Resignations, replacements marked unusual year

In some parts of The Mercury’s coverage area, 2016 was a year of official resignations.

New Hanover Township probably saw the most.

It began in the first month of the year, when Township Solicitor Paul Bauer stepped down from his post.

Then in April, Doug Muller, who had been serving as the chairman of the board of supervisors, abruptly resigned, citing the need to spend more time on his business and with his family.

He remains on the sewer authority board.

Muller was replaced by Marie Livlsberger in an appointment that had to be made twice, due to an error in notifying the public of the meeting at which it occurred.

That error was among several that may have cost former township manager Kevin Tobias his job.

In June, the supervisors voted to give Tobias his 30day notice, just six months after giving him an $11,000 raise.

Former Lower Pottsgrove Township Manager Greg Prowant was hired as the interim manager and earlier this month, the township hired Jamie Gwynn as the new township manager.

But that was not all for New Hanover.

One month after giving Tobias his notice, longtime supervisor Ralph Fluharty abruptly gave his during a July meeting at which he clashed with board members about road paving.

After a second lengthy public interview process, which saw ten candidates apply, the supervisors chose longtime planning commission member Kurt Zebrowski to replace Fluharty.

Lower Pottsgrove Township also had its share of departures.

In early 2016, Charles D. Garner Jr., from the firm Wolf-Baldwin, was chosen to replace former township solicitor Robert Brant who had stepped down unexpectedly in December, 2015 after just one year serving the township.

In May, Township Commissioner James Vlahos stepped down, citing the need to spend more time with his business.

Vlahos has never completed a term of office to which he was elected.

His 2006 resignation from borough council occurred one year before his term was expired.

And his resignation Monday comes just two years and one month after he was appointed to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners in June 2014, to replace Jonathan Spadt, who stepped down a month earlier.

Vlahos was elected to a full four-year term in November, 2015, and his resignation means his replacement, Robert Mohollen will serve until “the next municipal election” at the end of 2017.

In West Pottsgrove, 2016 began with Lee Mescolotto, township solicitor for 35 years, stepping down and was replaced by Ed Skypala.

And just last week, Douglass (Mont.) Supervisor Fred Ziegler resigned from the board as part of a plea agreement in a criminal case that dragged through court for more than two years before being resolved.

Ziegler had been charged with theft, intimidating witnesses and falsifying documents, but the agreement allowed him to resign and plead guilty only to falsifying documents, a misdemeanor.

Phoenixville Borough Council almost lost a member when Councilman Michael Kuznar’s residency in the middle ward was challenged in September, but the point became moot when he proved he had moved back into the borough.

Local school boards saw a few resignations as well.

In March, the Daniel Boone School Board welcomed former member Scott Potts back to the board. He replaced Brian Doty who had to relocate due to his job.

In April, Pottsgrove School Board member John Rossi resigned unexpectedly and former member Robert Lindgren was appointed a month later to take his place.

Things didn’t go quite so smoothly in Pottstown, when former board vice president Andrew Kefer announced his resignation in September because he moved to West Virginia for his job.

Ultimately, Susan Lawrence was chosen to replace him, but only after the administration had to admit it had twice lost applications for the post made by email (one of which was Lawrence’s) and to disqualify another candidate they had already interviewed because she had not lived in the borough long enough to quality.