Editorial: Working together in new year
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January is that time of year when you might think about starting over.
It’s not just about resolutions. Everything about the new year speaks of starting over. You have a new insurance deductible. Your vacation days reset. It’s the perfect opportunity to set goals and try to make new habits, personally and professionally.
And so it is a great time for government to do the same. January is when newly elected officials and officers are sworn in, and when they get down to work. It’s when some may find out what the job they campaigned to get actually entails. It’s when those who have been doing the job have to start working with fresh faces.
Like the Westmoreland County commissioners.
On Thursday, they spoke to more than 400 business and community leaders at the county Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the County luncheon, talking about priorities and directions.
They spoke about different goals. Gina Cerilli addressed transportation. Doug Chew sees high-speed internet access as being key to growth. Sean Kertes looked to revitalization of existing assets.
They may be different, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t complementary. Those priorities can definitely work together to pull the county in the same direction.
The board of commissioners — a new body consisting of an incumbent Democrat in Cerilli and her two newly installed Republican counterparts — has the chance to do the same.
“Over the next four years, my goal is to promote ‘Do your job.’ We are not here to talk about political things, to talk to our base. The campaign is over,” Kertes said. “We govern all of Westmoreland County for the next four years.”
That’s a great goal. And maybe if that’s what we are looking for, that’s what we will see.
At Thursday’s commissioners meeting, it was possible to focus on the dissension between Chew and Cerilli over appointment of former Monessen District Judge Joseph Dalfonso to the county housing authority. But another perspective could be encouraging. Dalfonso was appointed because of Cerilli and Kertes’ bipartisan support.
It’s a start. Let’s see where it goes from here.