Clark Summit hires full-time police officer

CLARKS SUMMIT — During June’s meeting, Council talked about the possible hiring of part-time police officer Kerrigan Thomas in a full-time position.

Councilman Bob Sheils asked if the other three officers on the civil service list have been notified about the position. After Sheils asked if Council would recommend Kerrigan for a full-time position, officer Kevin Yetkowskas replied, “Officer Kerrigan has been an incredible asset to the borough for the past several years,” he said. “He’s been a loyal employee to us for several years. I’ve trained him. He gets the needs of this town very well.”

Councilman Steve Guza commented that he was not aganist the hiring of Kerrigan.

“As Officer Yetkowskas mentioned, he seems more than qualified for the position. What does concern me at this point and time is that we’re in the middle of the collection bargaining agreement. Hearing the numbers and things like we did this evening, we’re still a ways away. I’m not saying this can’t be done at some point in the future. While we don’t live in a perfect utopia, we are a lot safer than some of our neighbors, and that’s a credit to these guys in the uniform as well as our counterparts in South Abington and Dalton. They all have each other’s backs.”

Guza said that once Council has the collective bargaining agreement, they can ‘act with more certainty’. He said that Council will have to look at the budget when it comes in a couple of months. Sheils commented that there are questions that must be answered if they want to hire someone.

After further discussion, Council voted to hire Kerrigan as full-time officer.

During the bids and quotations report, Council voted to award the bid of the 2024 Paving Project to Pennsy Supply in the amount of $318,207.50.

Council voted to approve the treasury reports of March, April and May 2024.