Coaldale appears to be one step closer to having an official head of its police department.

On Tuesday, Coaldale Borough Council agreed to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the department. It will add the position of officer-in-charge to the police contract, spell out the job duties and set a pay scale for the position.

Council unanimously agreed to the memo after not moving on a line item on the meeting agenda that said, “Chief of Police/Officer in Charge - Appoint.” A similar line item appeared on the October agenda, however, council did not officially make an appointment.

“We’re in talks of either hiring a chief or an officer-in-charge. I do not feel that it is in our best interest at this point to hire a chief,” Councilwoman Kim Gavornik said.

Garvornik believes it is important for the borough to become financially stable first, and to get policies and procedures in place.

“Communication is a priority, too,” she said.

When the borough should decide to hire a chief, she suggested having officials from the Pennsylvania Police Officers Association assist with interviews.

“I think it is important that we use them, but this is up to everybody,” Gavornik said.

As for appointing an officer-in-charge, she said council recently discussed moving Officer Michael Sniscak to the position.

“But I’m still unsteady as if that, too, is the right thing to do at this point,” she said.

In October, a vote to appoint Sniscak as police chief failed on a 2 - 4 vote.

Since then, he has been performing the duties of an officer-in-charge but without the title or a change to his pay rate.

The borough has been without a police chief since Joseph Krebs resigned from the position in September. Krebs is working for the Tamaqua Police Department.

Borough solicitor Robert Yurchak suggested the memo of understanding. It will permit council to open up a portion of the police contract to allow for the officer-in-charge position.