West Deer supervisors to choose among 10 candidates to fill Shawn Maudhuit's seat

The West Deer supervisors on Wednesday interviewed 10 residents interested in filling the seat formerly held by the late Shawn Maudhuit.

The candidates are Anthony Spagnolo, David Oleniacz, Jennifer Mann, Robert Roth, Jim Cesnick, Collin Smith, Toby Kreidler, Brian Levec, Matthew Brudnok and Jay Fraser. All live in the township.

A shared love of the township is what influenced the candidates to apply for the position.

The candidates have diverse backgrounds:

• Spagnolo believes he has certain personality traits that would endear him to the role. He’s full of energy and looks forward to challenges. He’s a territory manager for CE Northeast, an HVAC company.

Spagnolo said West Deer has the potential for expansion. One of his desires would be to create a Main Street through the township.

“I think that that could be very important, a focal point of the community, a focal point locally of business and commerce,” Spagnolo said.

• Oleniacz, 61, said he would be a good supervisor because he has no agenda. He was a good friend of Maudhuit’s and wants to serve to honor him. Maudhuit, who was known for bringing recreational opportunities to the township, including reviving Community Days, died unexpectedly Sept. 20. He was 50.

Oleniacz is a self-employed musician and former electrical engineer for Duquesne Light.

He said he has been endorsed by the Maudhuit family and former township supervisors.

“We had worked together, and (Shawn) thought that I could bring a lot, something to the table as far as life skills,” Oleniacz said.

• Mann, an English teacher at Deer Lakes High School, thinks she can serve as a link between the school district and township.

She said collaboration is what makes a community strong, and believes the school district and township could work together to facilitate change.

“I know the kids, the young people in our community, want this,” said Mann, 59. “They want to be involved. They want to make it a better place.”

• Roth, 27, is a heavy equipment operator and lifelong West Deer resident.

Roth would like to see more engagement between the supervisors and the community. Instead of meetings where specific topics are discussed, like zoning and regulations, he said there could be meetings at the park or fire hall where people can have general conversations.

• Cesnick believes a supervisor’s job is to serve public demands and needs in a cost-effective way.

A retired contract consultant, Cesnick used to attend township meetings years ago, but stopped going because he got fed up with the way the board operated. He likes the way the current board works.

“I think this is the time and place,” said Cesnick, 73. “I think I can contribute an awful lot to this.”

• Smith has aspirations of increasing economic viability in the township, particularly on Route 910. He said development of that area could bring in businesses and reduce property taxes.

A car salesman, Smith, 22, said his vision for West Deer sets him apart from the other candidates. He thinks the township could replicate the development model set by Cranberry Township.

• Kreidler said he wants to be a supervisor to give back to the community. His wife, Sara Kreidler, is a member of the Parks and Recreation Board.

Kreidler works for Calibre Group, a merchant bank, but was a negotiator who dealt with a union for almost a decade. His job was to persuade people to give up wages and benefits for the good of their company. He thinks he could bring that experience to the supervisors role.

“That’s hard,” said Kreidler, 47. “And I think it was probably hard in a similar way to the kind of assault that you guys sometimes face.”

• Levec, 44, is a litigation paralegal and a member of West Deer Volunteer Fire Department No. 2. He said he was instrumental in getting the township to enact a fire tax to help the fire companies.

Working for the fire company has allowed Levec to see all the good in the community. When people’s basements get flooded, neighbors they haven’t seen in 20 years come over to give them blankets, he said.

“That’s the community I want to live in for the rest of my life,” Levec said.

• Brudnok is a former Sharpsburg councilman and was a member of the borough’s zoning hearing board.

On council, he served as finance chair. He said it’s important to make smart spending choices and keep a watchful eye on the budget.

“(Money) can dry up in a heartbeat, even if you have a surplus,” said Brudnok, 34.

Brudnok is the co-owner of Lucky Sign Spirits, a distillery in Millvale. He said he would like to expand his business, possibly to Route 910.

“I want to be invested in the community with my business, with my family,” Brudnok said.

• Fraser, president of the Deer Lakes Youth Baseball Association, is heavily involved with youth sports but said he would be able to take on the supervisor’s role.

He said a supervisor is responsible for looking out for all the residents in a township, from seniors living on Social Security to middle-class, two-income households.

“It’s about people that you’ve never met and that you won’t meet and you may not meet, but you still have to make decisions that’s right for them,” Fraser said. “I take that very seriously.”