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The North Lebanon Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a charter for the Lebanon County Regional Police Department, merging the North Lebanon and North Cornwall police departments, at its meeting Tuesday, July 9.
The vote follows a similar one taken by North Cornwall Township last month.
Read More: North Cornwall Township adopts regional police charter with unanimous vote
Now, North Lebanon and North Cornwall will work to set up a governing Regional Police Commission, which they hope to become active January 2025. Supervisor Gary Heisey said the next step, which is ongoing, is developing a collective bargaining agreement.
The vote followed a public hearing, which took around 45 minutes. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Former North Lebanon Township police Chief Tom Kissinger spoke in favor of regionalization, noting that while the department has grown since his time leading it, it isn’t growing fast enough to handle a growing population.
“As I understand it, there’s only way to see it,” he said. “We need to have more people, and the only way we’re going to get that is through consolidation. There’s no way that the township is going to hire enough people.
“I will say, in the long run, I think it is going to cost more. But that’s the way it’s got to be. We have to expand.”
North Lebanon Township police Chief Tim Knight has previously disclosed that, as of now, officers often have to work without backup. With a regionalized force of 24 officers, four officers will be on shift at once covering different zones, he said, with a floating supervisor.
When asked by former township manager Cheri Grumbine, who opposes regionalization, why the zones haven’t been made public, Knight said the publication of zones would be “a safety issue for officers.”
Grumbine’s other concerns included the need for a larger building, North Cornwall sharing decisionmaking on the force, and the ability for other municipalities to join and affect governing. She also is concerned about the two-year withdrawal period after the commission is formed.
Grumbine said she felt the process had not been transparent enough and was being rushed, with collective bargaining not completed and the budget being roughly estimated. She also asked why North Cornwall was willing to accept a 50/50 split, which projects North Lebanon to save money on policing.
Former North Cornwall manager Tom Long, who was also in attendance Tuesday, said North Cornwall accepted the split due to its growing population.
North Cornwall’s population is expected to surge by 25 percent in the next five years, whereas North Lebanon will grow by 10 percent in that time.
“It’s a way to look ahead,” explained Long, who was involved in regionalization discussions both before and after his retirement in February. “The bottom line is protection of the residents and protection of police officers.”
Read More: Tom Long retires as North Cornwall Township manager after 27 years
North Cornwall had reached out to other municipalities concerning regionalization, but North Lebanon was the only one to consider it. The charter allows for future expansion of the force if agreed upon by the commission, but founding members have two seats on the commission rather than one.
Dan Bost from Senator Gebhard’s office, who has attended regionalization meetings, said that while he doesn’t know why other municipalities didn’t consider joining the merged force, “they’re gonna come crawling.”
He said that he and Knight are already at work searching for grants, though the budget doesn’t include potential grant monies. Regional departments are often favored for state and federal grants, Knight said previously.
Regionalization is becoming more and more common, and even could be considered, as attendee John Eder described it, “inevitable.” Many municipalities, such as Myerstown Borough, even disassembled their independent police forces due to lack of funding.
Eder asked the supervisors if they felt a Lebanon regionalized force was inevitable. Ed Brensinger, who was opposed to the decision, cited the Annville-Palmyra merger, which occurred in May.
Read More: Annville-Palmyra police merger is on track to go live on May 27 (May)
“It’s happening — my gut feeling is you can either be leaders and advance or you can wait and sit on your hands and have someone dictate to you when you’re going to regionalize,” said Eder.
Supervisors Ardy Snook and Heisey were in favor of ordinance #3-2024 adopting the charter, with Brensinger opposed.
“That’s how democracy works,” Brensinger said after announcing his opposition. “Motion passes.”
In case you missed it… Background on this story
In late 2023, North Cornwall and North Lebanon townships informally began conversations about merging their respective police departments.
The goal of this regionalization, the North Lebanon police chief said, would be to increase safety for officers who occasionally have to work alone.
A police regionalization study had found the townships to be compatible for regionalization, with comparable populations of 8,511 (NCT) and 12,041 (NLT).
As of the time regionalization talks began, North Cornwall had 11 officers and North Lebanon had 10, though 12 were in the budget. They expected a regional force to include 24 officers.
North Lebanon hosted an informational meeting in September 2023 to present residents with details on regionalization and decide whether to continue.
Read more: North Lebanon Township supervisors consider regional police with N. Cornwall
The next month, the townships formed a Regional Police Development Committee consisting of supervisors from both township’s board, their police chiefs, and their township managers. This committee was tasked with creating and reviewing a charter for a prospective regionalized police force.
Read more: N. Lebanon Township creates committee to consider regional police force
Public meetings of the committee were held through this year to review the charter, including ironing out details like a 50/50 budget split, the workings of the governing Regional Police Commission, and what would happen if either township backed out after forming the regionalized police.
Read More:
- Committee begins to review charter for regional police in N. Cornwall, N. Lebanon
- N. Cornwall, N. Lebanon agree to 50/50 split for proposed regional police charter
- Regional police steering committee reviews draft of updated charter
- Former NLT manager airs concerns with police pact, committee reviews budget
- N. Cornwall, N. Lebanon discuss 12-hour, 3-zone proposal for regional police pact
After the draft was completed and reviewed by attorneys on both sides, both townships agreed to hold hearings on the charter.
Read more: North Lebanon Township to take steps toward regional police formation
Following the hearings, both townships opted to adopt the charter. They hope to form the governing body of the regionalized department by January 2025.
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