Judge approves AG election region change
Come the 2003 primary election, Smithfield Borough voters may expect a change in how they choose directors to represent them on the Albert Gallatin Area School Board. Fayette County Judge Gerald R. Solomon has granted a request by the school district to adjust the election regions, moving Smithfield from Region 2 to Region 1.
“What the school district wanted to do was correct any deficiencies from the last census population of 2000. That’s what we did and the court agreed that was an appropriate way to go about it,” said the school district’s solicitor, Lee Price of Pittsburgh. “The school district is pleased with it. We thought it was a fair proposal and a fair plan, and we’re glad the judge did it.”
Price said Smithfield voters will go to the usual polls but vote for the different region’s candidates. The change does not affect any seated directors.
Albert Gallatin’s “petition for reapportionment of regional plan” was to join Smithfield with German and Nicholson townships in Region 1 and leave Fairchance Borough and Georges Township in Region 2, making no changes to Region 3, composed of Masontown and Point Marion boroughs and Springhill Township.
The petition stated that Region 1 had 7,584 people, Region 2 had 9,780 and Region 3 had 7,918. With the change, Region 1 would now have 8,438 people and Region 2 would have 8,926.
Solomon, in his order, acknowledged several residents objected to the plan during a hearing in February, but he said that no other plan was submitted according to Pennsylvania’s Public School Code for the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas to consider.
The judge pointed out in his ruling that the school code requires that school board regions be compatible with the boundaries of election districts and that the boundaries must be fixed so the population in each region is “nearly equal as possible.”
“Here, the district has presented unrebutted evidence that each of these requirements have been met under the proposed plan. Although there were objections to the plan, there were no other plans submitted according to statute,” Solomon wrote.
Those who objected to the reapportionment had testified during the hearing that they would prefer at-large voting in the district, in which all voters would choose from among all candidates instead of being split among the three regions that choose three directors each.
In the meantime, on March 3, a U.S. District Court judge in Pittsburgh closed a federal lawsuit that a dozen residents filed against the school district that challenged uneven populations in the three election regions.
Attorney Jeffrey Proden of Uniontown, who could not be reached for comment, last October filed the lawsuit on behalf of 12 residents.
The action charged the school district with violating U.S. constitutional rights of “one man, one vote” because of the population differences. The action stated that Region 1 voters, in particular, were underrepresented in school board elections.
Although the last election went on as usual, the lawsuit had asked for a halt to the 2001 general election until the school district is constitutionally reapportioned. The lawsuit also asked for unspecified damages, costs and attorney’s fees, along with “any other relief that this court deems appropriate.”
Judge Donetta W. Ambrose, in a one-page order, wrote that the matter was “administratively closed because of similar proceedings pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County.”
She added that the case would be reopened “only by petition of a party.”
Gregory C. Melucci of the law firm Maiello, Brungo & Maiello, which represented the school district against the federal lawsuit, said Ambrose’s move, coupled with Solomon’s decision, negates the federal lawsuit.
“In our opinion, we believe it is moot,” Melucci said.