Summit Hill Borough Council plans to hire another full-time police officer.

The borough currently has four full-time officers. Chief of Police Joseph Fittos Jr. said there are seven part-time officers listed as employees but only one has been available to work lately.

He said the problem of staffing has become so critical that he had to cancel his vacation plans to work.

Secretary-Treasurer Kira Steber said there are two applicants for the full-time position. Fittos said that various testing takes about a month.

Fittos said most of the part-time police officers have other jobs, often working in municipalities with a higher pay scale than Summit Hill.

He said in Summit Hill, the pay scale for part-time officers starts at $17 per hour, and eventually goes as high as $18 per hour.

Neighboring Nesquehoning pays $18 per hour as a starting rate for part-time police and then goes up to $22 per hour.

Fittos also suggested that when part-time officers work on holidays, they should receive time-and-a-half pay. Some council members disagreed.

“We’re not getting any applications,” Fittos said regarding part-time police.

He told the council, “We definitely need a full-time officer.”

In another police matter, borough resident David Hiles suggested placing more police officers on duty during the Fourth of July week to crack down on illegal fireworks.

“I think everyone in town is really upset with the aerial bombs,” Hiles said.

Council member David Wargo asked, “Will there be more staff on the Fourth of July?”

Fittos responded, “No. We don’t have enough personnel.”

Hiles said he is concerned with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who have to endure the fireworks for three or four days.

Kokinda said it is difficult to apprehend offenders because “it only takes a second to light a fuse and run into the house.”

“We have made arrests,” Fittos said.

In the monthly police report to council for May, Fittos said there were 47 traffic citations and nine nontraffic citations issued.

• Four criminal complaints were filed in district court.

• Twenty one warnings were given.

• Eight crashes were investigated.

• Twenty-one assists were made to other police agencies in May and nine assists were received from other departments.