A proposal to abolish Mahoning Township’s police department failed Wednesday night.

After discussion about the police department’s payroll, township Supervisor Bruce Steigerwalt made a motion to abolish the township police department and have state police coverage.

Steigerwalt said an “outrageous” number of hours were being paid out to the police department.

Supervisor John Wieczorek seconded the motion for discussion and brought up that changes need to be made in police officer’s schedules so that there wouldn’t be so much overlapping of hours among the officers or excessive overtime.

Wieczorek complained to Chief of Police Audie Mertz that since they changed the way they report the police activity to the supervisors, the board is not aware of how many hours are part of patrolling or what other duties they are carrying out.

He said he’s been approached by residents who claim they never see an officer around in their part of the township.

Mertz defended the police department and said they are swamped with work and that the numbers speak for themselves.

He said there should be a certain number of officers on duty for the number of residents.

Six officers is way below that number, Mertz said.

He said they have made more arrests than in the borough of Lansford in the past month, and that they have had more overdose cases to deal with than that borough as well.

He continued to explain that he had several criminals in custody that needed to be transported to the courthouse in separate occasions and detective work and paperwork that needed to be done.

Mertz said, “We are extremely busy, and people that think we are not are crazy.”

Chairman Franklin Ruch said the chief keeps asking for more full-time officers but that they can’t afford more full-timers and therefore they can’t afford time-and-a-half.

Steigerwalt shouted, “You guys don’t live in town or pay taxes, and our workers’ comp has almost doubled this year because of our history, there’s a motion on the floor!”

Steigerwalt was the only one who voted to abolish the police department, so it wasn’t approved.

In other police matters, Supervisor Robert Slaw asked if they could ask for restitution for the most recent officer injured on the job while making an arrest. Mertz said he would ask for restitution but that he doubts he would get anything. He said the suspect who caused the officer’s injury was arrested and his bail is set at $5,000.

The board approved a request for “heart and lung” funds for the police officer.

Mertz informed the board that Lowe’s in Lehighton had contacted him to ask if his police department would participate in a “Community Safety Day” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 20. He requested that the board approve to spend $150 toward materials to hand out at the event.

The board begrudgingly agreed after the heated exchange about police budget concerns.