Editor’s note: This is the third of four stories highlighting local races in Tuesday’s primary election. The previous stories covered the races for judge of the Centre County Court of Common Pleas, and for the county Board of Commissioners. A future post will focus on candidates for the State College Area School District Board of Directors. Additional information on these races can be found on the StateCollege.com Politics page.
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Five Democrats — including three incumbents — are competing this spring for their party’s nominations for State College Borough Council.
Democratic voters on Tuesday will pick four of those candidates to appear on the general-election ballot in November. As no Republicans have filed to appear on their party’s primary ballot, it appears probable that the four chosen Tuesday will go on to win in November, as well.
The four council seats in play this year represent a majority of the seven-member, all-Democratic body. They’re held currently by incumbents Theresa Lafer, Silvi Lawrence, Peter Morris and Jim Rosenberger.
Only Lawrence has declined to run for reelection, telling StateCollege.com that ‘I just felt that I couldn’t commit for another four years.’
‘It was fascinating, and I’m glad I was able to make the contribution’ to the borough, said Lawrence, who is finishing her four-year term as a council member. ‘But it was just going to be too long of a commitment to me’ to remain on the council.
With Lawrence out, the candidate field now comprises Lafer, Morris, Rosenberger, former two-term council member Cathy Dauler and political newcomer Sarah Klinetob. Each of the incumbents was first elected to the council in 2007.
Lafer, for her part, said the borough is in the midst of several long-term efforts. ‘And I’d like to see them to completion,’ she said.
She said those efforts include improvements to the West End neighborhood, the encouragement of inclusionary housing and more diversified housing, and the stabilization of neighborhoods.
‘They aren’t stable yet,’ Lafer said, ‘but we are moving in that direction. I don’t want to walk away from it at this point. I think continuity makes a difference.’
She anticipates that the biggest ongoing challenges for the borough will involve its costs and funding sources. If revenue streams such as grant funding continue to be reduced, Lafer said, serious budget problems are likely in the next few years.
‘Will we survive? I think so. Will we survive without tax increases? That’s harder to tell,’ she said.
Dauler, who served as council president before her second term ended in 2008, last ran for council in 2009. She is driven to run again because she’s still interested in ‘the community and in maintaining the quality of life we have here,’ she said.
Dauler said she puts a premium on maintaining the quality of life in the neighborhoods, promoting a healthy mix of owner-occupied and rental housing. She also wants to keep the downtown economically sound and to keep working professionals as borough residents, she said.
In addition, Dauler said, she wants to see some progress in improving the West End neighborhood. And she is hopeful, she said, that the planned Fraser Centre development project — which has borough support — will finally break ground.
‘In spite of the challenges of the economy in the last few years, we really do live in a very vibrant community … with a strong economic base and a really good relationship with (Penn State),’ Dauler said. She has voiced strong support for the borough’s reducing its carbon footprint, for community volunteerism in the face of events like State Patty’s Day, and for productive town-gown relations.
Rosenberger said he’s running again because he wants to keep providing public service to the borough. He underscored his efforts in regional collaboration — with other municipalities — on fronts such as regional parks and community pool agreements.
He would like to continue in that vein, he said.
‘Many of the issues that face the borough are, in fact, regional issues,’ Rosenberger said. ‘I continue to advocate for cooperation, and if we could, in fact, streamline our Centre Region, we could make government more efficient, I think. It’s not likely to happen in a dramatic way. I think working cooperatively is the best strategy given our current structure.’
Among his hopes, he said, he would like for the region to be designated a ‘bicycle-friendly community’ and to strengthen its network of bicycle trails.
Rosenberger indicated he takes a less-pessimistic view of the borough’s financial outlook than some of his council counterparts do. One key delicate issue for State College in the coming years, he said, is how best to balance the rights and lifestyle considerations for both permanent residents and university students.
‘I certainly want to commit to continue working with the university and continue activities such as the Lion Walk, to integrate our new student residents in the borough as effectively as we can,’ Rosenberger said. ‘ … My voice on the council has been to continue to support the staff to be efficient in government.’
Klinetob, who at 27 is the youngest council candidate on the primary ballot, said she decided to run for office after a colleague in the sustainability field raised the idea. She realized that the effort fits with her community values — and that, as a young professional, she could bring a unique perspective to the council, she said.
She also noted her first-hand knowledge of how rising energy costs affect governments and businesses. Klinetob is an energy engineer at Envinity, a State College firm spearheaded by Penn State professor emeritus Jack Matson. (He is the spouse of borough Mayor Elizabeth Goreham.)
‘I think high energy prices are going to start taking a toll’ on the borough, Klinetob said. But with any issue that may arise, she said, ‘I’d say that making sure we’re keeping community as the lens (through which) we’re viewing that issue’ is key.
Klinetob also said she would bring leadership experience to the table. She cited her experience helping to lead a solar-decathlon team in a national competition, and her leadership work in bringing solar panels to a community in Honduras. That background would help her balance the many perspectives that come before Borough Council, she said.
She has spent some time campaigning with Morris, who said he had a tough time deciding whether to run again.
‘I suppose what one always wonders is whether you’re doing any good,’ Morris said. Having concluded that he’s ‘doing more good than harm,’ he is running anew with an eye focused on borough finances, he said.
Morris said he expects the slow erosion of the borough tax base and the likely decline of state and federal grant support to be significant issues. As a result of those trends, he said, borough may ultimately see some combination of limited tax increases and service cuts.
‘We need to attract new business and new people to the borough,’ Morris said. Specifically, he said, he sees an opening for State College to bring in technology- and environmentally oriented businesses.
Morris also voiced support for an inclusionary-housing ordinance, and for mixed-use land development in the West End.
He is particularly proud, he said, of his successful push for a severance policy for borough employees. Before the adoption of that policy, any laid-off borough workers would not be eligible for severance compensation from the borough government. Morris also underscored the borough’s relationship with Penn State and the relative lack of recent municipal tax increases.
But he would like to see more communication among the neighborhoods — and perhaps some type of regular town-hall-meeting-style events, Morris said.
‘My impression is that people are pretty happy with how council has governed for the past four years,’ he said.
Borough Council members are not paid for their borough work, which they perform on a part-time basis. They serve four-year terms.
To watch the candidates’ interviews on C-NET, go to this page. Additional information about Tuesday’s election is available at the Centre County Election Office website, and at VotesPA, the Pennsylvania Department of State’s online voting information and resource center.
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