Cheswick looks to fill vacant positions

Cheswick Council is expected to fill two vacant borough positions on Tuesday.

The openings include a council seat left vacant after Cathy Crail resigned in late December and the borough secretary position left open when Joseph Puet resigned in January after just a couple of months on the job.

Councilman Michael Girardi said three people were interviewed for the open council seat. A nomination and vote is expected at Tuesday’s meeting. Whoever is chosen will serve the remainder of this year until a replacement picked in this year’s November election is sworn in.

Girardi said council also will vote on a proposal to move assistant secretary Lorraine Zebrine into the full-time secretary position. She’s been with the borough since November.

“When Joe left she just kind of kept doing it,” Girardi said of the borough’s day-to-day operations. “It allowed for a smoother transition for us.”

Girardi said Zebrine’s salary and benefits would be available once council votes on her contract.

The past three months have been a period of transition for the borough beginning with former secretary Ian Fitzgerald unexpectedly resigning at the end of October. Puet was hired to fill Fitzgerald’s position at the end of November and resigned effective Feb. 1.

“Obviously we want stability and we want someone there for the long haul,” Girardi said.

He said it was more stressful to deal with the initial loss of Fitzgerald because the borough was working on its budget and negotiating a new garbage contract at the end of the year.

“(A) less hectic time of the year made this second loss not as difficult to deal with,” Girardi said.

The borough also lost its long-time police Chief Bob Scott at the end of 2018 as part of lawsuit settlement. Several part-time officers also resigned. Springdale Township police Chief Mike Naviglia was hired to serve as part-time, interim chief after Scott’s departure.