WINDBER — Four years ago, Casey Durdines made history when he was elected California Borough’s youngest mayor at the age of 20.

In August, he raised some eyebrows when he became Windber Borough manager at age 23.

“Of all the individuals that we have reviewed their resumes, and the five or six I personally met, this individual is the least qualified,” Councilman Simon “Red” Ohler fumed at the time.

It hasn’t taken Durdines long to prove himself, Ohler said last week after pushing to remove a residency requirement from the borough manager’s job description.

The change will come up for final action at a later meeting, allowing Durdines to continue his 90-mile daily commute from his California home. It also allows him to run for re-election in the May 19 Republican primary for California Borough mayor.

“He has worked out better than I thought he would,” Ohler said at his business.

“That has nothing to do with where he lives.”

Longtime Windber Borough Manager Rich Wargo was required to live within the municipal boundaries, but council broadened that to a five-mile radius during the search for Wargo’s replacement. Removing the requirement is just keeping up with the times, Ohler said. Distance is not an issue.

“You are in instant communications with cell phones and computers,” Ohler said. “You have to take the politics out of it. You have to go with reality.”

Durdines said he doesn’t mind the long commute from the

Washington County community to Windber. He uses it to clear his head and get caught up with family and friends by cell phone.

He believes his dual role has worked in both communities’ favor.

“I think it has been beneficial,” Durdines said.

“Being manager here has made me a more effective mayor. I seem to accomplish more as mayor than I did before.”

Mayor duties are done after hours and on weekends at the California Borough office, when there are fewer distractions and interruptions, he explained.

The structure of borough government gives the part-time mayor few heavy responsibilities.

Although one of those responsibilities is heading the police department, Durdines said California’s police chief handles the day-to-day operation well.

“I don’t like being micromanaged,” Durdines said. “I allow our chief to do his job.”

The two confer on policy issues when the police chief is working a later shift, he added.

Windber benefits from Durdines knowledge of another borough’s operation. The two communities are similar in population, but California is geographically larger and seems to be better off financially, he noted.

California, Durdines believes, does a better job of street maintenance. He’s looking at putting some of its ideas into Windber’s potholes.

“It’s not just paving,” Durdines said. “It’s keeping the roads in good shape so they last a little longer.”

California may be able to initiate regional municipal cooperation based on Windber area’s successful police collaboration involving Windber and Paint Township forces and covering Scalp Level, Central City and Benson boroughs as well.

“You are always looking for new things to do in local government to make things better,” Durdines said.

Unopposed in the Republican primary, Durdines will likely face the only Democratic candidate, council Vice President Walter Weld Jr., 35, in the fall election.

While Weld says he has heard some grumblings about an “absentee” mayor, he pledges not to run a negative campaign.

“I’m more of a town person than he is,” Weld said, adding he has operated an auto repair business in California for 15 years.

Durdines’ campaign taps into the young adult population with Facebook social network connections for his campaign, an ice cream fundraiser and the 34-member “I Voted for Mayor Casey Durdines” group.

The volatile environment of Windber politics will be good training, Ohler said.

“He’s learned more here than he ever would (in California),” Ohler said.

“Here you’ve got your neck out on the line every day. If you can survive Windber politics, you can survive anything.”

A 2007 graduate of California University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science and public policy, Durdines says public service is his calling.

“That’s why I ran for mayor; that’s why I applied for borough manager,” Durdines said. “I like to keep busy. Being able to help the community: I enjoy that.”