The ongoing struggle to fill vacant police officer positions has Lansford Borough Council considering a regional police force.

Council members want to reach out to surrounding towns to gauge their interest in forming a regional police department.

The idea came up Wednesday night, as council learned that a full-time officer hired in December plans to leave the department.

“Coming to a point where we must regionalize or have no police protection in some of these towns,” said Mayor Michele Bartek.

Council recently advertised for a full-time officer but hasn’t received any applications.

Councilman John Turcmanovich said two more officers could be leaving the department in the future. Turcmanovich, a retired chief of the Lansford Police Department, said officers often leave for better paying jobs in bigger municipalities.

Lansford’s pay rate for its officers is competitive with others in Carbon County, Bartek said. However there are multiple departments in the county currently looking for full- and part-time officers.

Several council members support regional police. They want to organize a meeting with surrounding towns and a representative from the Department of Community and Economic Development, which helps municipalities to form regional police departments.

Bob Silver said the likely partners would be Coaldale, Summit Hill and Nesquehoning.

In the past, there have been discussions among the municipalities. Turcmanovich said support was strong across the municipalities, but they couldn’t agree on how to share the cost of the department.

“When they saw their share of the bill, they were gone, they beat a path out the door,” Turcmanovich said.