West Penn Township’s police department - along with its highly successful programs - aren’t going anywhere, township officials reiterated Monday morning.

Resident Mark Boyle Sr. told supervisors he was there in regards to the police issue, having heard about the police department potentially being shut down.

Board Chairman Tony Prudenti assured Boyle that the police department will continue to remain a viable asset to the community.

“We are not shutting down the police department,” Prudenti said. “We are not giving up on our D.A.R.E. program, we are not giving up on our CSI camp.”

Boyle told the board in light of what his family has had to deal with over the past six weeks, it’s imperative that the township continue to have a police department as well as other emergency services.

Boyle’s son, Mark T. Boyle, died in a hospital hours after being hit on Aug. 2 by a dump truck being driven by Michael Albert, 60, of Scranton.

“We need to provide residents with coverage,” Boyle Sr. said. “It’s not West Penn only; it’s statewide.”

Boyle then thanked the first responders, including the police department, for their response, on that fateful day, and stressed that the township needs to provide coverage for citizens 24/7.

Prudenti told Boyle he believes the township has it set up as such.

He said that monetary matters are the only issues the township has right now, noting that this year it gave Penn Mahoning Ambulance $45,000, and the West Penn Fire Department $75,000.

“We’re doing our best,” said Prudenti, who added the problem that comes into play is getting people to run with the groups, and also has to do with equipment.

Supervisor Glenn Hummel said he believes there’s a “very positive step being taken right now,” and added that Penn Mahoning Ambulance was able to make all of its calls last month.

Boyle stressed that if it weren’t for the people of Penn Mahoning Ambulance, his son would have been laying there for another 20 minutes.

Prudenti told Boyle the board again gives he and his family its condolences, and that if there’s anything the family needs from the township, to let the board know.

Afterward, Prudenti then thanked township fire Chief Jeff Bradford for the thankless work the fire department does.

“I feel we are in the best shape we’ve ever been before in the fire department, ambulance, road crew, police department, and our (office) staff,” Prudenti said. “Thank you all.”

A number of residents expressed their support for the police department during the board’s meeting earlier this month.

That came after last month’s meeting when supervisors discussed cost cutting measures they asked township police Chief James Bonner to put in place to turn around a lagging department budget.

About 30 residents arrived at the August meeting, concerned that supervisors were planning to disband the police department. The board said it had no plans to eliminate the department and blamed the talk on rumors.

But supervisors said the department, which has a budget of just over $400,000, was about $25,000 over projected figures in July.

In order to turn the deficit around by year’s end, they asked Bonner to reduce his staff’s hours, get some coverage from Pennsylvania State Police, and cut the administrative secretary’s hours from 40 to 20.

The administrative secretary’s hours remain at 20, and since August, the department is down one full-time officer due to the resignation of Kai Appel. Earlier this month, the board accepted the resignation of part-time officer Richard Clink, who left the job due to personal reasons.

The cuts and resignations are helping the department get back to its projected budget, supervisors said.

Prudenti, however, said he’s not comfortable with having the administrative secretary working reduced hours.

Despite the cuts, the township has police coverage 24 hours each day.