Bald Eagle Township starts process for police coverage

By Christopher Miller

MILL HALL – Bald Eagle Township Supervisors met with Mill Hall Mayor Tom Bossert and Chief of Police Brandon Coleman in a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the possibility of bringing part-time police coverage to the township.

The proposal is for police coverage in the township to be somewhere in the neighborhood of about ten hours a week. Mill Hall Borough Police are not strangers to agreements with other municipalities as they have provided part-time agreements for coverage for Castanea Township since 2018 and Lamar Township since 2021.

“We do all traffic and criminal code enforcement in Lamar and Castanea Townships,” Coleman said. “And we are contracted for 15 hours a week in Lamar and ten hours a week in Castanea.”

The agreement with Bald Eagle Township would have a one-time starting fee of $5,000 to outfit an officer with a bullet proof vest, firearm, computer, and printer for the vehicle. After that, the hourly rate would be billed at $60/hour to the township, the same rate as Castanea and Lamar Townships.

“We’ve had this money built into the budget for a good many years and we’ve been thinking about this, talking about it in passing, but I think now is as good a time as ever to proceed and pursue some kind of police coverage in the township,” Supervisor Steve Tasselli said.

Boasting less than a handful of officers, Mill Hall Borough Police Department has always been classified as a part-time police force.

“We’d be full-time if we were 7/24/365 which we aren’t,” Chief Coleman told the group. “I’ve been chief for about 14 years working between 30 and 40-hour weeks, we have a full-time officer, and two other part-time officers here including myself, and we have been very lucky to be able to hire some top-notch, quality people to keep the police force running in Mill Hall.”

The true need for police coverage in Bald Eagle Township stems from the trouble that residents have been having with people speeding and running stop signs, particularly around Fairpoint Road and Homestead Drive.

“I believe marked police cars are more of a presence of law enforcement because we strive to be seen,” Coleman said.

Police coverage in the township will be for vehicular code enforcement only, not criminal, and only on township-owned roads.

“Where does the ticket money go,” Township Supervisor Shawn Adrian asked.

“A small portion goes back to the municipality after fees come out, but it isn’t much of a money maker for you,” Coleman said.

“If we go through with it, do we get a year with you serving as police coverage for the township,” McGhee asked.

“Yes, guaranteed one year no matter what, after 12 months the contract auto-renews unless you or we send a 30-day notice requesting to cancel the coverage service,” Coleman replied.

Included with the agreement is the presence of an officer at the monthly Bald Eagle Township Supervisors meeting to provide a thorough incident report.

“I try to go to each municipality meeting, so I will be there to report on what happened in the past month,” Coleman said.

A motion was made by Tasselli to proceed and approve the joint municipal agreement with some caveats, and Kenny McGhee, Jr. seconded the motion. Next steps are for Marissa Morgan, township Secretary/Treasurer, to draft a letter of intent to send to the solicitor, and for the borough solicitor to review the letter, and both municipalities to vote on approving police coverage for Bald Eagle Township.

“Thank you for allowing us to help support you and your residents,” Coleman said.

There are 41 total miles of road in Bald Eagle Township, but only 20.87 miles of them are township-owned.