Rostraver West Newton EMS Chief Mike Stangroom is running for district judge in the township.
Stangroom, 52, of Rostraver, said he is a registered Republican but plans to cross file in the May 16 primary.
He also serves as chief of Sewickley Township Community Ambulance Service and as a police officer in Monongahela. Stangroom said in an announcement that he has been with the Rostraver-based ambulance service since 1990 as an EMT and paramedic and became its chief five years later. His association with the Sewickley service dates to 2011.
“I’m here for everybody, it’s not about the job, it’s about doing what’s right,” Stangroom said in describing himself as a “common man” in the announcement.
He has been involved with the Belle Vernon Area Charitable Foundation, a regional EMS council and other local ambulance-related associations. He has organized disaster drills at local high schools and serves on the Westmoreland County Drug and Alcohol Commission. He and his wife have three children.
The post currently is held by District Judge Charles M. Christner, who at 75 has reached the state’s mandatory retirement age for judges. The office covers Madison, Smithton, Sutersville and West Newton boroughs, Sewickley Township and parts of Rostraver and South Huntingdon townships.
Three other candidates have announced their intention to run for election to the seat.
Both ambulance services are being sued by a female employee who claims she was discriminated against based on her gender and was the subject of retaliation in the workplace. Stangroom is not a defendant in the case.
