Coplay Borough has a new public works director.

At Tuesday night's council meeting and without discussion, Coplay Borough Council voted unanimously to hire Paul Boyle effective Oct. 15, at an annual salary of $48,000.

"I'm looking forward to serving the borough," Boyle said after the meeting.

Boyle worked for 20 years for Lehigh County, serving 10 years as a carpenter and another 10 years as trade foreman and in facilities management, he said after the meeting.

He retired from that position due to a family emergency. After some time off, he pursued an opportunity to get back to work by serving as the borough public works crew's summer help.

Boyle, a Coplay resident, replaces Daniel Pavelko, who served in the position for 15 years. In August, council voted unanimously to advertise for a new public works director and made known its intention to make Pavelko a part of the public works crew.

Council wants Pavelko to serve as utility lead person, which is the highest position on the crew.

"The union's refused to put him at the lead position," said council President Lou Bodish after the meeting. "That's where we wanted to put him and the rep fought us on that."

Bodish said he planned to call the union representative again Wednesday, Oct. 15, and was confident the borough would be able to work out something with the union that would not leave Pavelko in an entry level position.

"I don't see any issues, but I'm not the union guy," Bodish said.