Pittston City Council formalizes changes in the police dept.

PITTSTON -- City Council, during its regular Tuesday meeting, took steps to formalize a few changes that essentially have already taken place in the past few months.

Police Sgt. Neil Murphy will now carry the title of detective at a salary of $50,646, while Patrolman William Curry will be promoted to sergeant at a salary of $50,515.

Councilman Mike Lombardo said Murphy already had been carrying out the duties of a detective and Tuesday's promotion was merely to recognize his efforts and make official his title.

With Curry's promotion, the city will look to hire a new patrolman. City Administrator Joe Moskovitz anticipates the council will do so in the very near future; civil service testing of candidates is already under way.

Pittston currently is served by six full-time officers and 10 part-time officers.

In other police-related news, the council officially adopted its new canine policy. In November, the police department raised $40,000 in community donations to cover the purchase and training of the dog, as well as some of the equipment that will be used to retrofit a police canine vehicle.

In other matters, the council held the first reading of an ordinance to adopt the Pittston City Home Rule Charter. Moskovitz said the reading was done only to officially have the ordinance on record.

The charter has been in effect since Jan. 2.

The next regular council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 19.