Shenandoah hires three police officers as two resign

KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SENTINEL FILE PHOTO - A Shenandoah Police patrol car.

By Kaylee Lindenmuth

SHENANDOAH – At their regular monthly meeting Wednesday, rescheduled from Monday, Shenandoah borough council hired three police officers, while accepting the resignation of two others.

Also approved at Wednesday’s meeting was the ratification of the borough’s contract with its police officers.

During the Mayor’s report, Mayor Andrew J. Szczyglak read the resignation of officers Jack Buchinsky and Joshua Pastucka, who accepted full time positions with the Schuylkill County Sheriff’s Office and Shamokin Police respectively.

‘They were very good officers, and I’m sad to see them go, but I do wish them the best of luck in their future,” said Szczyglak after the resignations were accepted.

Szczyglak then asked the council to hire Adam Sajone, a Shenandoah native who recently completed training.

“Adam is very active in the community, he’s a member of the Rescue Hook & Ladder Fire Company, he’s very involved with the fire department,” said Szczyglak. “He’s a good kid, and I think he would be an asset to the borough of Shenandoah, and so does (Chief) George (Carado), so I’m asking council at this time if they would hire Adam Sajone as a part-time police officer for the borough.”

In the New Business section of the meeting, council moved to hire William Moyer and Travis Bowman as full-time officers for the borough.

With the retirement of Lieutenant Gary Keppel, and the two resignations approved at council, the police department remains at a net gain/loss of 0, according to Chief George Carado.

In the old business section of the council meeting, the borough police contract was ratified. The new four-year contract is retroactive to January 2017, and runs until December 2020, according to Carado, and will have a 2% salary increase for the first three years and a 1.5% increase for the fourth.

About Author