Published: May 11, 2009 09:18 am      

Empty seats: Many communities struggle to fill elected offices

Councilman James Hollis knows what’s at stake if more residents don’t get involved in running Lorain Borough.

“If we don’t get some good people to come forward, we will be incorporated with the city,’’ he said at the borough ballfield.

“Our taxes most definitely would go up.’’

Lorain is facing a problem shared by many – if not most – communities in Cambria and Somerset counties: Elected offices that have no candidates.

Voters in the Lorain primary May 19 will have no one to pick as nominees for mayor or for two council seats.

Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt thinks she knows what the problem is.

Pennsylvania just has too many divisions, the IUP political science professor believes, with 2,600 municipalities and 501 school districts.

“How many of these are viable communities where people step up and run for office?’’ Hirt asks.

“Until we have a different structure, we won’t fill that ballot. Pennsylvania has too much local government.’’

Even where all the spots are covered, they may be rotated like musical chairs or people might stay in the same position for decades.

“Is that good for one person to dominate local politics for decades?’’ Hirt said.

She wants the Legislature to step in and more aggressively push for school and municipal mergers.

People don’t run for office in Lorain because the borough is so small it’s like family, said Hollis, a strapping, laid-off metal worker.

“It’s like you have sibling rivalry,’’ he said. “People’s feelings get hurt. It’s like pulling teeth. But council meetings are only a couple of hours a month.’’

Many of the elected positions going begging are for auditor, assessor or constable. Their duties can range from almost nothing, Hirt said, to being responsible for keeping the town’s books straight.

A whole spectrum of issues decided by local boards affect one’s life. They range from tax rates to zoning issues to student/teacher ratios.

Often, Hirt says, people complain higher up the ladder with problems that have to be solved on a lower level.

“People don’t know where that access point is,’’ she said. All too often, that point is local government or at the school board meeting.

The root cause of the apathy, the professor said, is lack of education.

Gone are the days of grade-school civics classes and the government course in high school, victims of cost-cutting.

“We don’t teach students to appreciate what goes on beyond the governor and legislators,’’ Hirt said.

“If people don’t know the positions that exist or what they do, you can’t expect people to come forward and say, ‘I want to do that,’ ’’ she said.

If neither Republican nor Democratic spots are filled on primary day, the position still can be filled by write-in in the general election, this year Nov. 3.

Fred Smith, Cambria County elections director, said candidates need a minimum of 10 votes for local offices, except for inspector of elections, for which only five votes are needed.

When candidates don’t come forward even in the general elections, a board either goes on to ask the public in a referendum to approve a smaller board – perhaps a council of five instead of seven – or the county judge appoints someone to fill the vacant seat.

“Oftentimes, people will say, ‘Oh, alright,’ and will take that position,’’ Hirt said.

Judges, though, may or may not know about a given community, its people and its issues.

“What’s being lost is citizen participation and an educated citizenry,’’ Hirt said. “If we don’t have people involved at the local level, closest to individuals, we won’t be able to be effective in problem solving.

“Every time we have a municipal election, these questions arise.’’

For his part, Hollis never had to be prodded, poked or otherwise stimulated to run for office.

Both his father and granddad were politically minded.

The civic-minded Hollis takes satisfaction in the role he’s had as part of a council that has held down taxes and cleaned up blighted properties in the town of 700.

But he can’t do it all alone.

“The point I would like to make is,’’ he said, “to give up a couple hours to come out and support your borough – not to complain.’’