The Mahoning Township supervisors recently approved a pair of personnel contracts for 2015 on 4-0 votes.

The first contract was for the Teamsters Local 773 and the board for the road crew employees while the second was between the township and Police Chief Audie Mertz.TeamstersThe Teamsters contract was the result of several months of negotiations, which were attended by Chairman John Wieczorek and Supervisor Bruce Steigerwalt.The road crew consists of four full-time employees, including a supervisor. The employees under the new contract earn $20.83 an hour and the supervisor makes $22.08 an hour.One birthday holiday will also be converted to a personal day and can be used at any time throughout the year; sick and vacation time will be able to be taken on 1/2 hour intervals; and the normal business hours will be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday."Because of uncertainties (with some items)," Wieczorek said, "we offered to extend the existing contract for one year with a 3 percent increase like this year and a $300 clothing allowance."Supervisors added that they didn't want to commit to a multi-year contract until they learned about health care benefits for next year.Wieczorek also said the allowance would be paid when bills are submitted to the board, and if the full allowance is not used, it can be carried forward each year.Supervisor Frank Ruch asked if the allowance could be converted to cash, and Wieczorek said that it could not.Police contractPolice Chief Mertz and the supervisors have also reached an agreement in the terms of his contract.Wieczorek said the only difference between the 2015 contract and the existing contract was a salary adjustment and the adjustment to the comp time allowance.The chief's salary is $69,300 under the new contract.The new contract only allows Mertz to accumulate and use 80 comp hours throughout the year.Ruch asked if it was like a bank where he could accumulate up to the limit, use the hours and then accumulate them again.Solicitor Tom Nanovic told Ruch that Mertz can only accumulate 80 total hours for the year. This change was made in the 2015 contract because the current contract was written to only allow an accumulation of 15 additional hours, since Mertz already had 65 hours when he was appointed as chief last March.If he doesn't use the comp time, it is paid at time and a half.The police department consists of the chief and four full-time officers, but two officers are currently out on extended medical leave.