N. Lebanon Twp. officials to hold public hearing on proposed regional police force charter

The North Lebanon Township Board of Supervisors called for a public hearing in July for residents to weigh in on next steps for a potential merger of the North Lebanon and North Cornwall Township police departments.

Supervisors voted 2-1 Monday to approve the advertisement of ordinance #3-2024, which would formally adopt an intermunicipal charter agreement to form the Lebanon County Regional Police Department if passed. A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. July 9 at the township building.

Supervisors wanted residents to review the charter and voice their opinions before supervisors make a decision about the charter agreement, according to Vice Chair Gary Heisey.

"I want to hear what your opinions are," he said to residents during the meeting. "I hear a lot of positive for it, I hear a lot of negative for it. It's a lot of pressure on us to try and make the best decision for the township, and that's what I'm trying to do."

While supervisors could vote to approve or reject the ordinance at the July 9 hearing, Heisey said they could table the decision until August.

If both parties approve the proposed charter agreement, officials said the aim is to have a consolidated department up and running by Jan. 1, 2025. However, township officials said they are not "locked into anything" by passing the ordinance, with options and time still available should the township wish to opt out of the potential merger before it is finalized.

"Anything can go wrong," Supervisor Arden Snook said. "We have a collective bargaining agreement to get through, and (it's) probably going to be one of the biggest hurdles we have."

Officials have proposed a 24-officer force that would cover North Lebanon, North Cornwall and West Lebanon townships. The coverage area, including West Lebanon, would include 26.75 square miles and a combined population of 21,385 residents.

The proposed consolidated departments would be overseen by a five-member commission: Two supervisors from both North Lebanon and North Cornwall, and one at-large community member.

"We are short handed," North Lebanon Police Chief Tim Knight said to residents about the proposed merger. "We're a very busy police department. We just don't have the manpower to cover it, and this is going to help us tremendously with manpower and the safety of the officers and the public."

The North Lebanon Police Department handled a total of 422 calls in May for both West Lebanon and North Lebanon Township. These included one investigation of assault, 35 thefts, two sexual assaults, four drug incidents, two child abuse incidents and 25 motor vehicle accidents.

The North Lebanon Police Department currently has 11 members on the force, with supervisors Monday hiring Jordan Nichols, who currently works for the Lebanon County Probation Department. While Nichols officially starts with the department July 8, he would need to attend the police academy to be a certified officer. Officials said the cost of his academy training are being covered by the state and the James Biever Police-Community Alliance.

"We have a lot of guys scheduled single man shifts, and that's what I'm trying to avoid," Knight said.

A draft of the proposed charter calls for North Cornwall and North Lebanon to split the total cost of the regional force 50-50 if it is formed. Officials included in a previous draft a $5.052 million preliminary 2025 budget for the regional force with the charter draft. In it both municipalities contribute $2.216 million to the regional force.

North Lebanon Township Police Department's 2024 budget was $2.246 million. Officials have said the regional department would be close to $30,000 cheaper for the township.

West Lebanon Township currently receives police coverage from North Lebanon Township Police and would likely be included in the coverage area of the regionalized police force. Officials project that West Lebanon will be providing $91,801 in funds to the regional department.

A regionalized police force requires going in steps, Heisey said. Having a signed charter agreement allows officials to move forward and address other concerns with having a regionalized department.

"Signing the charter is a big step to move forward to have negotiations with the union for contracts, so you have to have all this in place to be able to do that," he said. "Now we have started contract negotiations with the police departments, seeing where the are at (and) seeing what they want. We're working on that stuff continuously, but there's steps you need to follow to become a regionalized department."

Resident concerns

A few residents at Monday's meeting expressed concerns to the supervisors that the merger may be happening to fast, suggesting that supervisors wait to vote on the ordinance until August.

Board Chairman Edward Brensinger, who voted against advertising the ordinance Monday, said he didn't understand why the board couldn't wait until their August meeting to hold a public hearing.

"It was my understanding that we were going to take the time and do it right," he said. "All of the sudden it seems like everything is on the fast track to get done by a certain date. It took the other agency in the county over two to three years to get theirs up and going, and I don't understand the urgency that we have."

Brensinger has voted against efforts to regionalized the department at previous meetings, stating that he didn't believe it was in the best interest of the township. During the special meeting in October, Brensinger said his biggest concerns about the regionalized department was higher costs and how they would impact township residents.

On May 27, The Annville Township and Palmyra Borough Police Departments officially consolidated into the Western Lebanon County Regional Police Department. Officials have said that this is the first regional police force in Lebanon County, serving more than 12,589 residents.

The two departments began discussions about the consolidated force in 2022, with Palmyra Borough and Annville Township officials finalized the charter agreement to consolidate the police departments in April 2023.

First Lebanon regional police force: New Annville Twp.-Palmyra regional police force rolls out. What residents should know.

During a special meeting in September 2023, Knight shared the results of a state-wide study that proposed a potential merger of the two departments. In October 2023, supervisors approved Snook, Heisey, township Manager Lori Books and Knight to serve as township representatives a regional police development committee.

Since the committee's creation, officials have been holding public meetings about creating the regional force and the proposed charter.

"It seems like a few people have questions about it," Knight said. "But I'm not concerned with that. We had several meetings where we invited everybody there, and I had more positive feedback than negative."

Snook said that the committee has done its homework, and passing the proposed charter would be the next step to a potential regionalized police department with North Cornwall Township.

"We're trying to be as through as possible," he said. "It's all we can do."

A copy of the regional police charter draft can be found at the North Lebanon Township website at northlebanontwppa.gov.

Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: N. Lebanon officials to hold public hearing on regional police charter