A plan to have a Jim Thorpe borough police officer in Jim Thorpe Area School District buildings on a part-time basis is still in the negotiation phase, according to borough officials.

Police Chief Joe Schatz said Thursday night there has been back-and-forth between the borough and school district, with talks most recently centering on having a part-time officer spend 29 hours a week in district buildings.

“We met with the district and there were some items that we kicked back to them, so we’re waiting to hear on that, but I think for the most part things are ironed out,” Schatz said. “The main thing is we still want to have control of the officer. That’s very important for us. We already had an agreement in place with the district for when our officers are working an athletic event or something like that, so we had a good base to work off when developing this.”

Under the proposed agreement, the district would pay the officer’s salary. Because it would not be a full-time officer, there would be no salary or benefits involved. While it would likely be one officer taking the 29 hours, Schatz said the department would have one or two backups named for when and if that individual wouldn’t be available to work.

“I think it will actually help us as far as getting a part-time officer,” Thomas Highland, chairman of the borough’s police committee, said. “Part-time officers are hard to find, but if we can offer one a guaranteed 29 hours a week, that may make it more appealing. So from that perspective, I think it a win-win.”

Jay Miller, council vice president, said he favors the idea so long as it fits in with the borough’s scheduling and the police department maintains ultimate oversight of the officer.

He questioned whether the district’s intent was to, at some point, have an officer in the buildings on a full-time basis.

“I think right now, the priority is the safety of students and getting an officer visible in the buildings,” Mayor Michael Sofranko said.

“They wanted to see if they could do it on a part-time basis at a low cost right now. They’ll have an armed, trained officer in the school and I think that’s an important step to take.”

Council said it will wait on the school district’s thoughts on the current proposal before reviewing it again or taking action.