Ed Llewellyn will be the next mayor of Trafford.

A panel of nine Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court judges on Tuesday afternoon chose Llewellyn for the role, after Trafford Council was unable to appoint someone. Llewellyn, who has not served in public office, was one of four candidates to seek the position after Rey Peduzzi resigned in October.

Judge Anthony Marsili was assigned the task of choosing a new mayor, but solicitor Craig Alexander said Marsili chose to interview the four candidates who have applied for the position before making a decision.

Marsili also asked colleagues to sit in on the interviews to assist in the decision.

George Brown, Mary Dobos and Cheryl Petersen also applied to finish out Peduzzi's term, which ends in 2017.

A quorum of council members did not attend two meetings scheduled for November when a new mayor would have been appointed. Two of those members, Jay Race and Casey Shoub, have said they would prefer a judge appoint someone because the public was unable to vote for Peduzzi's successor.

Council missed a 30-day window to make the appointment and the borough's vacancy board does not have a chairman, causing them to miss a Nov. 20 deadline to name a replacement.

Llewellyn said before interviews were held Tuesday that he was eager to find new ways to give back to the community after previously serving as president of the Trafford Girls Softball Association.

He said that council should have made the final decision on Peduzzi's replacement.

“I feel that if you're an elected official in borough, you should have to go to meetings,” he said.

Brown said it was a frustrating process to go through and wishes council had been able to make the decision.

He said he sought the mayor's seat as a way to give back to the community.

“I believe that anybody who lives in the borough should support it by volunteering with some organization,” Brown said.

Petersen said she saw the mayor's seat as a new challenge for her. She also believes council should have made the appointment.

“I think those guys are wrong for not showing up,” she said. “They're elected officials and they should have been there.”

Dobos did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Councilman Kris Cardiff has been serving as mayor in his role as council president. He said last week he was eager to return to his role on council.

“I am really hoping that this gets resolved as soon as possible so I can get back to the position I was elected to be in,” Cardiff said.

Tom McGee is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-850-2867, or tmcgee@tribweb.com.

---

Copyright ©2026— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---