Schmidt Resigns, Dormont Council Appoints Willard McCartney to Seat

One member resigned Monday night and council immediately appointed another to fill the seat, but both motions were news to at least one council member.

Councilwoman Heather Schmidt submitted her resignation Monday morning, effective immediately. Council appointed Willard McCartney, the chair of Dormont’s planning commission, to fill the seat for the rest of Schmidt’s term.

But Councilwoman Joan Hodson said council’s move was a surprise to her, and that she hadn’t been in on any discussions about the situation.

“I don’t even know who this person is,” Hodson said of McCartney. “And when did this person express an interest in this vacancy?”

Council President Kim Lusardi said the conversation “had been going back and forth between Drew (Lehman) and Heather (Schmidt),” and that she talked with McCartney about his interest in being appointed to the seat.

Hodson asked if council would accept any other nominations for the position. Lusardi said yes, if there were other nominations, but that because the motion had been made and Lehman seconded it, council had to vote on it first.

Council voted 5-1 to appoint McCartney. Hodson voted “no” and Schmidt did not attend the meeting.

“I just want it on the record that I had no knowledge of this gentleman expressing any interest, or the fact that Heather was resigning today,” Hodson told council. “So it’s obvious that somehow you all sat down and you’ve already made a decision that you’re going to appoint this person.”

Audience members loudly opposed the vote, and continued to “boo” as Lehman— who was not re-elected in the November general election— made final statements about his experience on council. One man was removed from the meeting by a police officer.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, audience member Ryan Kelley said he was surprised at McCartney’s appointment to council. Kelley said he had submitted a letter of interest to Hodson for the council seat last week, when he heard rumors that Schmidt might be stepping down.

“I am disappointed that my letter wasn’t considered,” Kelley said. “I think this should be considered for the residents of the borough to have a chance to fairly submit. This was done in a matter of a handful of hours, that the resignation came in and an appointment was already made, without the opportunity of the voting residents of Dormont to have an opportunity to do this.”

Lusardi, Malka and Lehman said they had not seen Kelley’s letter.

McCartney introduced himself at the request of an audience member. He said he has lived in the borough for seven years and has served four years on the borough planning commission.

He currently is the assistant vice president of Michael Baker Jr., Inc., which provides professional engineering and consulting services.

McCartney said he began discussing his possible appointment to the council seat about four days ago, although Maggio said he first discussed the seat with McCartney Sunday night.

Maggio said he had heard rumors that Schmidt planned to resign and thought it was important to have someone in line to fill the seat in case she did resign.

McCartney said he was not aware of when Schmidt planned to resign when he was approached about taking the seat.

After the meeting, McCartney told Patch he hopes to help define a better comprehensive plan for the borough.

“Our (comprehensive plan) was approved in 1995 and is sorely of of date,” McCartney said. “The process you go through to form a comprehensive plan helps focus the community, helps it better define itself, and hopefully brings people together. We do need to know where we’re going to go in the coming years, and we need to come together to do that.”