OF OKs hiring 2 officers
OLD FORGE - Two additional part-time officers will work for the borough after they complete the required 120 hours of training.
At a borough council meeting Tuesday, council unanimously approved the hiring of Officer Paul Nardozzi and Officer Paul Miller at a rate of $11.31 an hour on an as-needed basis. Council members Bobby Giacometti and Anthony Pero were absent Tuesday.
Old Forge Mayor Michele Avvisato said 11 officers were interviewed and two or three more part-time officers will be hired in the future
Officer Nardozzi is a Dunmore Borough Council member and a part-time officer in the Midvalley, Ms. Avvisato said. Officer Miller is a part-time officer in Taylor, she said.
Approximately eight part-time officers work for the borough.
"Right now, we needed to get two on because we needed them," Mrs. Avvisato said after the meeting.
She said the borough needs the officers in case a full-time officer calls out sick and the department needs to scramble to find someone to fill in.
"We like to have more on if anything," Mrs. Avvisato said. "It's hard to get someone in to fill their spots."
The borough's zoning officer Stephen Bieryla also notified council Maple Leaf Village Inc.'s proposed plan to build 18 townhouses on the 600 block of Milwaukee Avenue has been scaled down to 17 townhouses.
Mr. Bieryla said the new plan would be discussed during a Feb. 28 zoning meeting. On Jan. 31, the borough's zoning board gave the development's president, George Dunbar Jr., permission to build in the residential zone. However, he has to maintain a 30-foot buffer between properties, and concrete coverage cannot exceed 35 percent of each lot.
"A new plan would have to be submitted for the zoning board for that project to be enacted or completed," Mr. Bieryla said.
In other business, Borough Manager MaryLynn Bartoletti said the borough would begin looking into purchasing new American flag banners for Main Street light posts. Mrs. Bartoletti said several of those banners are faded.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter