Swissvale council voted July 1 to let go of one of the borough's police officers, but decided to keep this Saturday's Community Day festivities going despite a slight increase in costs.

Council terminated the employment of Officer Anthony Ricchiuto, 40. Chief Greg Geppert said Mr. Ricchiuto was terminated because he had failed to attend several court appearances.

Mr. Ricchiuto could not be reached for comment.

His termination came less than three weeks after the department approved the retirement of Officer Kenneth Klapton.

Officer Klapton, 56, submitted a retirement letter to Chief Geppert on June 11. He had been placed on administrative leave in May after he was found shooting a personal weapon into the air in the back yard of his Penn Hills home.

Chief Geppert said his department hopes to fill at least two full-time officer positions, but the force isn't stretched too thin. The Swissvale police department currently has 12 full-time and 12 part-time officers.

"We're fine with manpower. We're just a little shorter than what we would like," he said.

Council also voted to approve a $3,000 general fund expenditure to help fund the Swissvale Community Day celebration; more than $1,500 more than was originally budgeted for the event in December.

Council President David Petrarca said organizers of future celebrations must submit solid budgets to council within two months of their dates or face cancellation.

He also said the Community Day committee should apply profits from the celebration to a fund for next year's event.

"That way, when you need to take [the money], it doesn't come out of the general fund," he said. "If it does, council's going to have a problem with that."

Mayor Deneen Swartzwelder said the budget increased because the committee didn't receive as many donations as it did for the previous Community Day celebration in 2006. She said the committee cut a $22,000 budget down to $10,000 by hiring fewer bands, scaling down the size of the fireworks show and by cutting one day out of the event.

Ms. Swartzwelder agrees that future celebrations should be funded through profits of past events and said a profit from this year's celebration will start the trend.

But she also said communities can find ways to host events despite difficult economic times.

"You can't cut out living, and we feel community support is very important. If we're living in a depression, why do we all have to be depressed?"