Ross Board Re-Organizes, Changes 2012 Meeting Dates

Ross Township's Commissioners started the new year Tuesday by welcoming a new colleague, electing a new president and vice-president of the board, and expressing a hope for improved working relationships with each other. 

The board also voted to change its meeting dates in 2012 to the first and third Mondays of the month and continue its contracts with the township's manager, Wayne Jones; its solicitor, Bonnie Brimmeier, and its engineer, Art Gazdik. 

Tuesday's reorganization meeting began with the swearing-in of John Sponcer, . Sponcer won the seat from incumbent Dan Kinross with an 11-vote margin in November's general election. Kinross, , had served in the seat since 1992. 

Sponcer, a retired Comcast construction technician and volunteer firefighter with both the  and the , has lived in Ross Township for 37 years. He ran for the seat, he said, because he was unhappy with the direction of the township and the conduct of its elected officials. 

He reiterated that feeling Tuesday, in his first comments to the board, telling his colleagues that he hoped his addition to the board would spark a more respectful and productive relationship among its members. 

"I don't want to see the attitude this board's had before," he said. 

The board elected Commissioner Grant Montgomery of Ward 9 to act as president of it's board, voting 5-4, with Commissioners David Mikec, Pete Ferraro, Lana Mazur and Grace Stanko voting with Montgomery and Commissioners Chris Eyster, Gerald O'Brien, and John Sponcer voting with Dan DeMarco in favor of DeMarco for the position. 

Mikec was elected vice-president of the board, also in a 5-4 vote, with Ferraro, Mazur, Stanko and Montgomery voting in his favor and Eyster, O'Brien and Sponcer voting in favor of DeMarco for that position as well. 

Committee appointments remained unchanged, with the exception of the board's representative on the board. In a 9-0 vote, the commissioners elected Eyster to the spot. Eyster has He has proposed, instead, a referendum on a dedicated tax increase for the township's share of the library funding, which is about $400,000 annually. 

On Tuesday, he suggested that the tax increase be an additional .224 mills, and that the question be placed on the May ballot. He asked for the board to place the issue on an upcoming committee agenda for public comment. 

"It's a work in progress," Eyster said. 

Ferraro, after casting his votes, said he felt rotating the leadership positions on the board with fresh faces would benefit the township.

"I think there's something in the air this evening," he said. "I hope it continues." 

Eyster said he sensed the board was moving in a new direction. 

"Things were very cordial tonight," he said before the meeting adjourned. "We worked with togetherness and efficiency. If we can work like this, respecting each other's opinions, I think it's a wonderful place to be." 

Ross resident Ben Hess, however, cautioned the board, addressing them under the public comment section of the agenda. 

"There's still a little bit of tension among you," he said, referring to the votes taken during the election of the president and the vice-president of the board. "You have a little bit to go before congratulating yourselves." 

The next meeting of the board of commissioners is scheduled for Jan. 16. 

The board also voted Tuesday to continue publishing its legal notices in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Thursday edition.