Two open vacancies filled for zoning board
The Fayette County commissioners Wednesday selected a retired school superintendent and a business owner to fill two vacancies on the county’s three-member Zoning Hearing Board. Their actions, which also included appointment of an alternate ZHB member, were taken during a special commissioners meeting. The new appointees for the regular positions are James F. Burns of Uniontown and Janet Nelson of New Salem. Mark Rafail of Uniontown was selected to serve as an alternate.
At the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting, the commissioners accepted the resignations of regular ZHB members Leon Evans and Dennis Nurkiewicz, and alternate Joe Beal.
Although Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III, to simultaneously appoint Burns and Nelson, Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink instead suggested that the appointments be made separately.
Zimmerlink also informed the other commissioners that Mark Morrison, who currently serves as ZHB chairman, intends to complete his term through its Dec. 31, 2005 expiration and that Jim Killinger, who is currently an alternate, had offered to become a regular member.
Vicites said he is sure with the extensive hearing schedule ahead, he is sure the alternates will get a lot of work. “I think we need them all,” Vicites said.
Although Zimmerlink said she felt that Killinger’s experience as a board alternate would make him a good choice as a regular member, Vicites and Hardy opted to appoint Burns and Nelson in separate motions. Burns, a former superintendent for the Uniontown Area and Southeastern Greene school districts, is now a member of the Laurel Highlands School Board. His term will expire Dec. 31, 2007. Zimmerlink voted against his appointment.
Nelson, who owns Nelson Steel along with her husband, Jim Nelson, is a former real estate agent. Her term will expire Dec. 31, 2006. She was appointed unanimously.
Rafail, chairman of the Uniontown Downtown Business District Authority, works for Vector Security. He is also a member of the Fayette Enterprise Community and Revitalize Uniontown. Zimmerlink voted against his appointment.
Prior to Rafail’s appointment, Zimmerlink made a motion to appoint Barbara Rush for the position, but did not receive a second.
The ZHB holds public hearings and makes decisions on requests for special exceptions to the county’s zoning ordinance to allow development, on matters ranging from day care centers to gas wells.
The personnel actions were necessary because of last month’s resignations of Evans and Nurkiewicz, who quit after the commissioners failed to approve a plan to improve ZHB operations. The plan included provisions for increasing the number of hearings, instituting a new case scheduling system, having alternate members attend hearings, increasing compensation for ZHB board members and increasing filing fees. Hardy made a motion to approve the plan, but it died after neither Zimmerlink nor Vicites would provide a second.
Evans and Nurkiewicz both expressed frustration that the commissioners didn’t approve the plan, claiming that they only came up with the proposal at the request of the commissioners.
After commissioner inaction on the plan, they submitted letters of resignation.