Special election to fill council seat

A special election for the Monroeville Ward 2 council seat will be held in November.

Democrat David Kucherer and Republican Steven Knezevich ran unopposed for the party nominations to the seat in a special election Tuesday.

In January, Kucherer was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Patrick Fulkerson, who resigned from council after being elected municipal tax collector. Fulkerson's term was set to expire in 2003.

Lynette McKinney, secretary to Monroeville Manager Marshall Bond, explained that the special election was required because more than two years were left on Fulkerson's four-year term.

Kucherer, who served as a Monroeville planning commissioner and on the municipal parks and recreation advisory board, was the only candidate who applied for appointment to Fulkerson's seat.

Among the issues that Kucherer said he planned to address were improving local parks by expanding the walking trail system and pursuing repairs on Haymaker Road, an initiative started by Fulkerson during his term on council.

Kucherer, who is retired, spends much of his time working with nonprofit corporations. Along with serving on Monroeville municipal boards and commissions, Kucherer has worked on the comprehensive master plan for Monroeville and Allegheny County parks and was involved with the construction of the Vietnam War Memorial at Gateway Senior High School.

Knezevich, a certified public accountant who owns his own business in Monroeville, ran against Fulkerson for the tax collector position last year.

He said he is running for council in hopes of getting some Republican representation on council.

"Right now they have seven Democrats and everyone just goes along with everything," he said.