MERCER COUNTY Panel OKs hiring of 5 officers

There are eight applications for the chief's job, four of them coming from within the department.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- The Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Commission is beefing up its police force.
The commission voted Tuesday to hire five part-time officers, filling some vacancies that have existed for weeks.
The department, which serves Farrell, Wheatland and West Middlesex, had a complement of 16 full-time and eight part-time officers.
Those numbers were down to 14 full-time and four part-time officers as of Monday and one of those part-timers won't be on the job until November, said James DeCapua, commission chairman.
He said the commission's interview committee has talked to 13 applicants for the part-time vacancies, and he recommended Tuesday that the commission hire five of them.
That will raise the part-time complement to nine offices, he said.
The commission agreed, voting to hire James M. Erme Jr. of Hermitage, Kimberly A. Rowe of Sharon, Mark A. Gierlach of Greenville, Marc A. Adamo of Hermitage and Dale M. McAdams of Fredonia to fill those slots.
Their hiring is contingent upon successful completion of psychological and drug tests, DeCapua said.
They will be paid $9.75 an hour. That figure goes to $10 Jan. 1, he said.
Despite the commission's efforts to attract racial minority applicants, officials said no blacks applied for the police posts.
Full-time vacancies
Meanwhile, progress is also being made in filling the full-time vacancies, one of them created by the recent retirement of Chief Joseph Timko.
DeCapua said the commission has received four applications from officers in the department and four from outside the department. Interviews will be set up as soon as possible.
DeCapua said he'll sit in on those interviews, but the entire commission will serve as the search committee and the six elected commission members (two from each member municipality) will make the selection of the new chief.
DeCapua said he would vote only in the event of a tie.
The job has been filled on an interim basis by Detective Doug Long since Timko's departure Aug. 16.
gwin@vindy.com