Lightcap wants to create police department for all municipalities in Upper Perk School District

                Pennsburg's mayor appeared at East Greenville's Borough Council meeting Tuesday night to ask the municipality to participate in a discussion about creating a regional police department that covers each municipality in the Upper Perkiomen School District.

                Vicki Lightcap, mayor of the neighboring borough and partner in the Upper Perk Police District, invited two members of East Greenville borough council to attend a meeting with multiple municipalities to discuss the issue.

                Lightcap, who declared that she was speaking only as the mayor of Pennsburg, not as a member of the Upper Perk Police Commission, asked that two members of East Greenville represent the borough at a site and time to be determined. She estimated that the meeting would likely occur in later this summer.

                East Greenville will accept the invitation, according to council Present Jim Young.

                "Somebody from East Greenville will be at the meeting," Mayor Ryan Sloyer said at the end of the public portion of the meeting.

                In recent weeks, Lightcap has made similar appearances before the Marlborough Township Board of Supervisors and the Red Hill Borough Council.

                Following her presentation Tuesday, Lightcap said she plans on making similar presentations to municipal officials from all communities in the district.

                "This process is in the very preliminary stages," Lightcap said during the meeting. "Everybody needs to sit down and talk about this idea."

                Officials in Marlborough and Red Hill have agreed to participate in the multi-municipal meeting, according to Lightcap. She said elected officials from both communities provided positive feedback on the idea.

                "It's kind of exciting to hear that there are people who are interested in this project," Lightcap said after her presentation. "They are willing to get together and talk about ideas."

                During her presentation, Lightcap, who said she had the discussions only as the mayor Pennsburg, received pushback from Sloyer and Council member Marita Thomson, two fellow members of the police commission.

                Sloyer questioned the timing of Lightcap's visit to East Greenville.

                "Why are we the third municipality you visited about this?" asked Sloyer, referencing the communities' partnership in the Upper Perk Police Commission.

                After her presentation, Lightcap said a family commitment prevented her from attending the June 6 public meeting.

                Thomson told the Pennsburg mayor that she felt slighted that her queries on the police commission regarding the nature of Lightcap's appearances at neighboring municipalities meetings went unanswered.

                "By not sharing this information, you have created a trust issue moving forward," Thomson said.

                According to Sloyer, East Greenville officials felt slighted because Pennsburg officials bullied them to approve the hiring of a ninth full-time police officer as part of the 2016 budget despite significant financial concerns.

                Lightcap responded by saying that Pennsburg officials are concerned that East Greenville is going to withdraw from the commission, and that her borough must find a replacement municipality.

                "Every year at budget time, I see the threats on social media," Lightcap said during the meeting.