Four Republicans are vying for three seats on the Kiski Township Board of Supervisors.
Supervisor James Cibik and Addie Birch Jr. are seeking an open six-year seat.
Birch also is seeking a two-year term, as are Supervisor Herman “Bob” Ross III and Thomas Tardivo. There are two two-year seats available.
Birch said he would choose the six-year over the two-year term, if voters give him the option, meaning Ross and Tarvido would secure the Republican nominations.
No Democrats are running for the board so, barring a write-in campaign, the winners of Tuesday’s primary will run uncontested in November’s general election.
Six-year term
Cibik was appointed to the board this year. He did not return TribLive interview requests, including several calls, an email and social media messages.
Birch, 54, is making his first official run for elected office. He previously mounted an unsuccessful write-in campaign for the Leechburg Area School Board.
He serves as the EMS manager for New Kensington Ambulance Service. He also teaches emergency medical care at Allegheny and Westmoreland county community colleges and is a member of the Kiski Township Volunteer Fire Department.
The township has been plagued by resignations and infighting in recent years. Cibik and Ross, for example, joined the board after their predecessors decided to cut their terms short.
Birch hopes to bring stability.
“If you run for office,” he said, “you got to stick it out.”
Though he has never held public office, Birch believes he knows the ins and outs of local politics from his experience leading the ambulance service. The role often brings him into contact with municipal and county officials.
He also wants to amend the budget process to look not just a year ahead, but through the first quarter of the following year, for a total of 15 months. This, he said, will help the township keep continuity in its spending and services when the calendar flips over.
Policing has been a hot topic in the township, which was in talks to join a merged force of Kiski Valley communities until late last year. Birch said he is open to regionalizing but would want to “look at the costs at all angles.”
As for ongoing state-mandated comprehensive sewage planning, Birch said he would pursue grants to help reduce the financial burden on residents of having their homes hooked up to public sewage.
Two-year term
Birch also is seeking a two-year term.
Tardivo could not be reached for an interview.
Ross, 49, is the owner of Bob Ross Auto and Tractor Repair as well as Chicken Wing Undercoating in the township. He was appointed to the board in January, which marked his first time holding political office.
He applied for the board this year because he became “very concerned” with the direction of the township, he said. Now, after several months in the role, Ross said he has a handle on the past issues and has helped tame animosity between elected officials.
“They were already losing the battle because of that poisonous environment, and it wasn’t good,” he said. “I said on day one that I wasn’t going to tolerate it.”
Ross is skeptical of widespread public sewage, at least given the available information. He claims a draft plan presented this year that called for a five-phase project costing up to $50 million to bring public sewage to more residents is riddled with inaccuracies.
He also leans against police regionalization.
“It didn’t seem like it was going to be a real good thing with us,” he said. “It seemed like it was going to be a big win for whoever merged with us.”
