Aspinwall Council has a vacancy, no vice president

Aspinwall Council has delayed accepting the resignation of Councilman Dave Borland so that the council will have more time to find his replacement.

The council had been expected to accept Borland’s resignation during its Jan. 11 meeting. Instead, it elected to let the resignation take effect Jan. 28, a full 45 days after Borland offered it on Dec. 14.

Borland, who is council vice president, stated that he was resigning because he was moving out of the borough. He will be staying within the Fox Chapel Area School District. He had been appointed to council in April 2018 to fill the unexpired term of Jennifer Evashavik, who had resigned that month. Borland then successfully ran for election. He was set to enter his final year of a four-year term in January.

Borough Solicitor Steve Korbel said council would have 30 days after Jan. 28 to fill the vacancy.

He said the 30-day clock would have started Jan. 11 had council formally voted to accepted it then and would have run out on Feb. 10. If no appointment were made, it could be up to an Allegheny County judge to fill the vacancy through the end of next year.

“If you just wait (and not accept the resignation), you have basically the rest of February (to appoint someone),” the solicitor said.

“All (waiting for the resignation to take effect) really did was just gave us more time, which made more sense to all of us.” said Council President Tim McLaughlin.

Letters of interest and resumes from interested candidates will be accepted through noon Jan. 27 at the Aspinwall Borough office, 217 Commercial Ave.

Applicants must be available to attend the Feb. 1 council meeting to make a brief statement to support their candidacy and answer any questions from council members.

Council hopes to appoint its new member Feb. 8. Whoever is appointed would serve through the end of this year.

A vice president would run meetings should the council president not be available. Until a vice president is appointed, Korbel said, council would have to appoint someone to run a meeting in McLaughlin’s absence.

McLaughlin said he was unaware of anyone having submitted letters or resumes for the vacancy prior to the Jan. 11 meeting.