Candidates say infrastructure, new families key issues in Cheswick Council election

There are six open seats on Cheswick Council, but only four of them will be contested Tuesday.

But there’s a twist that could lead to the next council’s roster still up in the air after election night.

Incumbents Frank Stanish and Nicholas Pollino are running for two, two-year terms, leaving those seats uncontested.

But Pollino is also running for a four-year seat.

If Pollino wins a four-year seat, he will have to choose which seat to keep, potentially leaving an opening for a two-year seat. Stanish is only running for a two-year seat.

Joining Pollino in the race for four, four-year seats are five candidates.

Fellow Councilmen Frank Meledandri and Adis Halimic and newcomer Rachel Simko are all Republicans.

Councilman George White is the sole Democrat on the ballot.

Although they are incumbents, Stanish, Pollino and Halimic were all appointed this year.

Meledandri has served in various roles as an elected official in Cheswick for more than 40 years.

Primarily focused on finances, Meledandri, 77, said he’d like to continue to keep the borough’s finances solid.

“It’s just a matter of coming up with a model that works for a small community,” he said.

He has an electrical engineering bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree in business from the University of Pittsburgh.

Meledandri is retired after a career spent as an engineer and director at Westinghouse.

Outside of finances, he’d work to carve out spaces for young people in an effort to attracted new families to the borough. Like Simko, Meledandri said he has his eye set on Rachel Carson Riverfront Park.

Halimic, 45, said he also wants to draw new folks into the aging borough.

He said Cheswick officials would have to enforce local ordinances and codes surrounding noise and property maintenance to make sure the borough stays in good shape.

“The goal is to maintain the community to make it attractive for younger families,” Halimic said.

An applications engineer, he holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Penn State University.

Pollino said he has always wanted to be involved in the community.

He’d like to see more growth in Cheswick, and he’d work to improve borough roads and cleanliness.

“I just hope I can continue with the growth,” Pollino said.

Pollino is a Springdale Springdale Jr.-Sr. High School graduate. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Saint Vincent College.

He’s a landlord and also runs Pollino Landscaping.

Simko, 31, said she’d like to make her borough a more desirable place for new residents.

Simko initially took interest in the community through her work as a steward with the nonprofit Friends of the Riverfront. She said she’s interested in working toward the planned long-term redevelopment of Cheswick’s Rachel Carson Riverfront Park.

That’s in addition to her goal of analyzing borough finances and tax rates to “reinvest in the community.”

An engineer at Curtiss-Wright, Simko has a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from Westminster College and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

White declined a TribLive request for comment for this story.

Stanish said he’d like to use his professional background for the benefit of the borough.

In addition to infrastructure upgrades, Stanish said, he’d focus on making sure the proposed data center project — just across the municipal border in Springdale — doesn’t have any adverse effects on Cheswick.

A retired engineer, Stanish, 61, said his primary concerns are upgrading the borough’s road and water infrastructure.

“I just wanted to use my experience to help out the town I grew up in,” he said.

Stanish graduated from Springdale High before earning an associate degree in tooling design from the now-defunct Alliance College.