Commissioners considering adding 11th member to LSA committee
The Washington County commissioners are considering adding an 11th member to this year’s Local Share Account committee after the Tri-County Borough Association raised concerns about its representative being excluded from the grant review process.
During the board’s agenda-setting meeting Tuesday morning, Holly Dranzo of Tri-County spoke during public comment and questioned the commissioners on why the county appointed a different candidate to sit on the board rather than the one the association selected in October.
Finleyville Mayor Michael Kutsek has represented Tri-County on the committee for the last 17 years, but the decision was made last year to select a new representative for 2026 and the association in March chose Brownsville Borough Councilman Jack Lawver as their next representative. But county officials notified the group the following month that the person must be a Washington County representative, so a vote was held in October and West Brownsville Councilman Jim Plugh was selected instead.
But in those intervening months, county officials selected Long Branch Councilman Bill Nutt because he apparently finished second in voting behind Lawver in that March meeting. That prompted questions from the association members last month asking why their candidate was not appointed to the committee.
“The association does not care if Mr. Nutt remains on the LSA committee, but we object to the commissioners calling him the Tri-County Borough Association’s representative,” said Dranzo, who is the former Cokeburg Council president and current third vice president for the borough’s association. “It is the position of the association that Jim Plugh is our elected LSA representative for the Tri-County Borough Association, and (we) ask that the commissioners rectify the situation immediately.”
Commission Chairman Nick Sherman called it a “breakdown in communication” since the county never received official correspondence on who would be Tri-County’s representative. He added that following a conversation with Tri-County President Timothy Miller over the summer, he believed the association intended to nominate Nutt since he was originally in the running.
“I was blindsided. I thought this was put to bed,” Sherman said. “This is pretty far down the road for this year already. I would have zero objection to you guys having another election (next year) and if you want to put Jim (Plugh) on it or whomever.”
“He already is,” Dranzo responded.
“I understand that, but no one conveyed that to us,” Sherman said. “When I talked to Tim, I thought we were ready to go.”
Commissioner Larry Maggi suggested they add Plugh to the list of candidates the commissioners intend to vote on during Thursday’s regular meeting. He added that it would also create an odd number of votes for tie-breakers with 11 members, which is the same size of the committee as last year.
“It sounds like we dropped the ball,” Maggi said. “Why don’t we just let them put someone on now and let them rectify it next year and just add the additional person?”
“We’ll talk afterwards,” Sherman said. “The board will meet and we’ll talk about how we feel we can rectify this, but it was nothing that we did maliciously. We had no correspondence.”
Sherman said the commissioners would “absolutely consider” adding Plugh to the LSA review committee this year. After the meeting, Miller said Sherman called him on the phone and tol him they would ask their solicitor to review the request, which would help guide their decision whether to place his name on the agenda for consideration with the other members.
“I think we made some movement,” said Miller, who is a councilman in Bentleyville. “It’s going back to their solicitor. We’ll see what they say.”
The commissioners plan to vote at Thursday’s meeting to formally appoint the following to the LSA committee: Chairman Mark Hrutkay of South Strabane, County Administrator Daryl Price, county Finance Director Adam Petris, state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, state Rep. Tim O’Neal, Monongahela Mayor Gregory Garry, Rachel Warner Welsh of Cross Creek Township, Bill Nutt of Long Branch, Washington County Authority Executive Director Owen Pucel and Dan Ostrowski, who is a member of the Washington County Authority board and a project manager for Pittsburgh-based real estate advisers JLL. The agenda will be released at 10 a.m. today, which will reveal whether Plugh’s name will be added to the list.
The LSA review committee makes recommendations each year to the commissioners on what projects should receive grants from the county’s casino gambling money. The committee is scheduled to meet today to begin reviewing the applications before holding public hearings on Jan. 15 and 16.