Rostraver Township asked to consider changing police residency requirements

By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com

The Rostraver Township Commissioners are being asked to consider allowing police officers to live outside the township.
Officers currently must either be residents of the township or agree to move into the township before the end of their probationary period to be considered for full-time employment. Harry Stratigos, president of the Rostraver Civil Service Commission, told the commissioners at Wednesday’s agenda meeting that when he first started on the commission, there were 30 to 40 applicants every time police needed to be hired. He said it’s getting harder to get applicants. The last time the Civil Service exam was offered, only two candidates passed all of the requirements, including the physical and agility test.
“That’s what we needed, so we had to take them,” Stratigos said. “If we opened it up to within 25 air miles, we’ll open it up to a whole other pool of applicants. If we don’t do that and require them to live in Rostraver Township, we aren’t going to get anybody.”
Stratigos said it’s hard for officers to uproot their families for their jobs.
“We have a guy coming up on a year who’s still on probation and he’s supposed to move into Rostraver and he doesn’t even know if he has a job,” Stratigos said.
Acting Chief John Christner said applicants with children who currently live outside the area may be hesitant to move their families to the area where they work.
“Your kids can face things when you live in the community and you have to deal with their classmates’ parents,” Christner said.
Stratigos said going through the Civil Service process can be expensive for the township.
“We’d hate to go through that process, spend all that money and only have one or two,” Stratigos said.

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Thursday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.