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Election causes shakeup on Bethel Park School Board

By Cara Host for The Almanac writer@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

By Cara Host

For The Almanac

writer@thealmanac.net

Incumbent Bethel Park School Director Russ Spicuzza is the odd man out in a five-way race for four board seats, according to unofficial results of the Nov. 7 general election.

Newcomer Ken Nagel appears to have secured the second highest vote total, but the race also had an unusually high number of write-in votes.

Incumbent Pamela Dobos received the most votes at 5,039; Nagel received 4,992 votes; incumbent Cindy Buckley received 3,880 votes; incumbent Connie Ruhl got 2,972 votes and Spicuzza got 2,859 votes. Voters also cast 4,188 write-in votes, so it is possible that a write-in candidate received more votes than Ruhl, thus securing a seat on the nine-member board.

Those write-in votes will be tabulated during the canvass. The county return board will start that process Nov. 10 and the board of elections is scheduled to certify the final results by Nov. 27.

Voters in Bethel Park also overwhelmingly approved several changes to the home rule charter.

The municipality formed a commission to study the local constitution or home rule charter about three years ago. That panel released a report of its recommended changes last year. The changes that voters approved Tuesday are among the least controversial.

Bethel Park residents voted nearly 89 percent in favor of a change that will give the municipal council more leeway in scheduling the annual reorganization meeting. The charter currently requires that the meeting start at 8 p.m. on the first Monday in January. This causes some problems when the first Monday is a holiday, plus municipal council meetings typically start at 7:30 p.m. so voters will decide whether council should be able to determine the date and time of that meeting.

About 83 percent of voters approved extending the timeline for developing the comprehensive plan from five years to 10 years. Council members said updating the plan every five years is impractical and too expensive.

Nearly 90 percent of voters agreed to extend the deadline for submitting the general fund budget from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30. Municipal officials said the extra time would allow for more accurate estimates but also allows for ample time for public comment before council adopts the budget, typically in November.

About 86 percent of voters approved extending the deadline for submitting the capital fund budget. Currently, the municipal manager must submit that spending plan two months prior to the general fund budget, and the referendum asks if that deadline could be just one month prior to the general fund budget deadline.

In the race for Bethel Park School Board, incumbent Russ Spicuzza appears to be the odd man out in a five-way race for four board seats. Voters also re-elected Mayor Jack Allen and five incumbent council members, Joseph Consolmagno of Ward 1, James Hannan of Ward 3, Donald Harrison of Ward 5, James McLean of Ward 7 and Lorrie Gibbons of Ward 9. All candidates ran unopposed.

Turnout in Bethel Park was about 28 percent.

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