Kiski Township has dropped out of discussions about forming a regional police force with nearby Leechburg, Parks, Apollo and North Apollo.
Leechburg Councilman DJ Zelczak, a member of the steering committee exploring the merger, said he did not want to speak for Kiski officials in declining to say why that township dropped out.
None of Kiski’s supervisors returned calls for comment.
After signing letters of intent to explore the idea of merging police coverage in August, Zelczak said, Apollo and North Apollo are still in the process of deciding what their best course of action is.
Apollo has its own department. North Apollo contracts police coverage from Kiski Township.
“Parks and Leechburg are remaining steadfast in moving forward,” Zelczak said.
In October, Zelczak presented a draft charter agreement to Leechburg Council members to define how a merged police department would operate.
The charter agreement provides an outline of what the authority’s jurisdiction would be, details the police district boundaries and states where the police force’s headquarters would be. It includes a financial formula to determine what each municipality would pay to operate the department.
The draft covers what a regionalized police commission to oversee the department would look like, such as how many members of the commission would represent each town involved.
Solicitors from each municipality will review the draft. The initial charter draft included Kiski, but it will be adjusted since the township is no longer participating.
Kiski’s departure will not put discussions back to square one, Zelczak said.
“Parks and Leechburg have been joined at the hip since the beginning of the process,” Zelczak said. “This is not square one at all. We even have a previous budget we can fall back to.”
Leechburg officials have been talking about regionalization for some time. Leechburg previously formed its own regionalization committee after a regional police study was completed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in December, and it recommended consolidating with Parks Township and West Leechburg.
West Leechburg has since removed itself from discussions.
