Vernon Supervisors make appointment to water authority, differs from authority recommendation

Sean P. Ray, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·2 min read

Jun. 4—VERNON TOWNSHIP — The Vernon Township Water Authority has a new member to fill an empty seat — though its not who the authority recommended.

Township supervisors voted unanimously on Thursday to appoint Dick Astor to fill out the term of former Vice Chairman Michael Buzza, who died earlier this year. The appointed term will last until Jan. 1, 2024.

Supervisors first began looking to fill the seat in April, and were taken by surprise when, by the following month, five people applied. This was beyond what was expected, as the supervisors and Township Manager Robert Horvat anticipated difficulty in finding someone to fill the role.

As such, during their May 5 meeting, supervisors resolved to have the water authority make a recommendation to help narrow the search. The authority did that, only their recommendation was for another applicant, John Karns, and not Astor.

Speaking to the Tribune after the meeting, Supervisor Chairman Don Maloney said it was a "tough decision" picking a final candidate, but said the supervisors had interviewed all of the candidates and that "Mr. Astor impressed us."

Supervisor Greg Smith echoed the sentiments.

"They were all great," Smith said. "You want to take them all, you don't want to pick just one."

However, the break from the authority's recommendation did leave Authority Chairman Michael Gionti feeling disappointed.

"(Astor) is different than what we were looking for," Gionti said. "John has been here his whole life, educator and involved with the whole community."

"I was hoping John was going to be on the board," Gionti said further.

The authority did not discuss the appointment publicly. Maloney said the supervisors discussed who they would pick during the executive session held in between the supervisor's work session and voting meeting, which started at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, respectively. The vote itself was done during the voting meeting.

Supervisor Gary Wagner was absent from the meeting and did not take part in the vote. Supervisor Vice Chairman Fritz Snyder attended remotely.

Sean P. Ray can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at .