MAHONING TOWNSHIP, PA. Regional police force considered

Supervisors said they're considering erecting a new township building.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HILLSVILLE, Pa. -- Mahoning Township supervisors said they will meet with Pulaski Township supervisors to discuss forming a regional police department.
That announcement came after Mahoning officials reviewed a Lawrence County Regional Council of Governments' study on forming a cooperative police department.
The study estimates a department to police the two townships would need two full-time and three part-time officers and cost about $213,000 annually.
Supervisor Chairman Poncho Exposito said he thinks that estimate is high because it is based on purchase of two new cruisers and new computer equipment. Pulaski, which already has a police department, has cruisers and computers. He said the cooperative department could buy the used vehicles and computers from Pulaski at a lower cost than the estimate.
While a start-up grant for the department will be available, he said the amount is not certain. Financing the department, he said would also require additional taxes in Mahoning Township, but how much isn't known.
Township building
Supervisors also announced at their meeting Tuesday, that they have completed a rough plan for a new township building.
Supervisor Gary Pezzuolo said a design has been drawn for a building containing offices, a truck garage, fire bays and a meeting room. It would stand behind the existing township office building. He said the long-range plan also includes selling the community center because of the high cost of maintaining it.
But he said it all depends on funding.
"We are going to put a package together and see what funding we could get and what it would cost over 30 years," he said.
He added that the cost of a new building would probably not run much more than operating the current office building, which has high heating costs and a bad roof.
Also Tuesday, supervisors said they learned that their request to the county for funds to build a handicap access ramp from the parking lot to the community center was turned down because it did not benefit at least 51 percent of low- and moderate-income people.