Verona council launches junior member program

Verona council has officially launched the borough’s first junior council member program.

The program was approved unanimously during the Aug. 26 voting meeting.

Jason Dailey, the borough’s interim manager, said council could welcome its first junior member as early as November if everything runs smoothly.

During an Aug. 12 agenda meeting, Dailey presented the general guidelines for a junior member.

Ideally, there will be one student representative per academic year serving on council. Starting out, the council would be able to seek out students from Riverview Junior-Senior High School. As the program grows in popularity, members would be able to recruit from local colleges, Dailey said.

The addition of this program allows Riverview students living in Verona to have the same opportunity as students living in Oakmont. Oakmont council pitched the student representative program in October and welcomed its first junior council member, Rocco Brown, in February.

A junior member would be responsible for attending monthly council voting and workshop meetings, budget sessions and community events. They would not be able to cast votes or participate in executive sessions.

“They’d have a seat at the table,” Dailey said. “They’d participate in discussions.”

The junior member would be assigned a council mentor and would be given the option to choose to participate in the committees they’re interested in. Ray Suchevich, council president, said the mentor will be selected at a later date.

“Any committee they would choose to participate in, we would provide a quarterly update on their engagement,” Dailey said.

Expansion possibilities include a middle school program called Junior Mayor for a Day and more borough social media outreach, Dailey said.