Greenville's recently retired fire chief asked council members Thursday if they had made any headway toward hiring a new police chief to replace Barry Williams who retired.

Council President Richard Houpt told former fire chief Walter C. "Chad" Sankey, "We have nothing official to render at this point."

Police Sgt. Tom Strahler has been interim chief for about eight months.

Houpt said council hopes to see police contract negotiations wrapped up before members hire a new chief.

Council Vice President Bryan Langietti explained that council saw Williams' retirement as an opportunity to work on the borough's finances before hiring a new chief.

The state has since granted the borough "distressed" community status, meaning it is eligible for interest-free loans to help bail it out of fiscal collapse. Council last spring unveiled the town was more than $1.1 million in debt.

"We'll act as quickly as we can this fourth quarter to get one (a new chief), but we didn't want to move quickly and go into it blindly, knowing our budget couldn't handle it," Langietti said, adding council members expect to begin discussions soon on qualifications they will require of chief applicants.

He said council members hope to get police contracts resolved within two weeks so they can begin looking for a chief. "The police contract should have been resolved in January, but we haven't been able to come to an agreement."

In other business, council will decide Tuesday whether to accept Houpt's resignation as council president. Houpt said he has no plans to leave the board.