A seasoned officer has agreed to take on a role with the Palmerton Borough Police Department.

Amie Barclay was hired by borough council as a part-time officer by a 5-0 vote last week. Her start date is to be determined.

Barclay currently serves as a part-time police officer with both the Lansford Police Department and the Summit Hill Police Department.

Council members Kris Hoffner and Holly Hausman Sell were absent.

After the meeting, borough Manager Autumn Canfield said that Barclay’s salary is 80% of a full-time officer’s hourly rate who has served three years, or $29.36 an hour.

“We ended up increasing our part-time rate to try to make it more appealing to people,” Canfield said.

Earlier in September, Lansford Borough Council tabled hiring Barclay as a full-time officer pending Civil Service action.

Also at that meeting, Lansford Borough Council raised the part-time rate from $23 an hour to $27 an hour to beef up its shrinking police force.

Before that, Barclay spent 26 years as an officer in Mahoning Township, before retiring, effective Nov. 1, 2022.

Part-time shortfall

Barclay’s hiring gives the Palmerton Police Department its only part-time officer after borough council tried for several years to attract one without any success.

Her hiring comes on the heels of an August meeting in which resident Raberta Hans asked council about plans to attract more part-time police officers.

At that meeting, Hans peppered council with questions about the borough’s inability to attract part-time officers and asked council if in over the last five years, the police department had gone over budget with its expenses and their salaries.

Hans then questioned why a part-timer officer would work for 10% less than the guy next to them.

The salary for a part-time police officer is $29.36 per hour.

The current borough contract calls for $34.91 per hour after one year of service; $35.81 after two years and $36.70 after three years.

Costenbader noted that the amount of overtime paid out in 2023 was $172,000.

Hans then asked if that one person would be enough to offset that $172,000 in overtime the borough paid out last year.

Hans asked about other options and Councilman Andrew Hollywood suggested that it could run with fewer officers, or raise the cost of the police budget.

Hollywood’s remarks prompted a letter from the Palmerton Police Benevolent Association, who sent it to Hollywood the following day.

Hollywood responded “that our residents have many safety concerns that are not being addressed by our police department. The voters elected me to be their representative. I will continue to voice their concerns during meetings.”

Hans has routinely inquired about the labor dispute with the police department over the past few months.

Hans in February was concerned with the amount of overtime hours police officers have been working, and several grievances that had been filed this year.

Last month an arbitrator ruled in favor of the Palmerton Police Benevolent Association on several grievances that have been filed against the borough.

Canfield said that in January, a conflicting interpretation of contract language led to the filing of a grievance regarding overtime pay. She said the collective bargaining agreement says if a patrolman works in excess of his regular 10-hour shift, or 40 hours per week, would be one and one-half time his hourly rate.

In 2023, Canfield said $172,276 was paid in overtime to patrolmen. The department has nine contracted patrolmen, one of which was hired in May 2023, she said.