Lansford Borough Council may have filled one staff vacancy Wednesday night.

Council offered a full-time secretary position to Pamela Marrs of Tamaqua at a rate of $23 an hour.

The borough has been down one position in the office since borough treasurer Maria Ahner resigned in July.

Borough secretary Ashley McLaughlin, who was not cross-trained as treasurer, has assumed those duties, learning on the job.

Marrs, if she accepts the position, would put two people back into the office, which has been closed with McLaughlin off this past week.

Departures

Two additional resignations this year have council seeking a solicitor, as Bob Yurchak resigned last month, and a code enforcement officer, Shane Monk, is leaving as of Friday to take another job.

Council has only received a letter of interest from one attorney since advertising, and council members had been tasked with seeking out interested firms, council President Joseph Genits said during Wednesday’s meeting.

Another advertisement seeking requests for proposals from interested law firms hasn’t been completed, he said.

Genits asked council if they wanted to place a larger ad in the paper and noted that he sent an example to them.

“I would send it to the county bar associations, Carbon, Schuylkill, Lehigh,” Councilman Bruce Markovich said.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek said the bar associations likely have advertisements, and Genits said Carbon County has a monthly publication with paid advertisements.

Bartek said they’re going to pay for advertisements anyway, and fellow Councilman Joseph Butrie noted they could pay for more than one ad, if they continue without a solicitor.

Yurchak’s resignation was effective Oct. 14, and council had no solicitor in place for its monthly meeting this week.

“If we’re without a borough solicitor and we end up in a jam, we’re going to pay for it anyway,” Butrie said.

Bartek then asserted that council wasn’t allowed to have more meetings without a borough solicitor.

“That is by law, so somebody better figure it out quick,” she said.

Her statement was called into question by Genits, who didn’t think that was the case, and a resident and former councilwoman, Rose Mary Cannon, said that they didn’t have to appoint a solicitor, but most communities do.

Another resident, Tommy Vadyak, said they should consider the lone applicant, as they might pay more for services but get better representation.

Salary adjustment

Council also approved salary correction amounts and unpaid pension amounts for Monk, who took a job as a code enforcement officer in Pottsville.

Monk has been with the borough since mid-2024 and became full time in February 2025, when promised a work agreement and pension.

Monk will be paid $960 for hours he worked since signing his work agreement, which was approved by council this past July. He will also be paid $3,772.38 for pension benefits that would have been paid.

Council previously approved advertising for a code officer and had set Nov. 5 for the deadline for applicants.

Council seat

Council also approved petitioning the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas to fill the vacancy on borough council since the resignation of Jack Soberick last month.

Council was unable to fill the position at a special meeting earlier this month, voting down two of the five nominees, deadlocking on two others, with the mayor breaking a tie with votes against and one person declining the nomination.

The decision then went to the vacancy board, which is comprised of council members with a citizen chairperson. However, there was no one in the chairperson position.

Council’s petition to the court disbanded the vacancy board and allowed the remaining vacancy board members to ask a judge to appoint an eligible resident.

The borough also requested that public notice be placed in the Times News indicating the date and time of the scheduled court proceeding.

Officer out

Council also went off the agenda to approve Heart and Lung benefits for full-time officer No. 4, which was unanimously approved.

“You have no choice. It’s state law,” Markovich said. “You have to approve.”

Genits explained that they had a police officer who was injured in the line of duty and has to go on Heart and Lung benefits, after filing a workmen’s compensation claim.

Resident Erin Soberick asked who the officer was and if it was one of the two recently hired officers “without continuing civil service testing.”

Council did not release the officer’s name.

Council last month voted to forego additional testing for two part-time officers, Amie Barclay and Danilo Garcia, who were placed on the borough’s civil service eligibility list.

The waived testing included background investigation, medical exam and polygraph testing.

Soberick, who administers a community social media page, had also questioned the eligibility list last month, saying the rules were not followed and a list couldn’t be certified.

Genits at the time told Soberick that council received and acted on an eligibility list from the civil service commission, and anyone who believes they have standing could appeal.

He reiterated those remarks Wednesday, saying that council acted, the motions passed and anyone with standing can do what they need to do.

Barclay was hired on a 5-1 vote of council, with Markovich voting “no” back in August, while the vote on Garcia split 3-3, with Mayor Denise Leibensperger casting the deciding vote to approve full-time status.

Leibensperger was also the deciding vote to waive the additional testing for the new full-time officers.

Mayor questioned

Residents have also called into question Leibensperger’s tiebreaking votes on police matters, citing court cases.

Former solicitor Bob Yurchak, however, had advised that Borough Code allows the mayor to break ties, and there was nothing in the code that calls for an exception for police hirings. Yurchak had confirmed that Leibensperger could cast the deciding vote.

Residents sought a written opinion from Yurchak but were denied. Genits said that they could appeal in court.

Earlier, Vadyak had asked consultant Ben Kafferlin if it was appropriate for a resident to be told to go to court to get the solicitor’s written legal opinion.

Kafferlin said that he wasn’t going to weigh in on what he saw as a “political statement” from Vadyak. He added that he wasn’t going to give an opinion on whether what council did was right or wrong, as he’s “not sitting in their seat.”

“I can tell you solidly that any letter from any solicitor giving legal advice is emphatically not necessarily part of the public record,” Kafferlin said.