Coaldale Borough is edging a bit closer to having local police coverage.

“We’re going to go with Tamaqua,” Councilwoman Kim Gavornik said at this month’s meeting. “As soon as (solicitor Robert Yurchak) gets the final information he’s looking for, we just need to approve that this is what we are going to do.”

Council gave the OK to a shared services contract with Tamaqua pending Yurchak’s final approval. Councilwoman Angela Krapf voted against it.

Gavornik said the Tamaqua force hired one full-time officer who will patrol Coaldale. Two more are needed, she said.

“Once they get the other two people in, then we will at any point figure out an effective date,” she said. “We are looking at sometime after summer.”

Until then, the borough will rely on Pennsylvania State Police for coverage.

“Sometimes Tamaqua does respond to certain things when it is an emergency,” Council President Claire Remington added.

Coaldale has been without its own police force for more than a half-year. Tamaqua will hire three officers who will be dedicated to Coaldale. Tamaqua will not lose any police coverage through the shared services contract.

It had previously been discussed that the shared service with Tamaqua would cost about $366,000 for the first year.

To rebuild the Coaldale department, it would require a minimum of five officers and at least $344,000 plus expenses including insurances and overtime pay.

In a related matter, Remington said a photo of two people sitting on a basketball hoop at the Coaldale Complex court is circulating on social media.

The hoops and backboard were recently installed.

Remington is hoping to learn the identities of the two, who do not appear to be children.

One resident said the borough should “expedite” its police agreement so that Coaldale can enforce laws at its parks and throughout the borough.

The woman said she often sees drug activity and other illegal happenings.

On one occasion, she said, she filmed a drug deal and was later threatened by the alleged perpetrator. She said it took state police about 45 minutes to respond to her 911 calls.

The woman offered to show videos of crimes happening to borough council in private.