Freeport creates a borough manager post to shift operations from elected officials — then immediately hires a councilman to fill it

Hoping to shift daily borough operations from elected officials, Freeport Council has created a manager position, filling it with — an elected official.

Council selected Councilman Zachary Filous to fill the position Monday immediately after creating it.

Filous did not participate in the 35-minute executive session called for personnel matters — presumably to discuss the position and the hiring — and abstained from voting on either. Both were approved by 6-0 votes.

As a condition of accepting the position, Filous will be required to resign from council.

Council President Clint Warnick, who made the motion to hire Filous at a salary of $65,000, said Filous was one of 20 applicants for the job, five of whom were interviewed.

“The second I put (my application) in, I removed myself from the (hiring) process,” Filous said while council held its executive session.

He declined to comment on the position or his background, deferring any comment until he officially accepts the job.

Filous moved to the borough in 2021, formerly residing in Kittanning. Warnick said Filous is employed as a manager in a cabinet shop.

He was appointed to fill a council vacancy and has served less than a year.

Warnick said Filous and his wife have been active in the community, and Filous has served as president of the Freeport Renaissance Association.

Warnick said Filous got the job because “he was willing to do everything and anything we asked him to do.”

And, according to Warnick, borough officials are asking a lot for the taxpayers’ $65,000, more than most borough managers traditionally provide.

The borough’s public works supervisor is retiring and its sewer plant operator may do the same, Warnick said. He said Filous is the person borough officials are going to lean on to fill those voids.

The job, as advertised, includes things such as supervising the public works department and earning certification as a sewer plant operator.

“A lot of candidates didn’t have the desire to earn certification as a sewage plant operator, which is a requirement,” Warnick said. “Also, he was willing to go out and plow streets and be on call for that.”

“The concept is to better utilize all our resources in the borough,” he said. “His job is going to be 70% managing and 30% out in the field.”

The borough employs a secretary who oversees the borough office, but that is more of a clerical position.

Warnick said the way the borough has operated in the past, elected officials — council members and the mayor — got involved with day-to-day responsibilities that usually come under a manager’s position. Warnick said he has put in as much as 20 hours a week on matters that a borough manager should handle.

“I can’t do that anymore,” he said.

“It’s a vision; it’s a work in progress,” Warnick said. “But it’s a vision we had to run our borough more efficiently without significant additional cost to the borough.”