It’s back to the drawing board for the Lehighton Borough Police Department in its quest to beef up its roster.

Borough council unanimously agreed on Monday to dissolve the civil service list and advertise/test to establish a new hiring list.

Council’s decision comes after it agreed last month following a 75-minute executive session on a 6-0 vote to hire candidate No. 1 as a full-time patrol officer, pending acceptance of conditional offer and completion of background check.

After that meeting, borough police Chief Troy Abelovsky said that the name of the person and the salary for the position, was being withheld until the position is accepted.

Abelovsky said Monday “he took another option that was more conducive to his schedule.”

As a result, Abelovsky said they will go back to the process of re-advertising and establishing a new eligibility list.

He said his hope was that the department will have two more full-time officers by the end of this year.

Abelovsky said that last month’s hire by borough council would have brought the borough to 12 full-time officers, including himself, and that he would like to get that number up to 14.

In February, borough council agreed to waive the $45 application fee for entry level testing for police officer positions for 2025.

Contractual salary ranges from $62,592 to $86,795 (based upon prior experience) through 2026.

In January, borough council on a 6-1 vote agreed to have Abelovsky apply for a grant to assist with the hiring process for a new officer for the police department, or for sign-on bonuses of fees associated with advertising. Councilwoman Becky Worthy was opposed.

However, Abelovsky said at last month’s council meeting that the grant funding was no longer an option.

Abelovsky said under the Local Law Enforcement Support Grant Program, eligible law enforcement agencies that do not cover the cost of Act 120 training can request up to $7,000 per new officer to support costs associated with the training.

In September, the police department was down three full-time officers and no applications had been received.