Donora hired a full-time police officer at Thursday’s council meeting.

In a 4-2 vote, council brought Carl Talbert onto the police force. Talbert currently works in Monongahela and has previously worked in Donora.

Dissenters included council members Cindy Brice and Tom Thompson. Brice raised concerns about hiring an officer who tested under the previous civil service commission.

Earlier this year, council dismantled the previous commission and established a new one in its place because the previous commission didn’t fully comply with state law.

Talbert took the borough’s civil service test last November under the former civil service commission, along with two other applicants, including former Donora officer Dana Harris.

Brice argued that council should delay the vote when the motion came to hire Talbert.

“That civil service test is null and void,” she said. “You passed a new ordinance that did away with everything in the past — that’s what your new civil service ordinance says.”

Thompson raised concerns about whether Talbert had been interviewed before bringing the motion to a vote. Councilman Joe Greco said that he had spoken with Talbert prior to the vote.

However, Thompson felt blindsided by the action and discussion became heated leading up to the vote.

“Did you call any of us, Joe?” Thompson asked.

“You’re not on the police commission,” Greco said. “I’m on council, Joe. You’re not the only one here,” Thompson continued. “I didn’t know his name until tonight.”

Greco pointed out that council had discussed hiring Talbert at previous meetings.

“You had his name two months ago,” Greco said. “It was in the packet, two months ago.”

Mayor Don Pavelko asked Greco whether efforts were made to inform the mayor about the hire. Greco jabbed back, making reference to the mayor’s lack of an office over the last nine months.

“Joe, did you invite the mayor to these interviews?” Pavelko asked.

“I couldn’t find you riding around in your truck, mayor,” Greco replied.

The remark struck a chord with residents, who loudly protested the insinuation.

Recent confusion over the firing of former police Superintendent Jim Brice and understaffing in the administration building saw council members unconventionally step into police department affairs.

The circumstances resulted in the Washington County DA’s office making clear to council and the public that the mayor has “full charge and control of the chief of police and the police force.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that,” Pavelko replied. “Say that again.”

Council President Mike McDowell interjected during the discussion, suggesting that council table the motion to consider adding Talbert as an emergency hire.

However, the motion had been seconded and council went through with the vote during the commotion.

Following the meeting, McDowell clarified that council intends to make the move an emergency hire and said the borough needs

DONORA • A7 FROM A4 now.

“We can’t afford to wait bringing on officers,” Mc-Dowell said. “If one of our guys gets sick or can’t work for some reason, we need to have enough officers to keep the department running.”

Hiring Talbert brings the department to four full-time officers. It also has 13 part-time officers on its roster.

However McDowell said eight of those officers haven’t worked in the borough for months, and among the five who have, only three can work more than two days a week.

“We’re understaffed,” police Chief Neal Rands said. “But we’re making ends meet.”

There have been discussions about potentially asking state police to help with the borough’s shortage of officers, but Rands and McDowell both stated that they’d prefer to fix the situation through hiring into the department.

“We haven’t had to use state police,” Rands said. “We had a meeting about it, just in case, but our absolute first priority is to keep local police.” “If we bring in state police, Donora won’t be their first priority. So it’s better to bring officers into the department and address the problem that way,” McDowell said.

McDowell plans to coordinate with Talbert, Rands and Pavelko in the coming days about starting the new hire with the borough.

Because of limitations on the number of civil service tests a municipality can administer in a year, the borough must wait until the end of this year to bring full-time officers on through a new civil service test.

McDowell said council will continue to figure out ways to bolster the department between now and then.

“I think if we get four or five full-time officers and a reliable pool of four or five part-time officers, we can have a pretty solid department,” Mc-Dowell said.

During the meeting, council also:

• Added bookkeeper Louis Morrison Jr. as a signer on all of the borough’s PNC Bank accounts. Morrison is bonded at $100,000.

• Reappointed Barry Hickman to the zoning board in time to work with Centerville Clinic as it moves forward with its plans to create a location in Donora.

• Approved a motion to seek help establishing a bat house in Palmer Park.

• Approved installing stop signs on Modisette Avenue at the Chestnut and Walnut intersections following a week-long study that found the location averages 725 cars per day.

• Approved new language for the street department contract.