By Elizabeth Skrapits, The Citizens Voice (Scranton, Penn.)
The supervisors realized Plymouth Township was in serious financial trouble, but they didn’t think it would come down to having to lay off the entire police department.
During a special meeting to pass the budget Wednesday night, the board made the announcement that the police department, consisting of two full-time and four part-time officers, would be laid off effective Jan. 16.
“It’s an unhappy New Year,” supervisor Gale Conrad remarked.
“This was dropped like a bomb on us,” said supervisor chairman Ed Brennan. “This is the worst decision we’ve ever had to make. Ever.”
Supervisor Mike Manley said the layoffs are only temporary, and as soon as the township can afford it, the police will be brought back.
“We didn’t want to disband our police force. This is not a permanent decision,” Manley stressed.
In the meantime, the supervisors said the officers would be eligible for unemployment compensation.
Plymouth Township is faced with more than $830,000 in debt, which has accumulated since at least 1996. The township has enlisted the services of Jim Phillips from the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services to help address the situation.
Phillips assisted in drawing up the township’s 2004 budget, which the board passed Wednesday night.
The budget, which Phillips described as “skimpy,” does not contain a tax increase - the township is already at its maximum allowable millage.
“We’ve taken advice from everyone, and cut everything we possibly could,” Conrad said.
The $896,200 in general fund expenditures includes a mere $12,000 for the police department. Phillips said the cutting of police expenses was a change made from the original budget.
The supervisors said they only found out about the idea of laying off the force from the state on Wednesday. Brennan said the board knew it might have to reduce the department, but didn’t think it would come to laying off the entire department.
Phillips explained that the police department was the only one that could be replaced by an outside agency, specifically the Pennsylvania State Police.
“It’s unfortunate, but police services are the only services some other level of government can step in and fill,” Phillips said.
According to Conrad, Police Chief Robert Lehman told her he had already spoken with State Police and arrangements are being made for after Jan. 16.
Resident Toni Dzugan was surprised by the board’s decision to lay off the department, though sympathetic to the township’s economic plight.
“We’ll get every lunatic around coming to Plymouth Township,” Dzugan said.
“The state police covers more time in this township than people are aware,” Conrad said, adding later, “But big problems mean we have to take big action. We are as upset as probably most of the residents are going to be.”
In a prepared statement, Lehman said, “I am very saddened by this. The course of world events warrants every American citizen to have adequate and timely police protection. I believe a solution is measurable by those who have the utmost concern for the residents of Plymouth Township.”
Lehman concluded, “Until then, as always, the residents of Plymouth Township are in my prayers.”
Joseph Mangan, vice-president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Wyoming Valley Lodge 36, said the contract for the two full-time officers, Lehman and Sgt. Anthony Gorey, was up this year.
Mangan said the township asked the officers to take a pay freeze for 2004, but there were concerns about the possibility of the township obtaining distressed municipality status from the state.
The township was slow in responding to the FOP’s request to name an attorney for arbitration, Mangan said. He pointed out that the layoffs came right after the union decided to proceed to arbitration.
“Originally, they were only going to lay off Sgt. Gorey, for what reason I don’t know. Then they came back and said they would lay off all the part-time police officers,” Mangan said. "(Wednesday) we found out they were laying the chief off, also.”
He noted, “Our point is that it seems everything would have been OK if we took the pay freeze and accepted the contract as-is.”
The FOP plans to meet with its attorneys and discuss what legal angles it can take to get the two officers back on the job.
However, Mangan indicated the FOP was aware of Plymouth Township’s desperate financial situation.
“We’re not happy that someone mismanaged funds for all those years and now the police department has to suffer,” he said. “Perhaps the FOP can assist the Plymouth Township supervisors by providing resources to investigate the underlying cause of the deficit. If it’s going to help them and save the police officers their jobs, we’re willing to help them out.”