The former mayor of Linesville, Chris Seeley, was in attendance at the Conneaut Lake Regional Police Commission meeting, held on November 17.

He imparted to the Commission that he is a part of a task force assigned by Linesville Borough Council to gather as much information as possible about the various options in terms of police coverage for Linesville.

Recently, Linesville officials had expressed an interest in becoming a full-blown part of the Conneaut Lake Regional Department. This would mean that they would have 24/7 coverage and they would have representatives on the Regional Police Commission Board.

Numbers have been crunched and a proposal has been presented to Linesville Borough Council, but nothing official has been decided yet.

The task force on which Seeley sits, is the latest news pertaining to the whole situation. Seeley was asked by Conneaut Lake Mayor Tim Kaider exactly what the group had been asked to do.

Seeley said that right now the instructions aren't crystal clear but, the general idea is to ascertain if it would be better to join the Regional Department or have a separate Linesville department.

He said that Linesville Council was not comfortable coming up with a decision quickly and felt a bit of pressure to get the ball rolling.

Mayor Kaider had mentioned at the recent Conneaut Lake Borough Council meeting that the decision was not really one that could be entered into without really investigating it as thoroughly as possible. During that same meeting, Council President Richard Holabaugh agreed and said that he did not think that they would really hear back from Linesville any time soon, due to it being a pretty major decision and one that needed to be worked out accordingly.

Sadsbury Township Supervisor Roy Whaley, who is also a liaison for the Commission, mentioned that Linesville had basically requested the top-of-the-line coverage, meaning the 24-7 and being a total member of the Commission.

Seeley's only real request during the meeting was for Conneaut Lake to be available to answer questions if, and when, need be. Whaley said that would be perfectly fine and reminded him that, along with himself, Chief Pfeifer and Mayor Kaider are the go-to people for this particular case.

On a somber note, Pfeifer said that there would be heavy traffic congestion on the following Friday, November 19, and Saturday, November 20, due to funeral arrangements for Gary Chapin.

Chapin was a county corrections officer who was killed by a prisoner while on duty at the Saegertown facility.

Pfeifer said that representatives from close to 15 states would be traveling to the area to take part, with a possible 2,000 to 6,000 people per day.

At the time of the meeting, another venue was being sought in order to accommodate the plethora of officers from all over the nation who are expected to be traveling to this region.

Area hotels were booked to the maximum, every department in the county was on board to assist with traffic and fire departments were on alert as well.

He also said that the Department of Corrections had people coming in from the West Coast as well as from all of the states surrounding PA.

Pfeifer reminded everyone that Chapin was also an officer in Conneaut Lake at one point in his career. He asked that the word be spread about the heavy traffic that was anticipated due to those paying their respects.

Pfeifer said that something like this does not occur every day, and asked that folks be patient in terms of the traffic delays.

(This will have taken place by press time but it was covered at the meeting, quite extensively.)

The chief presented the activity report for October and it was as follows: There were 10 traffic citations issued in the township and 8 in the borough; 1 misdemeanor arrest in the township; 8 incident reports in the township and 8 in the borough;

6 incidents cleared in the township and 9 in the borough; 4 accident reports in the township with 1 injury and 1 accident reports in the borough with 0 injuries; 7 follow up reports in the township and 14 in the borough; 63 calls in the township and 8 in the borough and 6 outside the area; 71 verbal/written warnings in the township and 41 in the borough; 80 traffic stops in the township and 49 in the borough and 4 motorist assists in the borough.

K9 activities were: 4 hours of training.

Property value recovered in the township was $50 and $260 in the borough.

The next meeting of the Conneaut Lake Regional Police Commission will take place on December 15 at 6:30. The meetings are held at the Sadsbury Township building and begin at 6:30.