As election nears, Westmoreland commissioner candidates look to the future

Westmoreland County’s board of commissioners already has seen change.

It came in August when Democrat Ted Kopas was appointed to the board to replace Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher, who resigned to take a job as a worker’s compensation judge.

Kopas joined first-term Republicans Sean Kertes and Doug Chew as the county’s top executives. All three are asking voters to return them to office in the Nov. 7 general election.

They are joined on the ballot by Democrat Lisa Gephart, who entered the race in late August as a replacement candidate following the withdrawal of Sydney Hovis, who along with Kopas won the party’s May primary with an eye toward reclaiming a board majority that the GOP took over in 2020.

‘Average Joe’

Gephart, 56, of Mt. Pleasant Township, a retired school security officer and van driver, is no stranger to politics and has been involved with the Democratic Party for decades. It’s her role as a candidate for a countywide office that’s new.

“I’m the average Joe in the race, and that relates to more people than if I had been in there for years,” Gephart said. She said she is still figuring out a governing strategy but said she wants to focus on senior health care, housing and upgrades to mental health services. She also wants to tackle programs to reduce homelessness.

“I feel I am ready to jump in,” Gephart said.

Her opponents — the incumbents — are each running individual campaigns, although Kertes and Chew have indicated they are working as part of an unofficial alliance toward keeping the Republicans as the board majority.

Pressing need

Kertes, 37, of Greensburg has been involved in county government for more than a decade, having worked as a deputy to Treasurer Jared Squires and then chief of staff to former Commissioner Charles Anderson.

He, along with Chew, took control of county government just two months before the onset of the covid pandemic stressed county operations and resources.

Kertes, who serves as board chairman, pointed to the county’s pandemic recovery, efforts to remove blight and enhance economic growth, and job creation as successes over the past four years. He also touted a county program unveiled last year to promote job training in schools.

“We have to work as a board for the benefit of the populace rather than working for a legacy, a plaque or a road to be named after,” Kertes said. “Since covid we’ve seen intense interest in jobs and business and industry looking to move here. With our population getting older, getting younger people to stay is more pressing than ever.”

Kertes said his next term will focus on his proposal to provide government funding to first-time homebuyers. He said he wants to lobby the federal and state governments for grants to seed the program to help lure younger residents to relocate or stay in the county.

“I’d like to see this up and running four years from now,” Kertes said.

Commissioners for the past two years have looked to spend more than $105 million in federal covid-relief funds, and about $35 million to $40 million remains to be allocated. Money has been used to rebuild an underground parking structure at the courthouse, to pay bonuses to staff for working during the pandemic, for blight removal, job creation programs and to cover general county spending.

Kertes said other issues remain, including continued upgrades to county buildings and property, reopening of the juvenile detention center that was closed this spring amid staffing concerns and continued oversight of the county jail following the warden’s resignation this fall.

‘The second thing’

Chew, 53, of Hempfield agreed that housing will be a focus for him in another term.

A first-time candidate four years ago, he worked as a biochemist before taking office.

“This term, we want to work on blight. There’s going to be a need for places in areas where we removed blight. I’d like to see new housing of all types, that means for first-time homebuyers, affordable housing and more upscale housing. I don’t have a program in my mind yet, but it’s one of those things we have to consider. You can’t tear down all this blight without putting something up in its place,” Chew said.

He said new housing is a key to ensure county taxes remain level. The county budget in recent years has grown to exceed $400 million while tax revenues have remained relatively flat.

“There are two ways to generate more revenue, raise taxes or have more property, and to me the goal is to do the second thing,” Chew said.

Chew said upkeep of county infrastructure will also be a focus and blasted prior administrations, which Kopas was a part of, for neglecting required physical improvements and pointed to the current board’s need to spend $7 million for the new parking structure at the courthouse, a yearlong project that was completed this summer.

“How do you let a building come to a point where it’s on the verge of collapsing? We will work on infrastructure and our assets,” Chew said.

Bills ‘coming due’

Kopas, 50, of Hempfield served as county commissioner for a decade before he fell about 200 votes short of winning a third full term four years ago. He previously served as the longtime chief of staff to Commissioner Tom Balya.

Kopas referenced his first two months in office after his appointment in August as an example of what he brings to the table. He said he has led efforts to upgrade county facilities, reopen the shuttered juvenile detention center, oversee efforts to improve conditions at the county jail after it was cited with violations in a state inspection and spearhead an effort for the county to allocate $4 million toward the building of a new terminal at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

“It’s been a productive two months,” Kopas said. “I am shocked by how much was left undone in the last 3½ years.”

Kopas said the Republican-led commission has been slow to respond to ongoing staffing issues as more than 200 vacant jobs throughout the government hindered county operations. He also suggested that without action, budgetary issues will become problematic in the coming years.

“In the next four years, we have to adapt the government to the realities where we are, fewer people and higher demands,” Kopas said. “The bills are also coming due. We’ve had three years of thoughtless spending. With that spending there is going to be very difficult budgets.”