INDUSTRY, Pa. -- Industry started Wednesday with its own police force and ended the day with Beaver officers patrolling borough streets.
Industry Council voted 4-2 to disband its police department and contract with Beaver police. Beaver officially took over patrol duties as of 8 p.m.
Council President Keith Hohenshel said the move was made to save the small borough hundreds of thousands of dollars over the three years of the contract and prevent what he said could have been a 4 to 8 mill tax increase to continue the local department.
Under the terms of the contract, Beaver will be paid $150,000 in each of the first two years and $155,000 in the third year. Beaver Police Chief Dan Madgar said Industry actually will pay $12,500 monthly for the rest of this year, a pro-rated amount with three months nearly gone.
Hohenshel said that is a big savings from the $206,000 Industry has been paying each year and from what it would've cost next year -- about $238,000 -- for the borough police department.
"This is a big win for Industry Borough," Hohenshel said. "The savings will be astronomical."
But not all residents are happy with the decision. Council member William Mehno, who joined Cindy Pichelli in voting against the contract, said the decision was sprung on them without warning.
He said many of the residents at the council meeting even said they would accept a tax increase if it meant saving a department that has been in the borough for more than 60 years.
Industry Police Chief Garold Miller, who was the only full-time member of the 11-member force, said his department had been working since 2009, when the last contract expired, to negotiate a new deal and was blindsided by council's decision to contract elsewhere.
Miller said he will be consulting with an attorney to determine what legal remedies his bargaining unit members have.
Madgar said he was not happy to see fellow officers lose their jobs, but he said the agreement will give Industry residents police coverage and help keep costs down for Beaver residents. Beaver police also patrol Vanport Township.
He said Industry residents would see regular patrols and the borough's police number would ring at Beaver's station.
Beaver and Vanport residents won't see a change in their police protection, Madgar said. "We have adequate staffing," he said.
Madgar said he has divided the department's three-town coverage area into two zones that could see up to five officers on duty during peak hours.
Hohenshel said the deal also gives Industry access to all of Beaver police's services including the river rescue and K9 units.
"We are not losing any protection," he said. "Whatever they have, we have."
Hohenshel said he knows people are going to be upset, but he asked that residents give the change a chance to work.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
