By KATHY MELLOTT
Among election races in the Mainline area are:
• A duel between a sitting supervisor and a former officeholder in Portage Township.
• Two newcomers seeking a seat on Portage Area school board.
• A challenge to an incumbent supervisor in Cresson Township.
• A councilman who lost his bid in the primary mounting a write-in campaign for Cresson Borough Council, making it six candidates for four seats.
• A Republican newcomer seeking one of three Lilly Borough Council seats, all long held by the Democratic candidates.
Here are the highlights:
Portage Township board of supervisors
A sitting Portage Township supervisor who works full time on the road crew is being challenged by a former supervisor who is concerned that little is being accomplished.
Democratic candidate and incumbent Jim Kovach is facing off against Bruce Brunett, the Republican nominee in the November election.
Brunett, 65, of Dusty Road, was a supervisor from 1991-1999.
Kovach, 50, of Martindale, was in the lumber industry prior to working for the township. He said his priority is the needs of the public while keeping costs down.
Kovach said he has been working to continue a tradition of public service. His grandfather, Jim Salsgiver, and uncle, Barney Salsgiver, served for decades as supervisors.
“As a supervisor, I care and enjoy working with the people of the township,” Kovach said.
Brunett, a licensed engineer and auto dealer, said he wants to bring professionalism to the township and make it a place where young people stay.
“There are so many issues, so many things that aren’t being done,” Brunett said.
The township should be purchasing police services from another department to assist state police coverage, and the 1915 garage housing municipal equipment needs to be replaced, he said.
Portage Area School District board
In the race for Portage Area school board, two newcomers want to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Rick Thompson.
Portage area contractor Dennis Squillario, 58, a Democrat, is in the race for the two-year at-large seat against Republican Andrew Gruse, a 2007 Portage graduate and a junior at IUP.
Squillario stressed cost-effectiveness: “I want to utilize the finances to the best interest of education.”
Gruse said student achievement is important: “My top priority remains the success of each of the district’s students.”
Cresson Township board of supervisors
Cresson Township voters will choose between incumbent Gary Bradley, a Republican, and political newcomer Howard Harkins, a Democrat.
Bradley, 57, a banker, was named to fill a vacancy on the township board created by the 2005 death of Clarence Eger. Elected to the two-year seat in 2007, he is seeking a second full term.
The supervisors have faced challenges including the proposed reopening of an underground coal mine, the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm and the fate of the Braemar-Jones cottage, Brad-ley said. The board also expanded the township police department to serve three other municipalities.
“We’ve worked well together,” Bradley said of Supervisors Scott Decoskey and Lewis Eberhart. “There are some more things I’d like to do.”
Harkins, 63, was a member of the now-disbanded police commission. Retired from the state police Liquor Control Board, he is in real estate.
“I’m interested in the safety and security of the township, and I want to make sure we get our money’s worth,” Harkins said.
Cresson
Borough Council
The race for four four-year terms on Cresson Borough Council is heating up, with a write-in candidate joining the five listed on the ballot.
Longtime Councilman Mike McGough is running the write-in campaign, hoping to recapture the seat he has held for more than 25 years. McGough, 54, who works for Mid-State Tool in Altoona, lost the Democratic nomination in the spring to a group of candidates promising change.
“I don’t know what change they want,” McGough said, noting that during his tenure taxes were cut three times.
He also pointed to the $7 million in state and federal grants awarded to the borough for water and sewer upgrades as proof of effective leadership.
Incumbent Democrat Mike Zabinsky, 59, a security employee at Altoona Regional Health System, is seeking a fourth term in the hope of keeping the borough on track fiscally.
Leading the change initiative is Democrat Patrick Mulhern, 72. While not currently in office, he has served 16 years combined as mayor and on council.
Now retired, Mulhern said he has plenty of time to devote to meeting residents’ needs.
He is also a candidate for mayor, and if he wins both seats will decline one.
Democrat Robert Hogue, 57, has retired from a state job. He said that for the first time he is able to serve and wants to be a voice for the people.
Also recently retired is Democrat Susan White.
She and Republican O. Thomas McConnell III could not be reached for comment.
Lilly Borough Council
In Lilly, Republican Michelle Claar is seeking one of the three 2nd Ward council seats now held by the other candidates.
Claar, secretary in Portage Borough and Munster Township, is challenging longtime council members John Nezneski, Paul Sklodowski and Richard Sweeney, all Democrats.
Nezneski and Sweeney are longtime educators, and Sklodowski is employed by the DeGol Group of Altoona.
