Delmont mayor breaks 3-3 deadlock in appointing new council member
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Delmont Mayor Alyce Urban is empowered to break a tie vote, if one should come up at a council meeting. But in six years, she hasn’t been called on to do so.
Tuesday night, she had to do it twice in order to fill the seat vacated by her husband, former Councilman Dennis Urban, earlier this year.
The mayor first broke a 3-3 tie in voting against a nomination for 2021 election candidate Kevin Bortz to fill the seat; then again to confirm the appointment of borough resident Chris Bigley, who will serve the remaining two years on Urban’s term. Bigley has lived in Delmont the past eight years after growing up in nearby Washington Township.
A former social worker who has gone on to work as a sales associate at Highmark and as a client support specialist at Henderson Brothers in Pittsburgh, Bigley said he’s always felt a call to this type of service.
“I feel I could be a very good candidate,” he said. “I have a long history of working in a corporate structure where relationships and making connections are very important.”
Bigley, Bortz and Pamela Loughner-Kelly all made their case for filling the seat at council’s Feb. 8 meeting.
Bortz felt his background as a civil engineer would be particularly useful as the borough makes its way through multiple state consent orders related to storm water and sewage.
“As a longtime resident, I understand what older people in the community need, but I’ve also been elsewhere and would like to find a way to marry that with things young people living here would also like to see,” Bortz said.
Bortz ran as a first-time candidate for council in the 2021 election, coming in fifth in the race for four open seats.
Loughner-Kelly made an unsuccessful run for a council seat in 2017.
“I’ve worked previously in Westmoreland County government, so I’ve worked closely with all the departments the borough has contact with,” she said. “I feel that I’d like to step back in and help affect Delmont in a positive way.”
Council deadlocked in both of its votes on the appointment, with David Weber, Stan Cheyne and Jeff Cunningham voting in favor of Bortz and against Bigley, while Becky Matesevac, Pam Simpson and council President Andy Shissler did the exact opposite.
In breaking the ties, Urban said she felt Bigley’s experience would be the most beneficial to council.