The Borough of Ligonier is hereby authorized to join with Ligonier
Township in accordance with the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation
Act of July 12, 1972, No. 180, as amended by Act No. 1996-177 (53
P.S. § 2301 et seq.) and by the Borough Code, 8 Pa. C.S.A.
§ 1202(24), by entering into an agreement with each other
to provide for mutual police protection within the municipal limits
of each municipality, which agreement shall be approved and adopted
by resolution of the Council of the Borough of Ligonier with the same
effect as if it has been set forth verbatim in this section and a
copy of which shall be filed with the minutes of the meeting at which
said agreement is adopted.
The new police department shall be known as the Ligonier Valley
Police Department and shall be organized as an unincorporated association.
Said Ligonier Valley Police Department shall have perpetual existence,
unless terminated sooner in accordance with the terms of its charter
or by an ordinance of the Borough of Ligonier. The Ligonier Valley
Police Department shall become effective and operational on January
1, 2019 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern standard time zone.
The Council of the Borough of Ligonier hereby expressly delegates
to the Ligonier Valley Police Department those powers and duties of
a police department established pursuant to the Borough Code. The
Ligonier Valley Police Department shall establish and operate a police
department for the purpose of providing protection to persons and
property within the corporate boundaries of the Borough of Ligonier
and Ligonier Township, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The purpose
and objectives of the agreement shall be to provide broader and more
comprehensive police protection and law enforcement services on a
more economical basis within the municipal limits of both municipalities
by the consolidation of said separate police departments into a new
joint police department to be known as the Ligonier Valley Police
Department, which new consolidated police department shall provide
police protective services throughout the municipal limits of both
municipalities.
The total cost of operating and maintaining the consolidated
Ligonier Valley Police Department is to be financed by annual budget
appropriations made by each participating municipality toward such
total cost in the manner and subject to the conditions as set forth
in the Agreement.
The Ligonier Valley Police Department is to be under the general
supervision and control of a joint board to be known as the Ligonier
Valley Consolidated Police Commission, consisting of two elected officials
from each charter municipality, and one nonelected resident from Ligonier
Township. The one nonelected resident from Ligonier Township shall
be chosen by a majority vote of the other members of the Commission.
The organizational structure of the Ligonier Valley Police Department
shall be as provided in the agreement.
The agreement shall provide that all of the existing property
and equipment of each police department shall be contributed or transferred
to the Ligonier Valley Police Department. Thereafter, all new purchases
of property or equipment are to be made and disposed of as provided
in said agreement.
The Ligonier Valley Consolidated Police Commission created pursuant
to this article and the agreement shall be empowered to enter into
contracts for the purchase of property, equipment, materials and supplies,
and shall be authorized to enter into contracts for policies of group
insurance and employee benefits for its employees, subject to the
budgetary restrictions and other provisions contained in said agreement,
and shall have all other powers and authority as provided in said
agreement and not otherwise denied to it or withheld by the laws of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
At such time as the Ligonier Valley Police Department becomes
operative as set forth in the said agreement or at 11:59 p.m. on December
31, 2018, whichever shall occur later, the existing Borough of Ligonier
Police Department shall be abolished. Prior to such time and after
such time that the Ligonier Valley Police Department is not operative
due to expiration or termination of the agreement, a police department
for the Borough of Ligonier is authorized, recognized, established
and reestablished as follows:
A. The Chief of Police shall be the chief executive of the Police Department.
He shall, under the direction of the Borough Council, be in charge
of the Police Department and have supervision over its members, in
the exercise of their power, duties, and authority.
B. Subordinate to the Chief of Police in the Police Department, the
following classifications are hereby established: Sergeant and Patrolman.
(1) The priority of authority among such subordinate classifications
shall be in the order above listed. The number of persons to serve
in such subordinate classifications, on a full-time or part-time,
basis, and the compensation of each, shall be determined by Borough
Council from time to time. The next highest ranking active police
officer shall, in the absence of the Chief of Police, assume all duties
of the Chief of Police.
C. Nothing herein contained shall affect the authority of the Borough
Council to appoint special policemen.