Ted Kopas returns to work as Westmoreland commissioner

Ted Kopas didn’t need directions to get to work Tuesday morning.

Kopas, a Democrat who lives in Hempfield, was sworn in to office as a Westmoreland County commissioner. He takes over the minority role on the county’s board of commissioners from Democrat Gina Cerilli Thrasher, who left office a day earlier following her appointment by Gov. Josh Shapiro in June to fill a vacancy on the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.

Kopas in July was appointed by the county’s 11 judges to complete the remainder of Thrasher’s term, which runs through December.

His new courthouse digs is his old digs, the same office he occupied for more than a decade during his first tenure as a Westmoreland County commissioner.

“A lot of things are in the same place,” Kopas said following his first set of public meetings after he was sworn in to office.

Kopas said his experience in the job gives him a perspective of the challenges ahead.

“Our finances are extremely challenging. Our fund balance is about gone, and, despite an influx of covid money, our finances are not pretty,” Kopas said. “In so many ways, we’re still talking about the same things we talked about five years ago. There’s been little progress made on issues such as workforce development, population losses. The county budget is broken, and we need to be open to new ideas and think differently.”

Kopas said he is disappointed that the county’s comprehensive plan for growth, enacted in 2019, has seen what he described as little advancement over the past four years. He questioned the commissioners’ use of $105 million in federal covid relief grants to pay for standard operating expenses rather than on what he suggested should be earmarked for substantial community impacts.

Commissioners have spent or allocated more than half of the federal covid funds, including grant awards to local nonprofits, businesses and municipalities, as well as broader programs to eliminate blight, enhance workforce development and internet broadband expansion. Covid money also was used to balance this year’s operating budget by funding programs that had in the past been paid from standard operating revenues.

County budget officials said about $45 million in covid funds remains available to spend through the end of next year.

Republican Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew said they are prepared to work with Kopas.

“We can do great things for Westmoreland County as a collective. We’re looking forward to working with Commissioner Kopas,” Kertes said.

Chew praised Kopas’ appointment.

“I’m happy the judges appointed someone with experience in the commissioners’ office,” Chew said.

Kopas originally served as chief of staff to Commissioner Tom Balya and in 2010 was appointed by the judges to fill out the remaining two years in the term of Commissioner Tom Ceraso, who resigned to take a job with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County.

Kopas was elected to his first full four-year term in 2011 and was reelected in 2015. He was defeated in a bid for a third term in 2019 when he finished fourth in the general election, about 200 votes behind third-place finisher Thrasher.

Kopas was the top vote-getter this spring in the Democratic primary for commissioner and, along with Sydney Hovis of Scottdale, will run for a four-year term in office against the Republican incumbents. The top three vote-getters in the November election will win seats on the new board of commissioners.

Common Pleas Court President Judge Christopher Feliciani administrated the oath of office to Kopas during a ceremony attended by the new commissioner’s family.

“This is an opportunity to do great things for the residents of Westmoreland County. Knowing you and your history and the efforts you’ve taken on behalf of the county, I strongly believe you are destined to do great things for our community,” Feliciani said.

Kopas said his appointment gives him the opportunity to start work five months earlier than expected.

“I had every intention of being back in January 2024. Now, I’m able to get a head start,” Kopas said.