Lansford Borough Council discussed its next steps in hiring a new chief of police this week.

Council hopes to advertise the position held by Chief Kyle Woodward, who announced his resignation last month.

Woodward, a Tamaqua native and a 21-year veteran of the Baltimore County Police Department in Maryland, will remain with the borough until the end of March.

During a three-hour workshop meeting, council talked about using the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association for its search and also advertising in area newspapers.

The borough also lost Officer Matt Houser, whose last day was Monday.

The borough currently has two full-time officers, Sgt. Shawn Nunemacher and Detective Josh Tom, and five part-time officers.

Officers Danilo Garcia, Gilbert Diaz and Randy Schlatter were all recently hired part-time.

The borough had been advertising for both full-time and part-time officers via the chiefs’ association, but there is currently no listing for officers on the website.

Early this week, Markovich said that the borough is well covered with officers it has right now, as it paid out 125 hours in overtime to part-time officers and there are two officers covering day shift.

“Some guys are working 24 hours straight,” Markovich said Monday ahead of the workshop meeting when asked about hiring police. “We have all kinds of police coverage.”

Councilwoman Michele Bartek said the Civil Service Commission has yet to reorganize, as they have had no response from member Steve Foster.

She asked council about advertising for alternate members to ensure the panel can meet regularly. Other members are Tom Dahl and John Zym, who was sworn in last month.

Bartek had said that the borough had four officer candidates awaiting testing, once the board reorganizes and convenes.

The borough had ordered tactical vests and body cameras for its officers, and Bartek reported that the vests had come in. The body cameras should arrive in a week or two, she said.

The borough is currently working on a policy for the body cameras, Bartek said, noting she had reached out to Solicitor Bob Yurchak and was waiting to hear back.