NORTH LEWISBURG – The North Lewisburg Village Council voted to begin the process of creating a police department on Tuesday. The council went into executive session to discuss the village’s current policing contract, then returned to public session for the vote. According to Mayor Cheryl Hollingsworth, the village will continue to contract with Mechanicsburg until the end of the year.

Following the executive session, council decided to offer the position of police chief to Mechanicsburg Police Capt. Scott Bodey, who had been assigned to the village. Bodey accepted the position, Hollingsworth said.

“We’ve been talking about this for a year, since our separation from the county sheriff’s office, and we always wanted to be more independent,” said Hollingsworth. “We’re very grateful to the Mechanicsburg Police Department for all their good work. I’ve talked with Mayor (Benjamin) Layne and Chief (John) Alexander in Mechanicsburg, and everyone has been very supportive of our decision.”

Council unanimously approved the scheduling of Spring Clean-Up Week from April 25 to May 1. This will coincide with the county’s Scrap Tire Disposal Day and Electronic Waste Day, scheduled for April 25. Council discussed having Dumpsters available, but delayed setting dates due to the absence of village Administrator Andy Yoder.

Council unanimously approved a residential trash contract extension, which Fiscal Officer Jennifer McCombs said had been negotiated by Yoder at a lower price than the village’s current rate. Under the new contract, seniors 65 and older will get a discount of 10% and every resident will get a 96-gallon trash can for free.

Also at this meeting, council unanimously approved changing council meetings from 7 to 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month.

“I was reading the very first minutes to the first council meeting for the village of North Lewisburg, and they decided that they would start the meeting at twilight, and I thought that was the sweetest thing,” said Hollingsworth. “But we have a specific time since we have clocks now.”