Oakmont fills vacant council seat

There are no more empty chairs in the Oakmont Council chamber.

After hearing from seven candidates vying to fill an open council postion, council members voted unanimously Monday, Jan. 22 to appoint Isaiah Wilson, a volunteer firefighter and district manager of a security consultant company, to a seat left vacant when Tracey Holst resigned Dec. 31.

“When this vacancy was announced, I thought to myself, ‘what an opportunity to help increase our emergency management preparedness, and to help back programs that uphold our comprehensive plan,’” Wilson said.

Wilson said that being a first responder has given him the advantage of interacting with community members during the bad times and the good.

As a council member, he hopes to create a place where the borough’s EMS, fire and police departments are working in collaboration with each other to best protect residents.

“(My greatest strength is) serving the borough as a volunteer firefighter, seeing people on their bad days and celebrating with them on their good days as well,” Wilson said. “Bringing that (experience) to council can open up our lenses to what’s actually going on on the streets and make sure that our programs reflect the people, and what their needs are.”

In addition to updating training for the borough’s emergency preparedness plan, Wilson hopes to work on the borough’s transparency to ensure that residents, council members and safety departments are all “on the same page.”

He also said he hopes to look into grants for road maintenance.

Wilson added that the borough has formed a beautiful and well-connected community and offers many programs for its residents that he hopes to support during his time on council.