A veteran Coaldale Borough Police officer will officially become chief of the department, after informally handling the duties for the past two and a half years.

Borough council voted Tuesday night to promote Sgt. Keith Krapf, the borough's officer-in-charge, to fill the position of chief.Krapf was not at the meeting.The final vote was 3-1, with Harry Hontz, Claire Remington and Yvonne Stoffey voting yes. Thomas Keerans Jr. voted against, and council President Angela Krapf, Keith's wife, abstained.Stoffey proposed the motion. She said that Krapf has proved he can handle the chief's responsibilities such as making schedules, reports, and working with council's police committee, without the benefits of being chief."This is all on top of the expected duties that we have of our officers which are to protect and serve our residents. I feel promoting Sgt. Krapf to chief would give him the continued confidence he needs to continue to keep our police department active and moving forward," Stoffey said.Remington switched her vote after initially voting against the proposal.She said she was caught off guard by the promotion being brought up.Then she said that she did not oppose the idea of promoting Krapf, but had concerns about whether council could afford his increase, as well as another officer to take his place, in their 2016-17 budget."We're over budget now. The money really isn't there. I think we're living in fantasy land. We're sweating it," Remington said.Stoffey said they were not voting on adding another officer. She and councilman Harry Hontz reassured Remington that the borough's treasurer told them there was enough money to cover Krapf's anticipated salary. They still have to finalize details of the chief's contract.President Angela Krapf said she also believed that the promotion wouldn't lead to a tax increase."It wouldn't be something that would come under raising taxes," Krapf said. "I mean, we have to raise taxes, we didn't raise them for three years. But (our treasurer) said with the budget that we have, it can be afforded."