Malagari to resign from council
Borough to seek applicants for seat in early 2019
LANSDALE >> The timeline is not yet final, but borough council looks likely to have another vacancy in January 2019.
Councilman Steve Malagari announced Tuesday he plans to step down from council in just over a monthh, as he prepares to take over as the area’s state representative.
“I know individuals have been asking me about what my plans are for council,” said Malagari.
“I will be issuing a letter, coming up for the work session, which I’ll read off then. And I’ll probably, most likely, say my last day will be the end of this current calendar year,” he said.
A Democrat who has been on borough council since 2012, Malagari defeated fellow councilman Leon Angelichio in the May primary, then topped former Mayor Andy Szekely and Libertarian candidate John Waldenberger on Nov. 6 to be the next representative for the state house’s 53rd District.
Longtime incumbent Republican Bob Godshall chose not to run for reelection to the seat he had held since 1982, representing a district that contains Franconia, Hatfield, and Salford townships and Hatfield, Lansdale, Souderton and Telford boroughs.
Malagari announced during council’s Nov. 20 meeting that his installation as the next state representative will take place on Jan. 1, 2019, so his formal letter of resignation from council will likely be announced and submitted during borough council’s Dec. 5 meeting.
“That will be coming soon,” he said.
Council President Denton Burnell said, once the departure is made official, details will be formally announced on how council will proceed.
“We’ll hold off on giving (Malagari) trouble about that until you actually, officially, hand me a letter that says that,” Burnell said.
Based on prior vacancies, council will likely follow a similar procedure for filling the vacancy as they did this past spring, when councilman Jason Van Dame stepped down in April to take a job with the borough and Bill Henning was appointed to fill that seat in June.
“Assuming I get that (resignation letter) from him in the near future, that’ll immediately allow us to start planning, and asking for interested parties. That’s Ward One, so as we did with Mr. Van Dame’s seat when Mr. Henning came in, it’s the same ward, and we’d solicit for interested parties,” Burnell said.
Both seats, that currently held by Henning and the one soon to be vacated by Malagari, will then be on the ballot again in 2019, according to Burnell.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 899 pm. on Dec. 5, with various council committees starting at 7 p.m., all at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www. Lansdale.org or follow @ LansdalePA on Twitter.