Upper Nazareth Passes on Hiring Full-Time Officer -- Again

For the second straight meeting, the Upper Nazareth Board of Supervisors decided not to hire another full-time officer for the township police department.

Lively discussion during Wednesday night's meeting framed both sides of the 3-2 vote, with Supervisors Mike Rinker and Scott Sylvainus voting in favor of Rinker's motion to hire a full-time officer -- a position that is included in this year's budget. Supervisors James Augustine, Andy Donello and Willard Mohn voted against it.

Rinker and Police Chief Alan Siegfried spoke in favor of the hire, noting that the Upper Nazareth Police Department plays a dangerous game when it relies on part-time officers to supplement the department's five full-time patrol officers in 24/7 coverage.

The department has seven full-time officers overall including Siegfried and a school resource officer in the Nazareth Area School District.

“The issue is dependability and availability of part-time officers,” Siegfried said. “We've been fortunate,” he added, echoing remarks he made at the Feb. 1 township meeting, at which Rinker's motion to hire a full-time officer died for lack of a second.

Several of the department's part-time officers, who could be counted on to work shifts at short notice in the past, plan to look for other work, Siegfried said. That could lead to staffing shortages that would require full-time officers to work overtime and create other problems, he said.

“The primary reason you have full-time employees rather than part-time employees is that you can count on them to be there,” the chief said.

The three supervisors who voted “no” cited the need to exercise extreme fiscal discipline in township affairs, in light of the 83 percent property tax increase that took effect this year. They want to see tax revenue roll in before they commit to hiring another officer, they said.

“We should be extremely cautious,” said Augustine, an assistant Northampton County district attorney. “For the time being the prudent thing to do is to wait it out.”

“I'd like to see it go a couple months or so and see what kind of money we are bringing in,” Donello said.

Rinker, the board chairman, did not try to hide his exasperation.

“I just don't understand why the board doesn't see we need another officer,” he said. “This is a budgeted item.”

After the vote, Siegfried told the supervisors he would need guidance from them as to what to do if he cannot fill a vacant shift at some point, if part-timers are unavailable due to other work commitments.