City Council 1
Pair endorsed in Uniontown race The Herald-Standard Editorial Board endorses Russ Rhodes and Gary Gearing in the four-person race for two four-year seats on Uniontown City Council.
Rhodes will appear on the Republican ballot with Curtis R. Sproul, who was appointed to the council earlier this year, and Gearing will be on the Democratic ballot with Francis “Joby” Palumbo III, who was appointed to the board back in January of 2008.
Rhodes and Gearing are our choices because two years into the Fike administration, we feel that city council needs shaken up in order to move away from the constant finger pointing that has defined it recently. Rhodes and Gearing struck us as independent and open-minded, with a desire to offer new perspective to council. However, it is important that the pair who have campaigned as outsiders, if elected, go in and keep the city on the straight and narrow like they say they will.
There was overwhelming support for Rhodes among the editorial board members. Rhodes, who won our endorsement when he ran for mayor in the past, won support this time around for talking about transparency in city government and being open to hiring a city manager, bringing in state consultants and regionalizing services. Rhodes has been gone to countless council meetings in an effort to clean up the city’s affairs. The Republican impressed us and came off as a breath of fresh air, offering positive suggestions as well as a needed dose of conservatism and professionalism.
Support for Gearing stemmed from his persistent desire to be a fly in the ointment of city hall. The former candidate for state legislature seems a good fit for council because he will drive change, offer good ideas and not rest until the city is on the up-and-up. In a town where city employees don’t even have e-mail, we were impressed with Gearing’s proposal to develop a city Web site and bring the city up to the turn of the last century. Gearing showed he had the steel to stand up to council in challenging the appointment of Phil Michael over his residency. Michael eventually stepped down rather than face Gearing in court over the issue.
The incident assures us that, if elected, Gearing will not only bring issues to light but also ensure that the law is the law on council matters.
While he did not receive our endorsement, there was also support for Sproul, who was well-spoken and impressive during the meeting with the editorial board. However, the issue remains that the only thing the Republican led the fight on was the landlord bill, which he had a vested interest in as he’s a landlord himself. In fact, outside the landlord bill, we have heard little from him.
Sproul hasn’t shown any inclination to stand up to Fike and appears to be basically going along for the ride. We wonder if his youth is a handicap in this area. Sproul could be a viable candidate in time, but that appears to be down the road.
There was little support for Palumbo, who was unimpressive during his nearly two full years on the council. In fact, he has close to nothing to show for his tenure. Palumbo offers little more than a continuation of the status quo, with nothing to offer during our meetings than platitudes and baseless talking points. Unfortunately, empty talk won’t fix the city’s financial mess.
He talks about fixing up Bailey Park, but the fact is the city’s youth baseball leagues there collapsed on his watch. Nothing he says will matter until the leagues are revived, and kids are playing on the fields once again.