Donora reinstates raise for part-time police officers

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

In another reversal, Donora Council voted Thursday to give the borough’s part-time police officers a raise that they decided to take back just last month. 

The raise, which was initially passed May 13, was set at $22 for all part-timers — existing and potential new hires.

But a little more than a week later, council called for a special meeting specifically to rescind that motion. At the time, council President Mike McDowell and Vice President Jane Ackerman said it was because there had been no previous conversation before the motion was made and the vote was taken.

Councilman Donnie Pavelko, who made the original motion, was furious because he said there was at least 90 minutes of conversation and everyone who voted in favor of it said they were on the same page.

This week, at the beginning of the meeting when it’s customary for council to approve the minutes of the previous meetings, Pavelko refused to vote in favor of the minutes for that meeting.

“We talked about it for 90 minutes,” he said. “These guys worked and thought they were going to get paid $22 an hour, and one of these guys worked 39 hours and they could have worked somewhere else. Come on, people, get your stuff together.”

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