Lansford Borough Council finally has a full Civil Service Commission and could begin testing for new police hires soon.

Council on Thursday appointed one of its own to round out the commission, which is charged with producing an eligibility list for police officer hiring.

Councilman Jack Soberick, a current Carbon County detective and former borough police chief, was selected to serve on the three-man commission.

Council also elevated Joseph M. Seaver from an alternate member to a regular member and asked the commission to reorganize within 10 days of the receipt of a letter from council also approved at the special meeting.

Soberick noted that the Carbon County Chiefs of Police Association is closer to establishing consortium testing for police, which would eliminate much of the work for local commissions.

“The consortium will conduct the test, the written testing, the interviews, physical all through companies,” he said. “When people apply to a consortium, they could check off ‘I want to test for Lansford, Lehighton, Summit Hill, Mahoning,’ they do them at once and it generates a list.”

The local civil service commissions would still present an eligibility list to councils and municipalities could still conduct their own interviews, but all the other testing would be “hands off,” Soberick said.

“That is down the line,” he said. “That’s what we’re talking about to eliminate this whole big problem.”

Lansford has been trying to activate its Civil Service Commission and receive an eligibility list for more than a year. An eligibility list produced last year was tossed out due to procedural errors made by the commission.

Then, the commission’s chairman, John Zym, resigned, criticizing borough council for playing games with public safety, and then withdrew the resignation. Council then removed Zym from the commission entirely. Others were appointed and also resigned due to public scrutiny.

Zym now serves as a councilman, appointed earlier this month to fill the vacancy left when Council President George Gilbert resigned Jan. 19, two weeks after being seated.

Council also moved to advertise for letters of interest on all open board vacancies with no submission deadline date. All letters of interest will remain on file for possible seat vacancies.