Cumberland employees receive increase in wage
CARMICHAELS – Cumberland Township supervisors held their reorganization meeting Monday, re-electing William Groves chairman of the board and granting 50-cent-an-hour wage increases to township employees.
Groves has served as chairman of the board of supervisors for about the last nine years. Supervisor Bill Nicholson was elected vice chairman and Debra Rush was elected secretary treasurer.
All three supervisors, Groves, Nicholson and James Sokol, were appointed roadmasters.
The supervisors voted to grant full-time township employees raises of 50 cents an hour, the same increase they received last year. The janitor, police secretary and the Community Development Block Grant coordinator received the same raise.
The supervisors also approved hourly wages for members of the police department. The chief, Craig Miller, will receive $22.45 an hour; the lieutenant, $18 an hour; detective, $17.25 an hour; sergeant, $17 an hour, and patrolmen, $16 an hour.
Senior part-time patrolmen who have at least one year with the force will receive $15 an hour; and new part-time patrolmen will receive $14 an hour.
Wages for police, on average, increased about $1 an hour from the previous year, Miller said. The base wage for part-time patrolmen was increased slightly more from $12.50 to $14 an hour to be competitive with what other department are paying and as an incentive to keep them with the department, he said.
The supervisors approved the purchase of a new police car under the state bidding program. The car, a 2014 Ford Interceptor, will cost $36,855.50 and will be paid for with money from the township’s Act 13 natural gas impact fee allocation.
The supervisors approved the resignation of part-time patrolman Asa Winters.
The supervisors, during reorganization, also agreed to retain Dennis Makel as township solicitor at $100 an hour and $250 for his attendance at meetings.
K-2 Engineering was appointed township engineer on an as-needed basis, and Community Bank was named the township depository. Keystone Collections Group was appointed collector of the township’s earned income, per capita and municipal service taxes.
The supervisors agreed to continue to meet the first Monday of each month at 3 p.m. January through April and October through December. They will meet at 4 p.m. May through September to accommodate their summer work schedule. If the first Monday of the month is a holiday, the supervisors will meet the second Monday of the month.
The supervisors reappointed Mary Bokat to the Carmichaels Cumberland Joint Sewer Authority and Ed Commons to the township’s parks and recreation board. The supervisors recessed the meeting until 3 p.m. Monday to consider approval of a new health care plan, which is now being reviewed by the township auditor.