McCandless council has filled the vacancy for Ward 3 representative with a project manager for a construction company that specializes in building health care facilities.
Council voted unanimously July 27 to appoint Mike Tarle to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of first-term councilman Chuck Mazur, who stepped down in early June because of health reasons.
Tarle will complete the remainder of Mazur’s four-year term, which runs through 2023.
The town’s policy is to fill council vacancies with a person of the same political party as the member stepping down.
Mazur and Tarle are Republicans.
In response to questions posed during a interview before council about what he thought were good examples of development the town might pursue, Tarle, who works as a manager for AIMS Construction, noted two communities that might be worth studying despite their differences with McCandless.
“If you look at some of the areas that have transformed in Pittsburgh like the South Side and Lawrenceville, they started with artists and others moving in and one or two blockbuster developments,” he said.
While he thinks McCandless has “done a pretty good job” of attracting development, he said some improvements could be made.
“One way to bring good development to a community is to serve as a partner on projects,” he said.
Tarle said some communities help spur development by removing roadblocks that add time to the process.
“That sounds like a little thing,” he said. “But if we can take the development process and move it from four months to two, that obviously helps spur development in our community.
“The taxes will get to us sooner and we would be known as a better place to do business and development,” he said.
Tarle said he also “would get behind” responsible development that includes things such as environmentally “green” water retention facilities, along with reducing the requirements for the number of parking spaces needed for a project “to the minimum amount to ensure they have enough green space.”
Council President Kim Zachary said the town is “so lucky to have the citizenship that we have in our town.”
“We have very good candidates (to fill the vacancy),” she said. “it’s a difficult decision, but of course, one person has to be selected.”
In addition to Tarle, the town received two applications to fill Mazur’s post. One candidate dropped out and the second, Jeff Johnstone, was interviewed by council prior to Monday night’s meeting.
Mazur was the third Republican member of council to resign during a three-month period.
On July 13, council appointed David Smith to fill the vacant Ward 4 seat on council created by the resignation of Joan Powers, who stepped down because she is moving out of the municipality. Smith will serve through 2021.
In late April, Ward 2 Councilman Bill Kirk resigned from council to avoid potential conflicts of interest with his new job for the North Allegheny School District.
In May, council appointed retired real estate executive Shelly Sponholz to fill the remainder of Kirk’s term, which runs through 2021.
Smith and Sponholz also are Republicans.
