Incumbent Republican, Libertarian seeking Delmont mayor’s seat
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A long-serving mayor will face off against a college student running a third-party candidacy in the November election to decide Delmont’s next mayor.
Republican Alyce Urban, 74, a former councilwoman who initially was appointed mayor in 2014 after the departure of former mayor Gill Sanchez, will vie for votes against Nate Jobe, 26, a Libertarian and Navy veteran pursuing a political science degree at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.
“I feel like it’s my time to step to the plate and take care of the community where I’ve lived all my life,” said Jobe, a 2013 Greensburg Salem graduate who is attending college using the post-9/11 GI Bill. “I have leadership roles from my time in the Navy and from working in the automotive industry. I oversaw a call center of about 12 people, so I know how to lead by example.”
Urban, who has spent eight years as mayor and two on council before that, has been a business owner, school bus driver and hairdresser over the years.
“My platform is preserving our police force,” she said. “I believe in our country, states and cities, we need our police departments. I want to be able to sit out on my back deck around the fire pit and not be afraid that someone’s going to come and shoot me or something.”
The borough is nearing completion on a project to relocate the police department into the space vacated by the Delmont library.
“We’re also getting the borough building into better shape than it’s ever been in; we’ve put a restroom in at the parklet; and I’m hoping we can eventually put in a pavilion people can rent,” Urban said. “And we’ve worked hard to keep the cost down.”
Jobe said he recognizes the mayor’s role is more limited than council members’, but wants to give “more voice to Delmont’s residents.”
“Garbage is a mess,” he said. “I’ve been hearing all kinds of complaints about that. And I want to be transparent to the community and not be a stranger.”
Jobe said he’d like to see more public events happening in the borough, and will host a meet-and-greet event at 6 p.m., Oct. 28 at the Delmont Library’s community room.
“I feel like we used to have parades and community days, and it just seems like nothing is going on in town,” he said.
Jobe and Urban said a big emphasis should be keeping costs under control, even in the face of a potential $5 million project to stop inflow and infiltration into the borough’s sewage system.
“I think we’ve worked very hard and very diligently to get this stormwater thing under control,” Urban said. “It’s been let go for many years, and now the DEP is finally coming down on everyone about it.”
The borough is working under two consent orders from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, one aimed at stopping sewage overflows during heavy rain.
Jobe said keeping an eye on the borough’s budget would be a priority for him, as well.
“I’m fiscally conservative,” he said. “I decided to run as a third-party candidate because the other two parties don’t sit very well with my morals.”
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 2.