Lansford Borough Council on Wednesday began preparing to go through more than a dozen applications for police chief.

The borough began its search for a new chief in February with the resignation of Kyle Woodward, who served with the borough about 15 months before accepting another job opportunity.

His tenure ended at the end of March.

The borough placed an advertisement on the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association’s website for 90 days, and resumes will be accepted until May 19.

So far, 13 people have applied to be Lansford’s next top cop, Council President Bruce Markovich said.

Council, at their last meeting, set aside two dates for executive sessions for personnel to begin going through applications and other personnel matters. Those dates are April 30 and May 21.

“The plan is to start going through the applications to see which applicants are worth following up on, pick the outstanding applicants and begin the background process on those,” Markovich said.

“Once the backgrounds are done, invite the outstanding applicants in for an interview, (and) rank those,” he said.

Council will continue the process of elimination until they find the right person for the job, Markovich said.

Council members haven’t seen the applications yet, but Markovich said that a few potential applicants have made phone inquiries seeking salaries between $125,000 and $150,000 a year.

Woodward started at $80,000 a year, and his salary was set to increase to $84,000 in his second year. Woodward did not take the health care as part of the benefit package offered to him.

Lansford’s police chief works under a separate contract and is not a member of the police union. The borough’s Civil Service Commission is also not involved in the hiring of a police chief.

Sgt. Shawn Nunemacher, one of two full-time officers on the force, is serving as the officer in charge. The borough also has five part-time officers.

Civil service

Lansford’s Civil Service Commission began the testing process for full-time police officers. Written tests were administered April 7, oral testing set April 14, and physical exams on April 28.

However, Councilwoman Michele Bartek called into question the appointment of one of the members of the commission in a statement at the borough building Friday morning.

Last week, council did not vote on an appointment for the planning commission because the letter of intent arrived after the advertised deadline. Solicitor Bob Yurchak said council could not act on it, because the letter/application didn’t meet the advertising specifications.

Residents then questioned Zym’s appointment in January, as his name didn’t appear on the agenda posted on the website ahead of the meeting. Only council members’ names were listed as potential candidates on the commission.

Zym’s name appeared on the agenda that was distributed at the council meeting on Jan. 15, and Bartek presented sheets from the both agendas showing the change.

She also asked the borough secretary to pull Zym’s letter of intent to verify when the borough received it. The date and time on the email showed it was received the morning of the council meeting, and after the advertised deadline of 4:30 p.m. the day before.

Council voted on Zym’s appointment, splitting 3-3, with Mayor Hugh Vrablic breaking the tie, voting in favor. Zym was sworn in immediately after the meeting and serves as chairman of the commission.

Bartek said that Zym’s late submission should not have been accepted or voted on by council, as the same rules should apply.

If council could not act on the appointment of Chris Ondrus to the planning commission last week, they should not have been able to act on Zym’s in January, she said.

Bartek, who was one of the three council members who voted against Zym’s appointment, wanted council to meet Friday to remove Zym.

No other council members showed up, with the exception of Jennifer Staines who was at the borough building on other business.

Markovich called the potential meeting called by Bartek, “illegal,” the same word he also used to describe council taking action on a late application for a planning commission during last week’s council meeting.