Gilpin supervisors appoint Steve Senjan to board vacancy

Gilpin Supervisors appointed resident Steve Senjan to fill a vacant seat on the board Monday evening.

“I’d been thinking about it for a while,” Senjan, 40, said Tuesday. “When it came up that they needed someone to fill the position…I decided to step into that position, put my letter in, any way.”

The seat – for a term ending at the end of this year – was made vacant after the unexpected death in March of Supervisor Susan Brown. Supervisors last month asked for interested residents to apply to fill the vacancy.

After interviewing six candidates the supervisors chose Senjan.

“He is already very community driven,” Supervisor Chairman Charles Stull said. “He’s on the Leechburg Pool Board and does a lot for the community, and also owns a local business.”

Senjan owns a machine and fabrication shop, Senjan Machine, Inc., which is currently located in Leechburg.

Senjan is in the process of moving the business to Schenley Industrial Park in Gilpin. In addition to spending the last two and a half years on the pool board (where he is currently treasurer), Senjan was involved with Leechburg Area Little League from 2005-2018.

Senjan said he wasn’t motivated to apply by any particular cause or problem to solve in the township – he said he thought his experiences as a business owner would be helpful to the board. One goal he said he has for the rest of this year is to update the Gilpin/Leechburg Park.

“Just day-to-day stuff like that,” he said. “There’s no major projects I was really after.”

He isn’t sure, yet, if he will run for re-election once the term expires. Senjan said he is looking at this appointment as an opportunity for “getting his feet wet.”

Brown had been running for re-election for the four-year seat, as well as for a six-year seat set to open at the end of the year. She will still be listed on the ballot during next week’s primary election.