Kittanning Council on Monday approved the resignation of one councilman and appointed a new candidate to fill his remaining two-year term in the Fourth Ward.
Richard Reedy notified council by letter that he had resigned because of health reasons and said he hoped council would continue with projects that he supported, including street paving and the rehabilitation of blighted properties.
Vice President Andy Peters nominated Wilbur Stitt — who was present at the meeting and who is a former councilman — to replace Reedy on council.
Council voted 6-0 to appoint Stitt to the seat. Councilwoman Kim Fox was absent.
President Randy Cloak was sorry to see Reedy step down.
“Dick's always been brutally honest and fair,” Cloak said, adding that Reedy had always been available to offer assistance and advice.
Stitt lives on Orr Avenue and has a business background. He is a buyer for KPM Herkules, a Ford City manufacturer of sheet metal machinery and equipment.
Mayor Kirk Atwood said after the meeting that he recalled when Stitt served on council — before 2008 and before Atwood was elected to his first term as mayor.
“He was always fair and impartial. I'm happy he's on council,” Atwood said.
Stitt said he was looking forward to serving on council again. “My job is to serve my ward to the best of my ability. I don't have an agenda. It's all about the people and the borough itself,” he said.
Street paving remains high on the list of borough concerns.
Last month, council approved pledging its allocated liquid fuels money to borrow $700,000 from the state for paving along portions of Jacob and North Water streets and North Grant Avenue.
Even though council has not received approval from the state, it has gotten bids for the paving and handicapped ramp replacement components of the project.
Those bids were opened during Monday's meeting with the lowest paving total, $516,245 from Tresco Paving Corp. of Plum. Joe Palmieri Construction of Pittsburgh had the lowest ramp replacement total of $83,600.
“Hopefully, by the time we meet in May, we will have word from the state about our funding being approved,” Cloak said.
After the meeting, he noted that bids arrived at about $100,000 less than what council had anticipated. Council applied for a separate grant for paving Jacob Street.
“If we get that grant, we might be able to add some more streets (to the project) this summer,” Cloak said.
Brigid Beatty is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-543-1303 or bbeatty@tribweb.com.
