Lehighton has agreed to offer an incentive to attract more candidates to apply for full-time police officer positions.

Borough council on a 5-0 vote Monday approved a $2,000 sign-on bonus for entry level employees.

Two full-time officer positions are available.

Mayor Ryan Saunders said, “We need something to attract more candidates and more officers.”

Borough police Chief Troy Abelovsky added the hope was to attract additional candidates.

It was noted that the application submission deadline is June 27 for the two full-time vacancies looking to be filled.

Councilmen Dave Zimmerman and John Kreitz were absent.

Last month, borough council unanimously agreed to dissolve the civil service list and advertise/test to establish a new hiring list.

That decision came after it agreed in April 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, Abelovsky said that the name of the person and the salary for the position, was being withheld until the position is accepted.

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

As a result, Abelovsky said they would go back to the process of readvertising 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 April’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.

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