Westmoreland commissioner hopefuls tout their goals but offer few specifics at forum

The four candidates for Westmoreland County commissioner looked to the future Tuesday night during one of the last campaign events leading up to next week’s general election.

Each candidate said the county needs to attract new residents and to promote jobs and tourism but offered few specific programs or policy initiatives to support their positions.

Republican Doug Chew proposed donating 60% of his salary to support an expansion of the county’s drug court. Democrat Gina Cerilli cast herself as the lone moderate seeking the commissioners office and pledged to support a tax increase only if it were necessary to pay the bills.

Republican Sean Kertes said county commissioners and all elected positions at the courthouse should have a requirement to come to work every day. Democrat Ted Kopas suggested he’d like to find more money to pay for additional social service programs and to promote tourism and job growth.

Tuesday night’s 90-minute forum at Westmoreland County Community College, sponsored by the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce and the Tribune-Review, featured all four candidates answering separate questions at random. They were each given two opportunities to respond to another candidate’s questions.

Westmoreland voters will cast ballots next week to elect a new three-member board of commissioners.

Cerilli and Kopas have held a Democratic majority since both were elected four years ago. Cerilli, 33, of Hempfield, is seeking her second term, and Kopas, 46, of Hempfield, is vying for his third term after being appointed to the job in 2010.

Kertes and Chew are making their first runs for public office. Kertes, 33, of Greensburg, works as the chief of staff to Commissioner Charles Anderson, who is retiring at the end of the year. Chew, 49, of Hempfield, is a biochemist who previously worked as a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh and now serves as a self-employed grant writing consultant.

Neither the Democrats nor Republicans were campaigning together as a slate. All four candidates are running independent campaigns.

Chew said he wants to put a stop to commissioners awarding contracts to campaign contributors and ensure that each is the result of a competitive process.

“We have to bid out as many of the services as possible and stop the handing out of no bid contracts to friends and supporters,” Chew said.

Kertes said he opposed a project labor agreement that currently bars the county from awarding lucrative construction contracts to non-union firms and said he supports a change in the county code that requires elected officials to come to work every day.

“I think we should have an open opportunity for everybody,” Kertes said. “I am not attacking unions, but I just want to have a fair playing field for all.”

Cerilli and Kopas, who supported the implementation of the project labor agreement, did not address the issue.

Cerilli spoke about her support of job creation, enhancement of programs for seniors and said she would not support a tax increase for the sole purpose of bolstering the county’s surplus fund.

She said she will be a bipartisan commissioner.

“I’m willing to work across the aisle. I am a moderate. There is no representation for us in Washington, D.C., but we will have that in Westmoreland County,” Cerilli said.

Kopas touted his record that included no increases to county property taxes, upgrades to local tourism efforts, the removal of blight from downtown areas and support for economic development.

He said he supports an increase in social service programs that cater to seniors and disabled residents.

“That is the core function of county government,” Kopas said. “The way to do that is to do less administratively. The savings are with us.”