POTTSVILLE -- Several communities in our area, including Pottsville, will have new mayors in office after Tuesday’s election.
Pottsville Mayor-elect Jim Muldowney and councilman-elect Joe Devine's first order of business is removing dozens of campaign signs.
Muldowney won the election after the current mayor decided to retire. One of Muldowney's priorities is to have the state study the possibility of establishing a regional police department for Pottsville and four other communities.
“It will bring more to the city, education on policing and more entities into the city that we can work off of,” Muldowney said.
Shelly Boyd believes regionalization would take the pressure off of the state police.
“On the outskirts of Pottsville they have the state police and they come in and it takes them a longer time because they're in Schuylkill Haven and up in Frackville.”
Port Carbon would be one of the communities affected by a regional police department. Chief Jon Bowman says it's worth a try.
“There are a number of police departments in the state that have regional police departments and it's a good working model. Some have failed but a majority of them actually work,” said Chief Bowman.
The mayor-elect hopes the state study into police regionalization will be done by the end of the year.