Any concerns West Penn Township residents have about its police department remaining in operation have been quelled.

The township’s police department isn’t going away, township officials restated on Monday after fielding concerns from several residents.

Much like at its meeting last month, supervisors reassured residents that the department will remain in operation.

Last month, supervisors said the department, along with its highly successful programs - aren’t going anywhere.

Board Chairman Tony Prudenti said at that time the department will continue to remain a viable asset to the community.

Prudenti added at that time the township isn’t shutting down the police department, nor is it giving up on its D.A.R.E. program or its CSI camp.

Prudenti then thanked township fire Chief Jeff Bradford for the thankless work the fire department does.

A number of residents expressed their support for the police department during the board’s meeting earlier last month.

That came after the board’s meeting in August when supervisors discussed cost cutting measures they asked township police Chief James Bonner to put in place to turn around a lagging department budget.

About 30 residents arrived at the August meeting, concerned that supervisors were planning to disband the police department. The board said it had no plans to eliminate the department and blamed the talk on rumors.

But supervisors said the department, which has a budget of just over $400,000, was about $25,000 over projected figures in July.

In order to turn the deficit around by year’s end, they asked Bonner to reduce his staff’s hours, get some coverage from Pennsylvania State Police, and cut the administrative secretary’s hours from 40 to 20.

The administrative secretary’s hours remain at 20, and since August, the department is down one full-time officer due to the resignation of Kai Appel. Earlier this month, the board accepted the resignation of part-time officer Richard Clink, who left the job due to personal reasons.

The cuts and resignations are helping the department get back to its projected budget, supervisors said.

Prudenti, however, said he’s not comfortable with having the administrative secretary working reduced hours.

Despite the cuts, the township has police coverage 24 hours each day.