Maxatawny Supervisors last night voted to disband the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Department that covers Maxatawny, Topton and Lyons in Berks County and Upper Macungie Township in Lehigh, according to The Reading Eagle.

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This comes a week after Upper Macungie supervisors voted to leave membership in the force.

Maxatawny supervisors took it one step further last night, and authorized its member of the police commission to make a motion to dissolve the force entirely by the end of the year.

Maxatawny Supervisor Chairman Allen L. Leiby, said the board’s decision was prompted by Upper Macungie's vote last week.

"That's the way things are going," said Police Chief Roger Heins this morning. "Once Upper Macungie made its decision, there wasn't a lot of options for the others [to keep Berks-Lehigh intact]."

Upper Macungie Township currently pays more than $2.6 million for police protection, significantly more than the other three municipalities.

Heins, who was not at Maxatawny's meeting, said, however, that each municipality has a lot of possibilities moving forward.

"It could mean they re-join the Northern-Berks Regional force, start their own force like Upper Macungie or contract services from someone else ... I know they are also talking to the State Police."

Heins said he has already offered his help to all the municipalities.

"My main concern is that I make sure all of our officers have jobs at the end of the year," he said.

The Police Commission next meets on March 19 in Maxatawny.

Upper Macungie has also scheduled a special Supervisor’s meeting for March 22 to discuss its next step in the process of creating an brand new police force.

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