The Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Commission met Thursday, Oct. 5, for the first time in nearly half a year, to address administrative matters as the department dissolves.

“As everyone in this room, I believe, knows, the two municipalities have started to take some active steps towards a dissolution plan,” said Megan Turnbull, solicitor for Seven Fields borough. “As we do that, we are hopeful that there will be some more action items potentially in a couple of weeks.”

Both municipalities agreed with Turnbull to “keep the momentum going” on the dissolution with a special meeting next month.

With Thursday’s meeting held in the Evans City municipal building, commission member Dean Zinkhann, mayor of Evans City, asked Turnbull where the next meeting would be held.

“The next in the rotation would be Seven Fields,” Turnbull said, “unless there is an objection.”

After a brief pause, the municipalities agreed again.

The commission’s last meeting was on April 24, followed by months of disagreement before both municipalities began their own dissolution plans in late summer.

Evans City borough last voted Monday, Oct. 2, to approve amendments to the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department’s charter, potentially allowing the municipalities to end their agreement at any time.

The borough has also been seeking a new police partner with neighboring municipalities.

Seven Fields approved it’s own policing agreement with the Northern Regional Police Department of Wexford on Sept. 11.

In the meantime, buyout negotiations have continued between the municipalities’ solicitors and the police union representing remaining officers Chief Joe McCombs and Sgt. Donald Meyers.

Neither commission chairman Dean Galitsis, mayor of Seven Fields, or commission member Brad Rubinosky, Evans City council member, were able to comment on the negotiations.

“It’s being handled,” Rubinosky said

As part of Thursday’s meeting, the commission rescinded “carte blanche” hiring policy permissions for McCombs authorized last spring.

“Anytime there was somebody that wanted to be interviewed, they’d have to come in front of the commission and Joe would make a recommendation whether to hire them or not,” Rubinosky said. “To try to speed things up, we gave Joe permission to hire on his own accord.”

The hiring policy allowed McCombs to hire part-time and full-time candidates without the commissions’ input, according to Rubinosky, simply notifying them at the next meeting.

“Which, we have had a meeting since then,” he said.

Rubinosky said the decision to rescind the practice was part of the municipalities’ steps toward dissolution.

“With everything going to be dissolved, we’re not going to hire and no one is going to want to come here,” he said. “It’s not like this is a secret … no one is going to want to apply for a department that may be closed by the end of the year.”

The commission also approved the transfer of the organizations’ administrative assistant, Lori Brooks, to Evans City’s payroll.

“It’s more of a paperwork thing,” she said. “I got another job because the police department is disbanding, and when I did, I just said, ‘I’ll still stop in to cut checks and do payroll for the guys that are here.’”

Late last month, Brooks said she left her new position to work as borough secretary for Evans City.

“So now they want to make it so I’m all paid through Evans City and not paid through the police department,” she said.

Galitsis said Brooks would be compensated in the same way Tom Smith, township manager for Seven Fields, has been compensated for his position as police administrator with the commission.

“Tom Smith is reimbursed by the police commission for his work done on the commission, and that check is made payable to Seven Fields,” Galitsis said. “A similar check will be made payable to Evans City for the services of Lori Brooks.”

As the meeting closed and both municipalities went their separate ways, Turnbull said the date of the next special meeting was yet to be determined.

“We’ll try to finalize that as quickly as we can,” she said.