Westmoreland housing authority honors former chairman as it taps former Pa. Sen. Regola to lead board

Dan Wukich came to the Westmoreland County Housing Authority a quarter century ago as a disruptor.

He is leaving with a plaque on the wall in a conference room that bears his name.

Wukich, 86, of Penn Township resigned from the board at the end of December and was honored Friday by the housing agency he helped to lead since his appointment to its board of directors in 2000.

“I didn’t think I had much to contribute any more and when this board finally had a stable group, I thought I can go now,” Wukich said.

A former corporate executive with Alcoa who later founded Quest Health Care, the Penn Township-based company that operates six local nursing homes and medical and therapy providers in 13 states, Wukich helped oversee an agency that operates 45 housing communities and manages more than 2,500 units throughout Westmoreland County.

As board chairman, Wukich oversaw a renewed period of construction starting with the 2013 building of South Greengate Commons, a new senior housing complex in Hempfield on the site of the agency’s former headquarters. Two new construction projects followed, Odin View Apartments, also in Hempfield, in 2020 and Grand View Senior Residences in Irwin, which opened last fall.

Authority Executive Director Michael Washowich said that construction came at Wukich’s urging.

“He’s such a great leader and as chairman he stressed the importance of all board members to be able to do their job. His leadership and his progressive thinking was essential all through the years,” Washowich said.

Called “The Chief” by housing authority staffers and administrators, Wukich came on to the housing authority board with a mandate from then Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Balya to oversee a transition of the agency that county officials complained languished under questionable leadership and transparency concerns.

He was named board chairman two years later.

Wukich in 2022 oversaw the hiring of Washowich following the retirement of longtime Executive Director Leonard “Skeets” Paletta.

Wukich said his goal was to reform an agency he described as being run as a sole proprietorship to a collaborative effort that sought out new ideas and concepts to ensure more public housing and a greater level of involvement from its residents.

“We fulfilled our obligation and provided housing, but that was done in a private-public partnership way and now people are held accountable,” Wukich said.

Honored along with Wukich were longtime board member Al Ansani, who served nearly 20 years as as a housing board member until he died in 2020, and attorney Gene Ferace, who served as board solicitor for two decades before retiring in 2022.

Former state Sen. Bob Regola was appointed as Wukich’s replacement to serve as the authority’s new board chairman.

Regola served one term in Harrisburg before he dropped his reelection bid in 2008 after being acquitted of perjury for statements about how he stored his gun and related firearm offenses. Those charges stemmed from an investigation of the 2006 shooting death of a 14-year-old Hempfield neighbor, with a handgun that Regola kept in his master bedroom. The death was ruled a suicide.

Since leaving the office, Regola, now of North Huntingdon, has owned a political consulting and lobbying firm.

“I’m appreciative that I’ve gotten to observe (Wukich) for the last few years. There’s a wonderful staff here and as a board we will continue to move the agency forward. I will have big shoes to fill,” Regola said.