A heated discussion was held at the Lansford Borough Council meeting regarding the lack of police in the borough.

James Marblestone, who lives on East Bertsch St., said a loud block party was held in the 200 block of his street the Sunday before Labor Day.

“They’re out there having a big party. All their grills lined up, a bouncy house, playing football with the football bouncing off peoples’ cars, and they’re shooting off fireworks over the houses,” he said.

“I was told, because we called the police, that the mayor (Hugh Vrablic) told them that it was OK to do, that it was OK to have that party, because it’s right across the street from your place.”

“I never said that,” Vrablic said. “Actually, I called it in, too, because they were setting off the fireworks.”

Councilman William Chuma said he was told the same thing. Other borough residents at the meeting also said the people at the party said the mayor gave permission.

“This goes on all summer long,” Marblestone said. “The loud music, the carrying on.”

Vrablic said citations were issued the following day.

But Marblestone said, “911 dispatch tell us the same thing every time: ‘We’re sorry, there are no Lansford officers on duty tonight. We can send the state police; but, it’s going to take an hour or more.’?”

A debate ensued about the borough purchasing license plate readers, that the money would be better spent hiring more officers.

One resident said readers without police to use them “doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“Here’s how I’m looking at this,” Council President Bruce Markovich said. “I know this is a real sore subject between us and the mayor. What is a license plate reader going to do to prevent something like this from happening again?”

Markovich said he also had an early-morning incident at his house.

“A couple nights ago, a guy comes up on my deck at 1:30 in the morning, wearing a hoodie,” he said. “How is a license plate reader going to keep that from happening? There are burglaries in town, there’s a guy behind me, he lost about $8,000 worth of tools that they took, and some 4-wheelers. How would a license plate reader help with that?”

“You need equipment to bring the men here,” Vrablic said. “They don’t want to work somewhere where they have antiquated old equipment. All departments within a 100-mile radius of this town have license plate readers and bodycams that protect the officers and make the job more efficient. So, where would you want to work? Somewhere where everything is more efficient and your salary is $5 more an hour, or do you want to work somewhere where you don’t get paid as much, and you get shot at, spit at, cursed at, yelled at, and stuff thrown at you? Where do you want to work?”

Councilman Jay Doyle said, the contract for police officers will renew in January.

“We really can’t do anything or make anything better until after that contract is over,” Doyle said, “Once the contract is over, everything is going to change, it’s going to get better, it’s going to be better for the officers, then we’re going to improve from there.”

The meeting erupted into shouting as they argued about whether paying the officers more money was feasible or not. Some said that, with what their job entails, they should get more; and others said that people will complain when taxes go up as a result.

“I just hope that things do change once that contract us up,” Marblestone said, “because there’s an awful lot of people in this town that are fed up. They’re totally fed up because nothing is happening.”

Another resident said posts have been shared on Facebook that there are no police officers in Lansford.

In related news, Lansford Borough Council voted to promote Officer Callen Rich from part-time to full-time status beginning Sept. 26, with a probationary period of six months, at a starting salary of 80% of contract. Rich will need to take a Civil Service test within 10 days of his start date.