Four new Valley mayors eager to get started

Getting people to cooperate is the goal of Leechburg mayor-elect Anthony "Tony" Roppolo and three other mayors- to be.

Roppolo won a surprise write-in campaign to unseat Mayor Chuck Pascal.

Pascal has complained that an out-of-town business owner backed Roppolo's campaign. Replied Roppolo, "That's possible," but voters were ready for change in leadership, anyway. "I was also asked for many, many months to run by a lot of different people," he said.

The mayor and council need to cooperate to help the borough and one-time councilman Roppolo is ready to get started -- even before he is sworn in as mayor.

"By state law, the mayor runs the police department and breaks tie votes," he said. "But the big thing is the mayor can work to bring the borough together."

He praised the Freeport, Leechburg, Apollo Group that seeks to enhance the three boroughs' business districts to attract companies, tourists and prosperity.

"FLAG has been phenomenal. If we can get more of the community behind it, it can help the whole area," he said.

He also wants the borough to encourage people to buy rundown houses and make them available for others to rent or buy because that will take care of eyesores while encouraging the economy -- something that the mayor-elect sees as a big part of his new duties.

The business community and council needs to "work together effectively," he said, adding that hasn't always been the case.

"These groups work on different sides of the street, but there is a need to extend a link to them," Roppolo said.

Saxonburg

On the morning after her victory, Saxonburg's newly elected mayor wanted to get going.

Political newcomer Jody Daubner Pflueger, 45, a Democrat who lives along State Street, knows she must wait until she takes the oath of office. Still, she wants to help the borough as soon and as much as possible.

Pflueger received 174 of the 316 votes cast in the race for mayor. She is the first woman to win the seat and the first Democrat to do so in more than 30 years.

"And that feels good," she said.

She replaces a three-term Republican who replaced another multi-term Republican.

Pflueger, a registered nurse who works in an intensive care unit at Pittsburgh's UPMC Presbyterian hospital, wants to improve the borough's image. She also relishes new challenges such as overseeing the police department.

Pflueger wants to review the borough's budget "to put more police officers on the street for more hours each week."

She also wants to focus on the department's leadership, including the naming an officer in charge.

"I want to see what the policy and procedures have been and see if there is a way to make the department run smoother. I've heard that sometimes there isn't a lot of communication," she said, declining to elaborate until she is sworn in.

Pflueger said she got some of her votes because the previous mayor sought to fire the borough's previous officer in charge. She got other votes because of support and campaigning by her family and friends, she said.

Springdale

Eileen Miller's 36-vote winning margin started with her losing the Democratic primary.

Miller won the GOP primary, then outpaced the incumbent. She is happy she will be the borough's first woman mayor, but being "the first" isn't new to her. She was the first woman member and eventual president of the Cheswick-Springdale Lions Club.

Miller wants to improve the borough.

Rather than wait for January, she is arranging to receive a copy of the borough codes book. "I will study it and be ready for when I get sworn in," she said.

The retired banker will use her management and personnel experience, in which she supervised 14 tellers, to help oversee the police department and help the borough "any way I can."

She knows dealing with police is a big part of a borough mayor's job.

"I want to talk with police Chief Joe Naviglia, but he has another boss until January," Miller said.

She wants to add another officer and believes the best way to do that is to re-enact a civil service commission, she said.

"The mayor led the drive to eliminate the commission on which I once served," she said.

She intends to change that.

Brackenridge

Mayor-elect Tom Kish said his four years on council helped him to build a relationship with council members.

Kish beat a former council member who was appointed mayor when the long-time mayor died in 2007.

Kish said he will call on his council experience as he focuses on public safety issues when he is sworn into office this January.

"My top priority is the public safety and welfare of residents," he said.

Kish will ask council to approve the hiring of a fifth full-time police officer.

He also wants to encourage businesses to move into Brackenridge.

Undoubtedly, Allegheny Ludlum's steel mill expansion plan is the biggest news to the borough.

Maybe other businesses, such a restaurants, will follow, he said.