Zapotosky reflects on commission tenure
When the new year begins, the oversight of Fayette County operations will be transferred to a new board of commissioners.
Bidding farewell will be Commissioners Vince Zapotosky and Al Ambrosini. Their replacements — Commissioner-elect Vince Vicites and Dave Lohr will join incumbent Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink to manage the county budget and oversee multiple departments for the next four years.
Zapotosky, who served two terms, recently reflected on his tenure, discussing the elected position and offering some advice to the incoming board as they embark on leading the county.
“We did a lot of good things in my eight years,” he said, noting the implementation of the hotel tax and new zoning laws to allow for windmills as an alternative energy source, among others.
“Right out of the gate, (Vicites) and I did the hotel tax,” said Zapotosky. “The law had passed in 2000, so we had nine years of lost revenue. Since its implementation, we’ve given almost $3 million to our nonprofit organizations.”
Zapotosky said that he also teamed with Vicites to make repairs to the courthouse.
While there was unanimous approval to upgrade the county’s 911 emergency services by the current administration, Zapotosky said all too often the three were split on issues that should have garnered their full support.
Pointing to the distribution of more than a million dollars in county gaming revenues, Zapotosky said that he had anticipated the funding being allocated to many businesses and organizations would be a welcomed, fully supported effort. Instead, it turned into a political issue with Zimmerlink and several residents questioning the funding recipients.
“It is always the same naysayers,” he said. “And there is a conspiracy theory for everything.”
Instead, said Zapotosky, the allocations will allow businesses, such as Shumar Welding to purchase a furnace that will allow them to maintain a current contract and hire additional employees.
“(The recipients) were good choices and ones that would show immediate results,” he said.
However, while good decisions that benefited residents and businesses were abundant, there is one project Zapotosky said should have accomplished during his second term, but was not.
“The least thing I’m proud of is the prison,” he said. “We, me, dropped the ball on that tremendously.”
Zapotosky said he had known during his first term that the aging lockup had to be addressed, but said it wasn’t until Ambrosini was elected that he was able to move forward.
“I credit (Ambrosini) with pushing it to the forefront,” he said. “(He) was gung-ho and I gave him the latitude to go for it. In retrospect, maybe too much latitude.”
While for more than two years Zapotosky backed the formation of a prison working group, an analysis of the current jail versus a new prison and the hiring of an architect to design a new facility, he abruptly withdrew his support from the project just as the advertisement for bids were to be published.
Zapotosky said he did not succumb to the pressure being exerted by several residents opposing the plan, but instead to learning that the plan did not include infrastructure for the parcel where the prison was to be build.
It appeared to him that if the project was going to move ahead, it was likely the taxpayers were going to also foot the bill for both the prison and much of the industrial park where it was to be built.
“I didn’t feel we should be enhancing the industrial park,” said Zapotosky. “The county was going to bear the brunt. We weren’t using the agencies that could have paid.”
At the same time, a senior Westmoreland County judge ruled that the county zoning board erred in allowing only Ambrosini to sign the application for the rezoning of the property.
“I suspended the project, a judge pulled the support,” said Zapotosky.
Instead of having the initial plan revamped or looking for a new location, Zapotosky said the “public outcry” was to have another option considered, one that would be less costly and located near the courthouse.
“There have been all sorts of studies that show (new construction) behind the courthouse,” he said. “Even the (common pleas court) judges said that they would like it behind the courthouse.”
He, along with Zimmerlink, brought in another contractor and directed its architects and engineers to develop a plan that would allow for the expansion of the jail.
Several months later, a second plan was revealed, with a similar price tag.
While he believes a solution must be found, Zapotosky said the second plan is too costly.
“If I had known it was going to cost $7 million to elevate it 22 feet, I would have shut it down too,” he said.
During this administration, the county has spent about $3 million for plans, but like the others done in prior years, they too, sit on a shelf.
In retrospect, Zapotosky said that perhaps the Crabtree plan should be given another look by the incoming commissioners.
“It should be built close to the courthouse,” he said. “If there, that would eliminate some of the extras like the courtrooms. And, it would reduce the cost. As planned, it looks like a federal prison. We need a transitional prison.
“Hopefully, something will be done by the next administration”
While Zapotosky declined to say what he plans to do when he leaves office, it is his hope that Vicites, Lohr and Zimmerlink will forge an amicable relationship that was absent in the current administration.
“The people of Fayette County deserve to have three commissioners that may not always say aye, but at least can say aye, aye, nay with dignity and respect,” he said. “They need to govern together and not be divided on the major issues.”
Zapotosky said while he will leave office, he will not abandon his hope for its future.
“I love this county and refuse to give up on it,” he said. “I hope the next board will take not just what we did, but learn from what we did and not make the same mistakes.”