Walker Township supervisors have expressed concerns with a police agreement with Blythe Township because of the unknown number of hours they’d be able to visit Walker.

The board said that the agreement might take awhile. If they choose a West Penn agreement, they’d have coverage by the summer.

At a meeting earlier this month, Chairman Craig Wagner said he’d like to see coverage in Walker Township by the summertime.

However, he said that the bottom line is that the township could always buy its own vehicle and hire its own police officers. The board hesitated about the cost of the vehicle, but had a candidate in mind for a police officer.

Residents and supervisors discussed Miller Lane in Tamaqua, noting the increased numbers of break-in attempts along that stretch.

Township secretary Ann Ostergaard said they need police coverage and they aren’t sure what they’d receive from Blythe.

Council members came to the conclusion that it would be a similar situation with West Penn, as their proposal only indicated a total of 11 hours of coverage a week.

It was decided that either choice leads them to rely on state police some of the time.

Supervisors decided to contact Frank DiMarco, Chief of Police for Blythe Township, in regards to possibly testing them out from May to September.

In other business

• A road inspection meeting with Arro Consulting was set to begin at 8 a.m. for April 23. The meeting will be held to address concerns made by residents regarding old vehicles as well as check out all roads located within town perimeters and decide on which roads to fix next.

• There was a request for Brooke Lane to be fixed.

• Concerns were expressed regarding a potential business being run out of a local home. Ostergaard noted that there’s a fine line between running a business out of a home and just parking a work vehicle at the home. It was decided that Arro and the solicitor need to look more into the issue.

• Concerns with meeting road salt company minimums were raised by Chad Felty. He said the town needed to order more salt to meet the agreed-upon minimum. Felty said some towns were asking for forgiveness due to the light winter, but after discussing it among the board, it was decided that the best thing to do was purchase the remaining amount needed to meet the minimum and store it for next year. They will also renew the contract soon and lower the minimum. Part of the decision was made because salt prices are thought to be on the rise, and buying salt now for future winters seemed like the smarter move for the township, particularly since they already had money set aside to pay the bill.

• Board member Kent O. Heisler and Vice Chairman William R. McMullen were hired as part-time workers for special projects on an as-need basis. Their salary has not been set yet because board members previously set the part-time workers salary and solicitor Chris Riedlinger said it is not legal for members to set their salary in any context. Reidlinger said he’d look further into the matter.