A Mahoning Township woman remains disappointed over the practice in which a seated supervisor was selected to fill a vacant seat several months ago.

Resident Pam Wuest expressed her frustration to the board of supervisors last week about how Supervisor Carol Etheridge was installed back in November.

Wuest told the board that she was still standing on the fact that even though the board claims it followed the legal lines, “it wasn’t the right thing to do for the township.”

She then cited how neighboring East Penn Township advertised on consecutive days that it was looking for a new supervisor through an interview process.

“That’s the right way to do it (to see) if anybody’s interested,” Wuest said. “Why did you decide to do it the way you did?”

Township solicitor Tom Nanovic told Wuest that the manner in which the board opted to appoint Etheridge to the board was legal.

Further, Nanovic said Etheridge had been attending the township’s meetings for a long time, and while there were other ways of selecting an individual for the post, the board made the right choice in his opinion.

Board Chair Deb McGowan told Wuest the board had no idea that then Supervisor Myron “Zeke” Blahy was going to resign until that evening.

“We’re not required to request letters of interest,” McGowan said. “We as a board decided we felt Carol was going to be the best replacement; we knew her background.”

Wuest then asked if the board felt Etheridge was the only resident in the township who could have done a good job.

“I would have been interested,” Wuest said. “There’s a right way to do things, (and) there’s a legal way to do things.”

Etheridge told Wuest she ran a campaign, and sat in the meeting room for over a year while she was running her campaign.

“I made my interest known,” Etheridge said. “I was interested and I care about my community.”

Wuest countered that the rest of the township was in the dark.

“I have nothing against you,” Wuest said to Etheridge. “My issue is how this was done.”

McGowan told Wuest to be mindful that there are two members of the board whose terms are set to expire over time.

“I suggest you keep it in mind,” McGowan said. “We had no idea this was going to (become) an issue.”

On a 4-0 vote, supervisors in November accepted the resignation of Blahy, and then approved Etheridge’s letter of interest for the position.

Etheridge was sworn in by Nanovic and took her seat on the board.

Newly elected supervisors Matthew Wentz and Mark Schwalm questioned the practice by which Etheridge was selected at that meeting.

Schwalm told the board it went against what the public wants.

Wentz and Schwalm won the supervisors’ race in the general election and were seated in January. Wentz had 777 votes, while Schwalm tallied 654 votes. Etheridge had 556 votes.

About a week after Etheridge was sworn in, Supervisor Ron Reeser defended her appointment after several board members received comments as to the legality of its decision.

Reeser explained at that time the board based its decision solely on the letter of interest received from Etheridge before its next scheduled meeting, and cited the fact of her attendance of all of the board’s meetings and special hearings over the past year to familiarize herself with the operations and key issues the township is currently facing should she have won a seat on the board in that election.

Reeser noted that the board had done this several times over the past few years.

Blahy submitted his letter of resignation to the board on Nov. 5 with regret.

The board then appointed McGowan as vice president, the role in which Blahy had served.

Blahy was selected in January 2022 to fill a vacant seat on the board.

He was one of three candidates to apply for the post at that time.

After losing out in his bid for reelection in November 2021, Blahy replaced former board Chairman Bruce Steigerwalt.

At its end-of-year meeting in December 2021, supervisors accepted Steigerwalt’s resignation, which was verbally tendered earlier that month.

Before that, Blahy had served on the board since January 2018.