Springdale Council candidate drops out, remains on ballot in complex election

A candidate’s late withdrawal from the race for Springdale Council means more seats are up for election than there are people to fill them.

Six of council’s seven seats will be on the Nov. 2 ballot, but there are effectively only five candidates.

Toni Robbins, 56, said she is dropping out of the race because of a recent health issue. A registered Democrat, she was running for elected office for the first time as a Republican after winning the nomination as a write-in in the May primary.

Robbins’ decision to drop out of the race came too late for her name to be removed from the ballot, Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said.

Robbins was the only candidate not currently on council. The others are elected incumbents Eileen Miller, Michael Ziencik and Jason Overly and appointed members Brittni Bair and Mitch Karaica.

“Keep in mind that over 135,000 people have already been sent ballots and over 37,000 have already returned theirs,” Downs said.

If voters elect Robbins anyway, Robbins said she would decline the seat. In that case, Downs said, the seat would be declared vacant. Borough council would make an appointment to fill the vacancy until the next municipal election when it would again be on the ballot.

Of the six seats that are up this year, four carry four-year terms. Robbins’ withdrawal makes it an uncontested race with three candidates listed on the ballot as Democrats — Miller, Overly and Bair — and Zienick, a Democrat who secured both party nominations.

Councilman Harry Helwig Jr., who was elected in 2017, did not seek reelection this year and resigned in October. Council is expected to fill that vacancy at its Nov. 16 meeting.

Two seats with two-year terms are up because of members who resigned earlier this year and were replaced through appointments. The candidates for those seats are Karaica and Bair.

Karaica was appointed in May to replace David Spirk; Bair was appointed in July to replace James Zurisko, who was council president. Karaica was named council president after Miller, council’s vice president, declined the position.

Bair won in the primary for a four-year seat before she was appointed. If she were to win both seats, Bair said she would take the four-year office, which would leave the two-year seat vacant. Council would have to appoint someone to fill the empty seat until the next local election in 2023.

Bair, 31, a Freeport native, said she and her husband, Travis, moved to Springdale in 2014 and bought a home there last year.

“I have been wanting to see a little bit more progress in the community,” she said. “I’ve been telling him, ‘I wish to do this, I want to do this.’ Instead of talking about it, I figured this would be the best way to get involved.”

The continued growth of the borough is Bair’s main interest, she said.

“I think we’re in a really great location,” she said. “I’d like to see more people coming to our town. I would like to attract more businesses than what we have here.”

Ziencik, 57, is seeking his fifth term on council. He said he wants to keep property taxes low, so the community remains affordable, and to maintain the borough’s full-time police department.

Being a member of council is a time-consuming job, he said.

“There’s budget meetings, special meetings, regular meetings and doing the job of the chair you’re assigned to,” said Ziencik, who chairs public safety. “There’s a lot more than just showing up once a month for a meeting.”

Karaica, Miller and Overly did not respond to requests for comment.