West Easton receives $20,000 for new police station coming this fall

“We want to be a good neighbor.”

A proposed West Easton police station got a boost from Northampton County this week with a $20,000 grant that will be used to buy equipment.

The station is scheduled to open this fall. The borough does not have its own force now, with state police supplying coverage.

Borough Mayor Dan DePaul said the money will be used for uniforms and badges and for repairs to an SUV that came from the Palmer Township Police Department.

The grant is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is for a community project in a low-to-moderate income area, said Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure.

“We want to be a good neighbor,” McClure said, adding that the county has a work-release facility in the borough for inmates from county jail.

In February, borough officials announced plans for the police station in the former borough hall at 301 Sixth St.

— Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure

The department’s proposed chief, Robert Mahady, needs to be sworn in by a Northampton County judge and his appointment approved by the West Easton Borough Council, DePaul said.

In addition to the chief, borough officials want to hire at least four part-time officers to patrol the borough of roughly 1,360 people and have received multiple applications, DePaul said.

West Easton has $300,000 budgeted for the department — $150,000 set aside last year and another $150,000 this year, according to DePaul.

The borough also received $10,000 from the Northampton County Drug Forfeiture Fund.

Morning Call reporter Christina Tatu can be reached at 610-820-6583 or ctatu@mcall.com