There was no shortage in personnel actions regarding police officers Wednesday evening as one part-timer's resignation was accepted and two part-time officers were hired during Mahoning Township's supervisor's meeting.

Part-time officer Chris Conarty's verbal resignation was accepted on a 3-2 vote by the board although as part of the motion they requested a written communication be forwarded to Conarty to acknowledge in writing he has resigned."I'm not going to vote on a resignation (letter) I don't have," Supervisor Frank Ruch said during the discussion in which it was revealed there was no letter. Police Chief Audie Mertz told the board that Conarty turned in his equipment including his identification card, badge, gun, keys, radio and other items. It was not said why Conarty resigned.Solicitor Tom Nanovic said it sounded like a resignation, and when Mertz was asked if he believed Conarty would come back, he told the board no. At that point Nanovic recommended to the board to direct the township secretary Natalie Haggerty to send a letter by e-mail requesting that he acknowledge it to show he indeed had resigned his position.Supervisor Bruce Steigerwalt joined Ruch in his belief that they should not accept the resignation without a written communication, and when the vote was taken it was split 3-2 in favor of accepting the verbal resignation with Township Chairman John Wieczorek, Kerry Verrastro and Shawn Haggerty in favor while Ruch and Steigerwalt opposed the action.Later in the meeting, two applications from Dane O'Brien and Ryan Kennedy for part-time officers were considered. Steigerwalt questioned why O'Brien had a list of supporting documentation checked off on the document and that it was notarized while Kennedy's had no documentation and was not notarized.Wieczorek deferred to Mertz, who explained that he knew Kennedy's paperwork was on file in Lehighton where he also worked and that he instructed Kennedy not to notarize it."I spoke with other chiefs, and they are moving away from notarizing applications. If they lie on it, we would reject them but the police would not pursue it criminally, so there is no need for notarization." Steigerwalt said the documentation should have been included.Originally Wieczorek moved to hire both together, but in light of Steigerwalt's questioning of Kennedy's application, he rescinded his original motion and moved separately on each. O'Brien was hired unanimously while Kennedy received a 4-1 vote with Steigerwalt voting against the motion.