Assistant police chief named

Mayor also addresses concerns about new garbage pickup

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko earlier this month announced the naming of a new assistant police chief and a new police detective.

Mark Steele, who had most recently been working as a lieutenant detective in the city’s narcotics division, was named assistant chief. The salary for the position is $77,233 per year. He takes over for former assistant chief Christopher “Chip” Olinski, who retired last month.

Officer Steve Kondrosky was promoted to detective at a salary of $71,031 per year.

“I’m extremely proud of our police department,” Mr. Cherepko said at the Feb. 5 council meeting. “When you talk about community policing, we truly have community policing.”

Mr. Cherepko noted that all members of McKeesport’s police department live in the city.

In other business, council unanimously approved a four-year contract with the city’s crossing guards.

The deal runs through Dec. 31, 2023, and comes with a 2.5% raise in the first year, a 1.5% raise in year two, a 1.5% raise in year three, and a wage freeze in year four.

The city pays for half the cost of the crossing guards with the other half paid by the McKeesport Area School District. According to the city’s 2020 budget, there are five school crossing guards making a salary of $92.53 per day, one school crossing guard making $77.48 per day, and one head guard making $94.96 per day.

Mr. Cherepko also addressed garbage pickup at the meeting. Starting Jan. 1, the city contracted with County Hauling (Westmoreland Sanitary Landfill Inc.) for its trash and recycling pickup.

“Week one was a nightmare,” Mr. Cherepko admitted, acknowledging that there were several missed pickups in the city at the first of the year.

However, he said, the city has been working with County Hauling and said its ownership has been very responsive with meeting residents’ concerns. He added that during the first week of January, he was out with garbage crews until 3 or 4 a.m. as they were still picking up refuse at that time.

Mr. Cherepko said there are still a lot of concerns, but he asked residents to “bear with” the transition.

“If we’re having this same conversation in May or June, I’m going to be very concerned,” he said.