Tay Waltenbaugh bids to take his community action to Harrisburg as 39th District Senator

After 29 years at the helm of Westmoreland Community Action, Tay Waltenbaugh knew it was time for a change.

Waltenbaugh, who spent most of his adult life dedicated to human services work in Westmoreland County, retired as executive director last year knowing he was not ready to stop working completely. Instead, he decided to try his hand at the legislative process that impacts funding and laws related to his past initiatives.

The 66-year-old Hempfield Democrat in June announced his bid for the 39th District state Senate seat, a position held by three-term incumbent Kim Ward.

“I’ve worked with every legislator and every county commissioner for almost 35 years of my human services career, and all of those people have been very, very good, but I think it’s time for a change in certain circumstances,” Waltenbaugh said. “This is the time, and it’s a good opportunity for me, and I think it’s a great opportunity for the county.”

If elected, his goals center around job training, helping displaced workers and those entering the workforce; affordable housing; education, specifically how charter and cyberschools and funded; and working to lower the number of drug overdoses across the county.

He wants to implement ideas such as recruiting students from technical schools to build houses for first-time home buyers while offering tax breaks to those buyers, with the goal of attracting a younger generation to help combat a shrinking population that has long plagued the county and region.

“There’s a million things, there really are,” he said. “In 39 years, I always thought I did the right thing in working with people in communities, and I just want to continue to do that.”

Service background

Waltenbaugh, who grew up in Tarentum, quickly discovered his love for Westmoreland County when he was working his first job out of college at Adelphoi Village in Arnold. Waltenbaugh would stay at the facility, which provides services to at-risk youth, each night so he would be available to work with kids whenever needed.

After working at Adelphoi Village for five years, Waltenbaugh moved farther into the heart of Westmoreland County, accepting a position with Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Greensburg. He spent five years with the nonprofit, expanding matches from 10 to 90 and adding five new staffers to the roster.

He then accepted the top job at Westmoreland Community Action, formerly known as Westmoreland Human Opportunities. During his time leading the agency, he built it from an organization offering five programs run by 60 staffers to offering 26 programs over the entire county with 220 staff members.

He built programs focused on helping people out of poverty through education and access to employment, while encouraging economic development and affordable housing in struggling communities like Jeannette and New Kensington.

“Our main mission was to eliminate poverty along with some of the other programs we had, too,” Waltenbaugh said. “It was an exciting 29 years that I worked there, and I loved it every day, couldn’t wait to go to work every day.”

His priorities shifted when his son began struggling with substance abuse, causing Waltenbaugh to work with the team that created the Westmoreland County Drug Overdose Task Force. His son, Waltenbaugh said, is in recovery and operates a construction company that employs others who faced similar battles.

While dedicated to his human services work, Waltenbaugh — who raised three kids in Hempfield with his wife, Brenda — was also a staple in Hempfield’s basketball community, taking the role of assistant coach at the middle and high school levels of the Hempfield Area School District.

For Waltenbaugh, Westmoreland County offers “everything that I need,” including state game lands, parks, trails and waterways where he often spends time hunting and fishing.

“Work kind of brought me this way, but the opportunities here are tremendous,” he said.

Moving into politics

Waltenbaugh first considered running for public office about six years ago. But as head of an organization that receives federal funds, he knew to steer clear of politics.

His retirement, however, opened the door, giving Waltenbaugh the opportunity to make changes on a different level.

“(I) sat down with the family and everybody was in agreeance that it could be something of excitement for everyone,” Waltenbaugh said. “I didn’t necessarily want to retire. I could have stayed at the agency and kept working, but it was time to move on to something else, and this is something else I wanted to do.”

He strives to present himself as a middle-of-the road candidate, saying he supports the police, is a member of the National Rifle Association — although he noted he does not agree with everything the organization stands for — and wants to protect the environment for generations to come.

“I do agree with both sides on different issues,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I’m 100% one way or 100% another. I don’t think that’s the way to be, especially when you’re representing 250,000 people in Westmoreland County. Those are the people that I care about.”

On a foggy September morning, Waltenbaugh set up a table across the street from the Smithton Volunteer Fire Department during the Smithton Community Days. His table, decked out in red, white and blue decorations offered face masks, brochures and yard signs promoting Waltenbaugh’s campaign.

A handful of supporters stopped by at the start of the event, including Roxanne Rubis, 40, and Josh Lightcap, 45, both of Smithton. The couple, who both work at the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, said they plan on voting for Waltenbaugh in the Nov. 3 election based on his support for the union.

Ed Kanes, 74, of Smithton said he also plans to vote for Waltenbaugh.

“He seems to be very service oriented, very attuned to the needs of what people are looking for now and seems to be against the non-productivity that we’ve had for so long,” Kanes said. “He wants to get something done.”

Sandy Fitzgibbons, 66, of Smithton has known Waltenbaugh since high school. Today, Fitzgibbons in a local pastor with the United Methodist Church. After she found out he was running for office, Fitzgibbons placed signs in support of his campaign around the community.

“(T)he three years that I spent with him in high school, he was hard working, trustworthy, honest, and he was one of those people that, if you needed something or you had a problem, you could go to him. And if he couldn’t fix it, he went to someone who could,” Fitzgibbons said. “He’s always been a good guy.”

With days left before the election, Waltenbaugh is doing a final push to sway voters.

“I’m here for the people of Westmoreland County,” Waltenbaugh said. “I’m not here for the party; I’m not here for people to guide me. I think it’s important to understand the population where we live and work for them.”