Canonsburg Council Appoints New Commission, Authority Members

At the Council meeting on Monday, several new motions were made in addition to the regular agenda items—some centered on appointments.

A motion was made at the recommendation of Mayor David H. Rhome to appoint John “Jack” Jones, a former Canon-McMillan teacher, to the the Civil Service Commission, which has several vacancies. It passed unanimously.

In addition, a member of the Canonsburg-Houston Joint Sewer Authority Board in attendance noted there was a vacancy because of the resignation of James Romano, and recommended the appointment of Steve Lucas to fill his position through December 2014.

Although postponing the appointment to see if anyone else was interested was discussed, a motion had already been made and seconded.

The motion to accept Romano's resignation passed unanimously and the motion to appoint Lucas passed by a 6-2 vote. Councilmen Paul Sharkady and Joseph Graff cast the dissenting votes.

In other business, council made a motion to reject all lawn-maintenance bids and re-bid the contract because of issues with the original advertising. The new advertisement will include the option for contractors to submit a one-, two-, or three-year bid for lawn maintenance. The motion passed unanimously and council hopes to select a contractor by March.

Public comments included resident concerns about the safety in the East College Street and Lincoln Avenue areas because of some recent police calls to those areas, as well as alleged criminal activity.

“We are going to pursue handling those problems,” Rhome said. “It’s definitely not a dead issue, but we have to follow the law.”