Sewickley Councilman Brian Bozzo is stepping down and moving to another town.
The registered independent announced his soon-to-be independence from his elected position at a council meeting June 11.
He told his colleagues he and his wife, Lindsay, and their three children will be moving next month out of the First Ward and into a larger Glen Osborne home about 100 yards or so away.
“I think this that town is really in a much better place because of the work that we’ve done together as a council,” Bozzo said. “Certainly there’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’ll take the opportunity to say, ‘goodbye,’ but also to say, ‘thank you,’ to each one of you, because it’s clear that you care about this town.”
Bozzo, 39, was appointed to council in July 2021 to fill the unexpired term of Christine Allen.
He went on to win a four-year seat in that year’s election. His term expires at the end of 2025.
“It’s just been a tremendous pleasure working with you,” council President Cynthia Mullins said. “I look back on when you started up with us and how far we’ve come and what your contribution has been. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I think you’ve done a real good job for us.
“Nobody up here is on council to look after their own interests. None of us are up here to feather our own nest. … I think everybody up here is giving of their time, their resources and this is a great council.”
Other council members and Mayor George Shannon thanked Bozzo for his service.
“We’re happy you’re not moving too far away,” Shannon said.
Bozzo works as an intellectual property and patent attorney at K&L Gates. He worked for 12 years prior to that as a spacecraft design engineer and project manager for Lockheed Martin, an aerospace and defense company.
He said he is most proud of his work with fellow First Ward residents and Duquesne Light in addressing power outages.
That section of town would go through about 10 outages a year mostly due to storms.
“We walked door to door and surveyed residents in Ward 1 to figure out who was losing power the most and where,” Bozzo said.
The result was a color-coded map and multiple letters to the electric company.
Those efforts led to identifying a problem with trees along Water Works Road impacting supply coming off Beaver Street.
“They installed a fuse that now when the trees take the lines down, that fuse opens up and protects Ward 1 from losing power,” Bozzo said. “We’ve lost it for, maybe, one time for two hours over two years after having this fixed.”
Bozzo was also instrumental in acquiring more than $1 million in grants for the borough’s waste water treatment plant. He also brought a lot of attention to various hillsides impacted by landslides.
“I’ll look back on these years and probably some of the most proudest moments of my life will come from the stuff that we did in service to our neighbors here,” Bozzo said.
Solicitor Nate Boring said council will likely accept the resignation July 9.
It has 30 days from that point to appoint someone.
Whoever is appointed would have to run in next year’s election in order to keep the seat.
The vacancy is expected to be posted on the borough website sometime this month.
Those interested can submit resumes and letters of interest to the borough office, 601 Thorn St.
