Leechburg mayor to host coffee, idea session with residents

Leechburg Mayor Doreen Smeal is hoping to hear from residents.

To do that, she will be starting what she hopes will be a series of Coffee with the Mayor events on Aug. 6.

“I really think this is going to be sort of an experiment to see what kind of questions I get, and to see what people want to talk about — if they want to talk at all,” Smeal said.

The first coffee session will be hosted at Frankie’s on 2nd from 9 to 11 a.m.

Smeal said she’d been thinking about starting the program for a while. She receives phone calls from residents regarding a variety of issues, comments and questions about the town.

“I don’t really have an office,” Smeal said. “I didn’t necessarily want to use the borough building. … I wanted this to be more of a casual thing and less of a business thing.”

Smeal said she’s open to hearing from residents, be it complaints, questions, ideas or just a hello. She’s hoping to use the time to get to know people in town that she otherwise wouldn’t.

“I know most people in town but not everybody,” Smeal said.

Based on the response from residents, Smeal said she would be interested in hosting Coffee with the Mayor once every month or two and rotating between local restaurants to meet with people.

“I’d like to hear what they’d like to see happen in town, their ideas for the town,” Smeal said. “A lot of things could happen if they come and talk with me.”