Category: Local News

Sewage Authority Solicitor Retains Ousted Board Members

Just as shown in this photo from January 14, a Terry Tokarek (foreground) and Lou Vergari were seated with the Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority board last night.

by David Croyle

Although Ford City Borough Council voted in mid-February to terminate the appointments of two of the board members of the Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority (FCBMSDA), they were present at last night’s FCBMSDA meeting on the advice of their solicitor.

Attorney Charles Pascal represents the authority and said that until the Borough approves replacements for the terms of office of Lou Vergari and Terry Tokarek, they are to remain on the FCBMSDA board.

“The PA Municipal Authority Act indicates that people are appointed to five-year terms,” Pascal said. “If the term expires and no one is named to replace them, they continue in office until they are replaced. It is not authorized for their removal anywhere that I can find it.”

At the Ford City Borough Council meeting last Monday, Council indicated there was applications filed by four individuals who wished to serve on the FCBMSDA board, but had not been interviewed yet.

“As usual, the record keeping at the Borough is incredibly deficient,” Pascal alleged. “The Borough can’t establish when Vergari and Tokarek were last appointed. We have examined Borough minutes and, quite frankly; it is not mentioned when anyone was appointed. I can’t imagine how any of these people got here. We know when they came here by looking at our minutes and determined when they first arrived here. However, we couldn’t tell who was appointed for full term or was to fill in the vacated term of another individual. Lou has been on the board for many years. He and Mr. Tokarek have been here for longer than five years. They may have been reappointed but it didn’t get into minutes. It is unclear what is going on because of deficient nature of the records.”

Until Council appoints two new members to the Authority, Pascal said Vergari and Tokarek will continue “business as usual.”

Tokarek is the president of FCBMSDA and Vergari is the vice-president.

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categories Ford City Borough Council | David Croyle March 12, 2010 | comments Comments (0)

Local Students Win Big at Geography Bee

Students from Kittanning's Grace Christian School hold their ribbons with pride (one from his mouth) after winning big at the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) District Geography Bee. Front row: Samuel Wilson, Angel Campbell, Gavin Martin Back row: Mr. Steve Blakney, Jared Emminger, Nathan Wilson, and Logan Callen.

by Nathan Lasher

Third, fourth, and fifth grade students from Grace Christian School in Kittanning performed exceptionally in the Association of Christion Schools International (ACSI) District Geography Bee which was held on January 22.

The coordinator of the Geography Bee for Grace Christian School, third and fourth grade teacher Mr. Steve Blakney, escorted the six students from grades 3 through 5 to the District Geography Bee which was held at the Seeds of Faith Christian Academy in Indiana. Parent volunteers and spectators made the trip as well.

“We competed against two other schools,” said Blakney. “There would have been four, but there was an ice storm that day and a school from Cambria had to cancel. One school was from Dubois, and then Indiana Seeds of Faith competed as well.”

The day began with welcoming and praise and worship time. Following that, the students went to their individual grade Bees and were asked questions on geographic terms, places, names, and Biblical areas. Each of the students from Grace Christian School, Angel Campbell, Nathan Wilson, Logan Callen, Gavin Martin, Jared Emminger, and Samuel Wilson, received a ribbon in their individual grade bees.

“Each of the students did very well,” said Blakney. “They all received ribbons for their performance. Our fifth grade student, Samuel Wilson, received the highest award. He had the most answers right out of any of the students who competed. There were several tiers, and each student had two rounds of 20 questions. Each of our students was in the top couple tiers of the prizes for that.”

According to Blakney, the students used flashcards, almanacs, and geography books in order to prepare for the Bee. “There were a lot of different world and state maps and so on,” he said. “We did different practices and run-throughs where I reviewed a variety of rivers, mountains, and geographic terms such as deserts and tropical rainforests; so, some of it involved some science.”

Overall, Blakney seemed excited about with the students’ performance during the District Bee. “I was very pleased with them because no one finished in the last tier,” he said. “They got most of the questions correct, and I was very proud of them. It was a great educational experience. All of the kids got really excited, and they learned a lot about geography. The parents and staff members were very pleased.”

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categories Local News | nlasher | comments Comments (0)