Marie Ondrus, 36 Coal St., Lansford, has announced her candidacy for a seat on the Lansford Borough Council. She is seeking a Democratic nomination in the May 16 primary election.

Marie is married to Joseph Ondrus. The couple has three children: Christopher, Janine and Joseph.Marie started volunteering with the Panther Valley Public Library years ago when its board reorganized when the library would have otherwise closed its doors. Having been elected president of the board, she and her colleagues received a $25,000 grant from state Rep. Keith R. McCall; started the tax preparation program for senior citizens there; and helped to form the St. Luke's Miners Diabetes and St. Luke's Children's Reading program.Later, Marie volunteered as an active member of the Lansford Parks and Recreation Commission, and, as a board member, helped the pool finances go from a negative to a positive. She helped revitalize the pool, starting an activity-game room there, and worked toward receiving donations and securing volunteers to help paint the facility.A founder of the Lansford Alive Events Committee, Marie helped establish the Christmas in the Park and Music in the Park programs as well as the Christmas, Autumn Harvest and Halloween house-decorating contests.She played an active role in ribbon-cutting events for new businesses in town, the Ethnic Day, rededication of the Last of the Panther Valley Deep Coal Miners Monument, refurbishing of the coal car in Kennedy Park, Neighborhood Watch, and Lansford Alive's ongoing project of refurbishing Kennedy Park.As a council member, Ondrus will work toward bringing transparency back to Lansford's operations, balancing the budget by reducing excessive spending, and working toward updating borough ordinances and improving the town's infrastructure. She will also work to bring new businesses into the community.Ondrus is running for council with Republican Irma Leibensperger, a fellow member of the Lansford Alive Events Committee with whom she has worked for the past several years for the betterment of the community."We want to work as a team with the present members of council to move Lansford forward and make it a better place to live," she said.