Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Council president will write to the mayor to ask his decision.
Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman was a no-show at Monday night's Borough Council meeting, as he was at the June 4 meeting, again making it impossible for the borough to move forward on the question of 24/7 police coverage. However council, pressured by community members at the meeting, are hopeful they have found a way to solve the problem. At its last meeting, council unanimously voted to suggest that the mayor rescind his directive to Macungie Police Chief Edward Harry to fill the police schedule with 25 shifts per week. Harry has said that 30 shifts provides the most complete coverage. But though council has said it wants the mayor allow the police chief to increase the number of shifts he fills each week, the mayor made clear in a series of…
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Monday, June 18, 2012
Mayor Rick Hoffman's attendance and some recent emails to the police chief indicate he has not changed his position.
When Macungie Council convenes its meeting at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Macungie Institute, it will already have met in executive session for at least 30 minutes according to the agenda published on the borough's website. A second executive session, at which council members are permitted to discuss personnel, litigation and a restricted few other topics, will be held at the end of the meeting, as well, according to the agenda. However, there is no mention of the latest hot-button issue: 24/7 police coverage. At its last meeting, council members voted to suggest to the Mayor Rick Hoffman -- who recently indicated he will not run for reelection -- reconsider his position that leaving some shifts without coverage by a Macungie police officer …
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Revisons to the state's borough code, which take effect July 17, probably removes the small amount of influence borough council has now regarding the police department.
Macungie council's recommendation Monday to ensure the borough's police department can provide 24/7 coverage was tempered by an upcoming revision of Pennsylvania's borough code. Solicitor Patrick Armstrong announced that revisions to the code, which will take effect on July 17, will "clarify" a Pennsylvania mayor's powers over the police force. Currently, and for another month plus a few days, the code says that council can set the number of hours the force can work. After that, council could need to pass an ordinance to accomplish the same thing, if it's so inclined. Nobody knows what it will mean in practice, Armstrong said, because there is no case law yet to back it up. It's too new. With this in mind, the five council members who …
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Council voted 5-0 to recommend full police coverage, but since the mayor did not attend the meeting, no definitive action was taken.
Macungie Council on Monday voted unanimously to recommend that Mayor Rick Hoffman instruct Police Chief Edward Harry to provide the borough with 24/7 police coverage using Macungie officers. The motion created by Council Member Joseph Sikorski was carefully worded to consider the powers of the mayor to control the police department. It was also very sensitive to the plight of the cash-strapped borough, specifying that the use of part-time officers and overtime pay be carefully watched and used. But even though council talked through the motion and each member verbalized the desire to provide full coverage, nothing was truly accomplished because Mayor Rick Hoffman was not at the meeting to, as controller of the police department, give the …
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Monday, June 4, 2012
Tonight's council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Macungie Institute.
Macungie Council could be in for another marathon meeting tonight as it revisits the issue of police protection throughout the borough. Two weeks ago the issue, referred to in the agenda as “2012 Budget, Police Part Time Wages," was listed as the very last topic to be discussed before the executive session. This week, it is the only item under "Unfinished Business -- Part I," and is clearly labeled "24/7 Police Coverage." In a Patch Poll published after the last meeting, 179 votes or 69 percent indicated a clear preference that there be a Macungie police officer scheduled for every shift, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The poll also indicated that 77 votes or 30 percent indicated it was acceptable to leave some shifts unscheduled.
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Friday, May 25, 2012
Voting shows a clear preference.
Results of a Patch poll posted Tuesday show that voters want 24/7 police coverage in the borough of Macungie. Of the 252 votes cast, 175 were in favor of having a Macungie police officer on duty at all hours of the day and night. The other 77 votes -- 30 percent of those cast -- indicated that it is sometimes acceptable to have no Macungie police officer on duty. A contentious discussion at Monday's borough council meeting revealed that Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman had directed Macungie Police Chief Edward Harry to schedule 25 8-hour police shifts per week. The mayor's directive also said that the chief could not fill last minute holes in the schedule -- made by illness or other unforeseen circumstance -- with part-time officers. Those …
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Should Macungie Borough Council mandate that a Macungie police officer be on duty at all times?
Editor's note: This poll will close at noon on Friday, May 25. Results will be published Friday afternoon. The amount of police coverage provided by the Macungie Police Department was debated at the council meeting Monday. Mayor Rick Hoffman has told Police Chief Edward Harry that he is to schedule 25 police shifts per week. Part-time police officers are to be scheduled only to fill in for full-time officers on vacation, holidays and/or sick leave. No part-time officers may be called in to fill regular shifts left suddenly unfilled due to illness or other circumstances nor would the mayor approve overtime pay for that purpose, it said. Some council members thought it would be appropriate to leave some shifts unfilled since nobody really …
After discovering that comprehensive coverage may be slipping, Macungie Council said it would revisit the issue and set the number of hours per week its police department will be on duty.
Macungie Council on Monday began to examine the amount of police coverage in the borough after it was revealed that Mayor Rick Hoffman had directed Police Chief Edward Harry not to schedule part-time officers to cover regular shifts. The directive also said no full-time officers could be paid overtime to cover regular shifts left suddenly unfilled due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances. Harry has covered up to six extra shifts in the past several weeks himself -- at no charge to the borough -- to make sure that has not happened. Indeed, Harry said, there has never been a time that a Macungie police officer was not on duty in the seven years he has been chief. Former Macungie council member Dorothy Kociuba said the 2012 budget, …
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Just Say It
9:19 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I understand what you mean about restoring this town back to the way it was but I'm sure you'll agree we also need to move forward. With the right individuals on council there is a way to do both. However, we don't seem to have enough individuals that are willing to step up to the plate and run for council. We have 4 council seats and the mayor whose terms end next year. What we need to do is to … more ›