Beautification, public safety alerts priority for Hempfield supervisor candidate
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After serving on Hempfield’s planning committee and a lifetime raising a family in the county, Becky Durbin hopes to “make the community a better place” by running for township supervisor.
Durbin, who is a seventh-generation Hempfield resident, said she hopes to bring a “different perspective” to the all-male board of supervisors.
“My family has always, for decades, been involved in Hempfield Township,” Durbin said. “My grandfather was on the school board. I’m on the planning commission, and it was just something that was instilled in me. I believe you should always be selfless for the betterment of others.”
In her second term as a member of the Westmoreland County Republican Committee, Durbin said beautifying the Route 30 corridor and improving public safety would be her biggest priorities if elected.
“I want to make the Route 30 corridor more attractive to residents and business owners,” she said. “I know the school board is working on a new high school, and the current supervisors have done a really good job with our parks. I just want to capitalize on that and make Hempfield more business friendly and work with some residential developers to attract even more new families into our township.”
If elected, she hopes to implement an alert system app for the township that would allow Hempfield to notify residents of emergencies in the area. She envisions an expansion of the app to include a hub for township communications and countywide resources.
Improving communications with the township’s 11 fire departments also is a priority, she said, especially in the wake of an ongoing shortage of volunteer firefighters.
Durbin works at the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County and lives in a rural part of the township near Crabtree. She has been married to her husband, Brian, for 30 years, and has one son.
“My years of experience working at the municipal authority … instilled in me the importance of public infrastructure which includes safe bridges, stormwater controls and access to clean water,” she said.
Two seats on the five-person board of supervisors are open in this year’s election. Supervisors serve six-year terms, and the primary is May 16.