor Robert Kucsan waved a fistful of newspaper articles about so-called merger talks, and wondered why he hadn’t heard anything earlier.

“We should at least know what’s going on," he said.  "It’s ridiculous."

Nazareth Mayor Fred Daugherty  that he might be in favor of merging his force or contracting police services from outside due to the borough’s struggle to maintain its own department.

During the April 4 council meeting, Daugherty announced that on April 28, Colonial Regional Police Chief Roy Seiple would give a presentation on what police coverage Nazareth could expect should a merger with the regional department be approved.

This was news to the Board of Supervisors.

The Colonial Regional Police department currently provides services in Lower Nazareth, Hanover Township, Chapman Borough and Bath Borough. Two representatives from Hanover Township, two from Lower Nazareth and two from Bath make up a police commission, which makes decisions about where the department can and can’t go.

Supervisors Eric Nagle and James Pennington represent Lower Nazareth on the commission. The chief’s planned presentation to borough council was news to both of them.

“I don’t recall, in any commission meetings, giving the chief permission to give any presentations,” Nagle said. “All the municipalities need to be involved. If this regards the people of Lower Nazareth, we should know about it.”

Pennington said there was some discussion about providing services to Nazareth, but not merging with the force to become a voting member of the commission.

“I would have expected anyone on the commission to be well-versed in any proposals out there," Timm Tenges, the township manager, added.

The board passed a unanimous motion to send a letter, via Solicitor Gary Asteak, to the chair of the police commission, Glenn Walbert of Hanover Township. The letter will outline its concerns about the chief’s conduct.

In other business, the board from its March 30 meeting. The motion approved , to tie its facility at 615 Daniels Road into sewer lines near the proposed Trio Farms residential housing development. The board was waiting for approval from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, which was received Wednesday.