Lansford Borough Council heard some suggestions to attract more police candidates from its Civil Service Commission chair last week.

John Zym offered ideas to council members addressing some of the shortcomings he sees on how and where the borough advertises for officers and suggested better pay and sign-on bonuses.

Zym showed council advertisements from departments that are competing with the borough for candidates, showing how detailed the descriptions were.

“This has basically come down to a marketing job,” he told council. “We need to market the police department itself.”

Zym believes the civil service commission should handle everything from the advertisements to create an eligibility list, the testing and interview process and verifying candidate eligibility, he said.

The Civil Service Commission should be responsible for all aspects of the hiring process from start to finish,” he said. “We really have to make the civil service make the police department stand out.”

Zym suggested more competitive wages that appeal to younger officers, who are more interested in a higher wage as opposed to better insurance.

“We have no sign-on bonus,” he said, noting that holiday pay and vacations are standard anywhere. “What are we giving them? What we really offer is the highest call rate in the county, the lowest hourly rate in the county and the lowest per capita income in the county.”

Zym also said that council has to approve changes that the commission recommended, such as adopting the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission standards for police testing, the same standards used by the state police.

Revamping ordinance

Last month, council discussed revamping its ordinance to reflect recommendations from the commission, including the MPOETC standards. It did not approve those changes or discuss changes to the ordinance during Tuesday night’s meeting.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek said that council needs to approve those changes.

Another issue Zym addressed was the online advertisements, in which police candidates are submitting resumes, but not signed applications, he said.

“We can’t accept resumes, because we need the signed applications,” Zym said, as the applications include approvals of waivers needed for employment.

He asked the four outside applicants to send in completed applications by a set deadline and got no responses, Zym said.

“So, we’re right back where we started,” he said. “Currently, we don’t have any applicants for job openings.”

Zym said that on job websites, such as Indeed, candidates can build a résumé and then send to all postings.

“They can sit there all day long on their phone and just send out résumés blind, we need them going to our website, downloading the application, then we know that somebody is serious,” he said.

Councilman George Gilbert questioned the number of applicants, and Zym clarified that there are two, former full-time officer Matthew Houser and part-time officer Amie Barclay, but none from the outside. Council last month deferred action on Houser’s employment due to contract issues.

Quality applicants

Zym also needs interested and active commission members to be successful, he said. Last month, council agreed to send a letter to a commission member who has not attended meetings or responded to calls.

He also started to pitch a proposal to hire four full-time officers “right away.”

“We can’t,” Bartek said, “Because of the situation we’re going through.”

Zym said that he wasn’t aware of any situation, but if they couldn’t discuss it, then he wouldn’t continue.

The borough is currently facing a federal lawsuit filed by a part-time officer, claiming he was deprived of due process when removed from the police schedule earlier this year.

Gilbert wanted to know who proposed the hiring plan. Zym did not disclose the information, but agreed the person wasn’t in attendance.

Zym said the proposed scenario would have bought them time to develop a hiring plan and work out any glitches. Bartek said he has the time.

“We bought you time, because of what’s going on,” she said. “You have time to work out glitches. Do what you need to do.”

Councilwoman Gwyneth Collevechio agreed, saying that he can work on a hiring plan without council.

Zym said they need a competitive starting rate to compete.

Council President Bruce Markovich pointed out that Zym is not taking into consideration the borough’s benefit package costs $44,000 a year, whereas neighboring Summit Hill’s is only $23,000 a year.

“We have the highest cost benefit package,” he said.

Twenty-somethings aren’t interested in benefits, they’re interested in best hourly wages, Zym said. Bartek suggested allowing new officer hires to pick from three benefits packages, and their hourly wage would be based off the package they choose.

Competitive salaries

Resident Ronald Peck asked how that would work with the police union, and Zym said that would have to be worked out with the union, and that’s not something that he would get involved in.

Markovich pointed out that a couple years ago, the borough kicked around the idea of offering sign-on bonuses, and the police union threatened to grieve the issue, saying that every officer in the department should also be entitled to the same $6,000 bonus.

“I know that other boroughs are doing it,” Zym replied. “So how are they getting around it and we can’t?”

All of the issues need to be negotiated with the union in the next police contract, Collevechio said. The next contract isn’t that far off, Bartek noted.

Resident Patrick Walsh, who is a candidate for council, asked what the civil service commission’s role was.

“Is recruitment and hiring part of that function,” he asked, “Or is it the role of the borough to do the hiring, because it gets into those decisions that affect costs and benefits?”

Markovich said the commission’s role was to produce an eligibility list for council to hire from, and Zym was making suggestions that could help the borough get more candidates for that list.