DUBOIS – Sandy Township will move forward with the hiring of a new police chief.
The supervisors voted to approve advertising the position during its regular meeting Monday night.
The supervisors had previously tabled action after debate over whether or not this would be an administrative or working position.
After revisiting the debate, the supervisors voted, 3-2, to advertise and hire an administrative police chief.
Supervisors Jim Jeffers, Dave Sylvis and Andy Shenkle voted in favor. Supervisors Mark Sullivan and Kevin Salandra opposed.
Salandra also protested advertising for an outside hire. He felt it would harm the department’s morale and require more resources to train on internal processes.
Both Jeffers and Sylvis argued advertising the position didn’t necessarily mean the new chief would come from outside the department.
They said it was a public advertisement for both internal and external candidates, and that the new chief could be a current employee.
In other business, Township Manager Shawn Arbaugh reported that the joint Water and Sewer committee is on track to present a long-term proposal April 1.
He also announced that the township’s leak detection scans are about two-thirds complete. He said a pair of leaks were detected that were releasing 43,000 gallons of water daily.
Arbaugh said this accounted for about 8 percent of the township’s water use. He said the leak, detected on public property, has been fixed; the other, located on a private, commercial property, is scheduled to be fixed.