First Posted: 5/13/2014

Chris Yarns was officially appointed Clarks Summit Chief of Police Wednesday, May 7 at the monthly Clarks Summit Borough Council meeting.

Yarns was sworn in by the Honorable Judge James Gibbons with his family and council looking on. The newly-minted chief laughed and joked with his family and Judge Gibbins as he was sworn into his new role.

“Everyone on council is thrilled to have him,” Council President Gerrie Carey said.

The new chief held the position in the interim since former Chief Joe Laguzzi resigned in October.

In other news, the council unanimously voted in favor of a sewer payment acceptance policy after dealing with outstanding sewer bills from residents since October that, at its highest point, exceeded $134,000 in delinquencies.

According to officials, sewer delinquencies have since dropped to approximately $117,000 since October and the policy is council’s way to implement and uphold internal processes to help prevent the delinquent dollar signs from climbing higher again.

“If we don’t stay on this, it’s only going to get worse,” council member Herman Johnson said.

The council also unanimously voted to appoint Joe Bontrager as the Abington Regional Wastewater Authority (ARWA) representative, leaving a spot open for community members on the Zoning Hearing Board.

However, with Mayor Patty Lawler and Council member David Jenkins absent, council opted to give members of the community another month to come forward before voting to fill two seats on the Uniform Construction Code (UCC) appeal board.

The council needs community volunteers with civil engineering experience or familiarity with construction code to serve on the UCC board.