The president of Tamaqua Borough Council noted that the borough is in the early stage of discussions with Coaldale Borough Council about providing police coverage.

“Coaldale did approach us to try to work up an agreement to try to provide police services for the borough of Coaldale,” Brian Connely said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Council formed a committee to participate in the discussions with Coaldale officials, he said.

“The bottom line is we have an agreement that we have drawn up,” Connely said. “We need to continue to work with Coaldale borough to get that agreement finalized and accepted.”

He said it won’t be a free ride for Coaldale, which has been relying on Pennsylvania State Police coverage since it lost all members of its department late last year.

“There are costs involved with it from the Coaldale side,” he said.

And, he said, Tamaqua will not profit from it.

“We are not using it as a revenue type thing,” Connely explained. “We are trying to do the best we can for our neighbor.”

He added that if the services expand to Coaldale, it will allow Tamaqua’s force to grow.

Connely said the agreement won’t happen overnight. One issue, he said, will be finding officers.

At the meeting, council authorized its Civil Service Commission to conduct a police officer exam and prepare an eligibility list with at least five candidates.

“I hope there are local folks out there that will apply and go through with it,” Connely said.

He said solicitors from both boroughs are also involved in the process.

“Again, the way we’re looking at it is that we are not going to give up anything in Tamaqua,” he said. “We are setting this up so that we can stay where we are with what we do in Tamaqua, if not add more, and still provide better service for Coaldale.”

At this month’s Coaldale Borough Council meeting, members voted to pursue discussions about contracting with Tamaqua to provide police coverage.

Coaldale had its own department until December. Members of the force began resigning or taking other positions beginning in September until none remained.