SHAMOKIN - A Hamburg law firm was hired Monday on a split vote of city council to negotiate a new contract with the police union.
Barley Snyder will be paid $200 an hour and up to $8,000. In favor were Mayor George Rozinskie and councilmen Bill Milbrand and Bill Strausser. Opposed were councilmen R. Craig Rhoades and Mike Snyder.
The dissenting councilmen each said after the meeting they believed the wage to be paid to the law firm is too expensive.
Rhoades said he has yet to see a set of demands from the police union, although he's heard a copy had been sent to City Hall. He feels mayor and council should review the demands and try their hand at negotiations.
"I feel as a council we should have tried to negotiate first, which we have not done," Rhoades said.
Rozinskie said he supports hiring a professional negotiating team.
The current police contract expires at year's end.
Grant sought to hire officer
There remain three officer vacancies in the department due to retirements - Detective Robert John in 2008, Cpl. Robert Wolfe in 2009 and Cpl. John Brown in 2012 - and the city is seeking grant funding that could fill one of them.
A 5-0 vote was passed to pursue a $450,000 grant through U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services office (COPS). If the city is successful, it must contribute $75,000.
The grant would be allocated over three years to be used towards the salary and benefits of a full-time officer. There are currently 11 police officers and two special officers working in the department.
Green Reliance was approved to write the grant at a cost of $50 an hour, not to exceed $2,500.
Meg Bartos, wife of City Clerk Steve Bartos, is president and owner of Green Reliance, named after a former colliery in Mount Carmel Township. She said the grant application must be filed by May 22.
She said she's written successful grants of $300,000 for the Coal Township-SEEDCO Industrial Park and $925,000 for Kurt Weiss Greenhouses Inc., Mount Carmel Township.
Her husband, Steve, said grant writer Bonnie Mahoney, who has worked with the city on previous grant applications, was unavailable to do the COPS application. The tight turnaround was a factor in the city turning to his wife's firm, he said.
In other business
Plans for the city to take over Rescue Fire Co.'s Fire Museum at Lincoln and Liberty streets is on definite hold.
City council tabled pursuit of the building for further discussion after the fire company sent City Hall a letter last week indicating reluctance and seeking a meeting with mayor and council.
Milbrand had previously said two members of the company's leadership gave a verbal go-ahead to the city to pursue the termination of a lease agreement to allow the city to assume control of the building.
"I guess that verbal agreement was null and void," he said.
Repairs and renovations were sought for the building, including mold removal. Larry Deklinski, a News-Item photographer and history buff, volunteered to act as curator of the museum.
Scott Roughton, company president, attended Monday's meeting but wished not to speak on the matter.