The Eldred Township supervisors appointed a new supervisor Thursday night.

A supervisor’s seat became available in early January when Supervisor Donna Mikol announced that she was stepping down from her position. Mikol had two more years in her term.

After interviewing five candidates, the supervisors appointed Scott Clark to fill the seat. When her term expires, he will have to run for election if he decides he would like to remain a supervisor.

Clark is a member of the township’s planning commission, but he does not have to relinquish in position there in order to serve as a supervisor, said Ann Velopolcek, the township secretary.

The other four candidates were: Kevin Kuehner, Ed Meier, Ray Miller and Cathy Martinelli.

Gary Hoffman, chairman of the supervisors, and Blaine Silfies, a newly elected supervisor, asked the candidates about their interest in serving, the top five challenges facing Eldred Township and their vision for the township 10 years from now.

Clark said he has been involved in service for most of his life and comes from a farming family. He has a military background and a career in law enforcement in Montgomery County. As soon as he moved to Eldred Township, he volunteered to be on the zoning hearing board and then the planning commission.

He said he thinks one of the biggest challenges for the township is trying to maintain what the township is, while bringing in more money in order to strengthen the tax base and keep taxes low.

“We don’t have a lot of business. We don’t have a ton of residential areas, and costs continue to go up. So how do bring finances in? How do you get the money in order to support the costs that it takes to run a township?” he said.

Clark said he thinks it would take increasing the number of residential units or small businesses in order to raise the tax base enough to help with some of the challenges.

He thinks the responsibility of a supervisor is to represent the residents and bring forth what they want, while seeking ways to raise funds to support the budget. He would like to be there for the residents and township employees, and be active in the community.

As for his vision for the township, Clark said, “I would like to see Eldred Township in 10 years look very similar to what it does now. I think what brings most of the people to the township is exactly what we are. We have to have some growth; I understand that. And that’s the challenge for all of us here in the township is how do we get that growth while still maintaining who we are and what we are identified as. That’s where I want to see us go.”