Seven Fields borough manager Tom Smith and council members Morgan Hardesty, vice president Dawn Servello and president Kim Regan-Koch voice their approval for the accepted bid for the Northern Regional police force on Monday, Sept. 11. The force is scheduled to go into effect Jan 1. Zach Petroff/Special to the Eagle

SEVEN FIELDS — Borough council voted Monday evening, Sept. 11, to approve a $650,000 proposal by the Northern Regional Police Department of Wexford to become the borough’s full-time police department until 2028.

Borough manager Tom Smith said the agreement will take effect on Jan 1, 2024. There is a provision for supplemental services for the Northern Regional officers to take shifts to support the current Seven Fields’ police staff.

It is a search that began more than a year ago, according to council president Kim Regan-Koch, beginning with Adams Township and expanding to Mars and Cranberry Township this summer.

In the end, the council decided to accept Northern Regional’s offer.

“We have done our due diligence with soliciting partners, and we’ve decided on the best option,“ Regan-Koch said.

The decision, council vice president Dawn Servello said, came down to being fiscally responsible to the community.

“We pay a large amount of money from this community,” Servello said. “As a council person, I look at the numbers, and I cannot continue to pay the amount and expect taxpayers to pay that amount without providing the services that I think is adequate for what the taxpayer is paying.”

The partnership comes on the heels of a potential short-term partnership with Cranberry Township Police Department this July.

At a meeting last month, Seven Fields formally began the process of dissolving the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department, which had been formed by charter in 2013.

In late June, Evans City conducted a study and found the working relationship between itself and Seven Fields was unworkable for many reasons. One of those reasons was the even number of voting representatives on the commission — three each from Evans City and Seven Fields — and no provision for what to do in case of a tie vote.

Meanwhile, Evans City has sent requests for proposals to the Jackson Township, Adams Township, Zelienople and Mars police departments. Talks with Jackson Township stalled last week over a proposal to trade land near the borough’s reservoir for police services.

The Butler County Fraternal Order of Police is attempting to negotiate buyouts for the regional department’s remaining officers, Chief Joe McCombs and Sgt. Donald Meyers.

Servello said she and fellow council member Mike Trotta met with Evans City Borough Council “numerous times” in an attempt to try to negotiate the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Commission’s charter. Ultimately, the two sides were too far apart.

“Right now we are at a 61.5% paid department of our community, and we would have liked to have either 50/50 going forward for the amount of money that we’re both putting in for the communities,” Servello said.

Council member Morgan Hardesty said he is encouraged by the agreement, and that the agreement will continue to make Seven Fields a safe place to raise a family.

“Having a family with young children here ...,” Hardesty said. “I couldn’t feel more comfortable having Northern Regional protect us.”

The decision, as stressed by several council members, was not easy, but council members are confident they made the correct decision.

“I just think the community is going to be very happy when they look back six months down the road,” Trotta said. “I think (the community) is going to say ‘what a great opportunity that we took advantage of.’ They’re going to love the police department.”

Eagle staff writer Austin Uram contributed to this report.