Pine supervisors fail 4 attempts to appoint board chair, will try again at next meeting

After four failed attempts to elect a chairman to lead Pine’s board of supervisors for a one-year term, the four members attending the township’s annual reorganization meeting put the decision off for future consideration and moved on to fill other posts.

The board chair presides over supervisors’ meetings and often serves as the lead contact person for the five members. The vice-chair serves when the chair is absent.

Efforts to fill the chairman’s post began with a motion by supervisor Ed Holdcroft to reappoint Supervisor Michael Dennehy as chairman, which failed to be seconded.

A motion by supervisor Ryan Colombo to appoint supervisor Pat Avolio also failed to get a second, as did a motion by Avolio to appoint Colombo to the leadership position.

The final attempt to select a chairman ended with a motion by Avolio to appoint Holdcroft to the post, who declined the nomination, causing that motion to fail.

The board voted 4-0 to try again to appoint a chairman at its Jan. 19 meeting. The fifth supervisor, Jack Donahue, was absent from the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting.

“I believe the deferral to appoint a chairman was because not all of the supervisors were present,” township manager Scott Anderson said in an email.”They will take this issue up at Monday’s (Jan. 19) meeting.”

The board filled the vice chairman’s position with a unanimous vote to appoint Dennehy, who replaces Holdcroft.

The following supervisors were elected by unanimous vote to serve as representatives from the township to various organizations:

• Northern Regional Police Force representative: Dennehy, Holdcroft and Avolio.

• North Hills Council of Governments representative: Donahue and Colombo.

• Wexford Volunteer Fire Department representative: Holdcroft and Avolio.

• Pine Richland School District: Colombo.

• Friends of Community Parks: Holdcroft and Colombo.

Township residents also were reappointed by unanimous votes to various boards, commissions and advisory councils after the nominees expressed interest in continuing to serve:

• Planning Commission: Glenn Geary, John Lombardo and Paul Lewandowski.

• Environmental Advisory Council: Amanda McNally.

• Parks and Recreation Commission: John Gill and Charles DeLisioto.

• Zoning Hearing Board: Michael Pfeiferto.

• Board of Appeals: Paul Lewandowski.

• Northern Tier Library Board: Carole Keeley, Rob Sapinkopf and Jeremy Shaffer.