A Weatherly man who serves as lieutenant for the Pennsylvania State Police Hazleton barracks will guide the Lehighton Police Department into the future.

On a 3-2 measure, borough council after an executive session Monday hired Joseph Sparich as police chief. Council President Grant Hunsicker, Councilwoman Lisa Perry and Councilman Donnie Rehrig were in favor. Councilmen Ryan Saunders and Darryl Arner were opposed. Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky abstained from the vote because her husband was one of the candidates who applied for the position. Councilman Joe Flickinger was absent.

Sparich was hired at a salary of $95,000, and is expected to start by around mid-August, Perry said after the meeting.

However, Perry said the terms of his contract have not yet been finalized.

Perry said there were initially 18 candidates who applied for the position.

Sparich, who was not in attendance, is an Army veteran, and also served in the Pennsylvania National Guard.

He has 26 years experience as a police officer, beginning as a patrolman with the Hazleton City Police Department, where he became a certified K-9 officer.

Sparich enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in 2000, and worked his way through the ranks to become lieutenant. His coverage area in the state police was Carbon, Monroe, Luzerne and Columbia counties.

His education and training includes Northwestern University Center for public safety, school of police staff and command; PSP leadership development program; FBI-LEEDA Command leadership Institute for Law Enforcement Executives; and PSP civil disorder training.

Perry said she believes Sparich’s “experience, leadership skills and the drive to continually learn and to have our officers enroll in different training, will bring our department to the next level.

“Our future focus is community policing,” she said. “The new chief will be out and about throughout the community assisting our officers as needed.

“As many are aware, the roles of police officers have changed throughout the years, and this affected the recruitment process, making it more challenging to find the best fit for our community and our residents.”

Perry noted that the borough used the Meyner Center to help with the recruitment process “to ensure we received the best quality of candidates.

“Through the Meyner Center, we had a professional panel of police chiefs do the second interviews,” she said. “Sparich scored the highest score.”

Last month, council announced that a candidate had accepted the offer, but didn’t release the individual’s name.

Saunders said after last month’s meeting that council had made a conditional offer, and a candidate had accepted the offer, but that it was all pending the third party pre-employment background checks.

Council at a special meeting in April, after an executive session, appointed Gabe Szozda as officer in charge until a new police chief is hired.

Also at April’s special meeting, council approved the memorandum of understanding with former police Chief Brian Biechy.

Biechy’s last day was April 26. He was originally set to retire Aug. 10.