Terry Carcella departing as Latrobe's city manager for similar post in Springdale

Latrobe officials will look to reassign administrative responsibilities temporarily as City Manager Terry Carcella departs this month to take on a similar post in Springdale Borough.

Springdale Council voted Tuesday to hire Carcella, initially paying him a prorated salary of $85,000 through the end of the year. Carcella said his last day with the city will be May 23, with his work in Springdale beginning on May 27.

Carcella said he was unable to come to terms with Latrobe officials on continued employment in the city, with his three-year contract coming to an end.

With more than 40 years working in municipal government, Carcella said, “I wasn’t ready to retire. This was a perfect fit for me.

“I feel sad leaving Latrobe, but this is an exciting opportunity. I’ve got to take it when I get the chance.”

He said one of his priorities at Springdale will be helping the town deal with blight, a problem that Latrobe has begun to tackle during his stint there.

The terms of Carcella’s new job are “a better deal to me, a little bit better,” he said, while noting Springdale is a smaller community than Latrobe. The Allegheny County borough has a population of about 3,300 compared to the nearly 8,000 residents of the Westmoreland County city.

Carcella said he plans to continue living in Latrobe, commuting to his new job and sometimes working remotely.

“We appreciate what (Carcella) did for the city, but, ultimately, council decided to go in a different direction,” said Mayor Eric Bartels, who presides at council meetings and takes part in its votes under the city’s Home Rule charter. “We didn’t renew his contract. He made a proposal about what he wanted, and it wasn’t satisfactory.”

Bartels said council plans to hold a special voting meeting on May 27, with the agenda expected to include an interim step of divvying up some of the areas Carcella oversaw.

Police Chief Richard Bosco could be tapped to “run some interim duties in the office,” Bartels said. He said some responsibilities concerning the city’s stormwater management program could fall to public works director Scott Wajdic.

As for a successor to Carcella as city manager, Bartels said, “We’re going to be patient about finding a replacement.”

When Carcella joined the Latrobe staff in April 2022, he served a little more than a month as the city’s zoning and code enforcement officer before being promoted to city manager.

He previously served as the manager of neighboring Ligonier Township, beginning in 2014, after a 13-year stint as a code and zoning officer in Washington Township, Erie County.