A Lehighton councilman says the borough should study police regionalization.

Joe Flickinger said at last week’s borough council meeting that he believes the borough should pursue the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development feasibility studies “just to see what direction we should be going.”

There is no charge to the borough for the study.

Contacted after the meeting, Mayor Ryan Saunders said the study “offers guidance relative to regionalization in a specific geographic footprint.”

“Weissport has already reached out to me and confirmed they would still like to continue to be part of the study,” Saunders said. “I am just waiting on a response from Mahoning to begin applying for the study.”

Several municipalities throughout the region have been in recent discussions about the possibility of police service regionalization.

Flickinger said at September’s borough council meeting that they’ve been talking with Deb McGowan, chair of the Mahoning Township Board of Supervisors.

He noted that the topic was previously discussed in the early 2000s, then again around 2016.

Flickinger said that while there’s funding for a feasibility study, there’s only so much as a single entity they can do, and that this may broaden their ability to expand services.

McGowan, who was at the September borough council meeting, said that Mahoning Township was willing to look into it, and that they should start gathering information.

With regionalization, McGowan said they could all form one department to work cohesively and save taxpayers money.

However, Councilman Steve Hawk said at that time it appeared like Lehighton would potentially have the most to lose due to the geography.

But, Flickinger said it might be more feasible if they continue to have issues with staffing.

McGowan said Mahoning Township typically waits 40 minutes to an hour for state police responses, and suggested everyone work together with the Pennsylvania State Police.

Saunders said at that time the borough is limited to how many officers it can afford per shift.

Flickinger said that as a larger department, it could lead to getting more chances to receive grants.

Saunders added that regionalization has been in conversations for years, and that he believes a special committee would be a good starting point for funding, and to see what departments would be interested.

Borough police Chief Troy Abelovsky said regionalization has some advantages as well as some disadvantage.

Mahoning Township supervisors also discussed the topic of police service regionalization at its September meeting.