Hearing on West Alexander petitions to break from Donegal continued
A hearing to determine the validity of signatures on a petition submitted to Donegal Township by a group called West Alexander Borough Project – which aims to incorporate West Alexander as an independent borough – was held Wednesday in Washington County Court of Common Pleas.
At issue is the validity of 117 signatures on the petition, collected from freeholders within the proposed borough, as part of the legal process required in Pennsylvania.
The Donegal Township Board of Supervisors has contested the signatures for a variety of reasons, including the legibility and validity of signatures, and the accuracy of the size of parcels owned by freeholders within the proposed borough.
The hearing, in the courtroom of Senior Judge Katherine B. Emery, was continued until June 5, where the review of the signatures will continue.
In 2009, West Alexander Borough, an historic village on Old National Pike, merged with Donegal Township, in part because of financial woes, abolishing the borough and the positions of all its officials.
But since 2021, a group of residents, led by lifelong West Alexander Borough resident Dr. Kathleen Miller, has spearheaded an initiative to break away from the township and reestablish the former borough.
Residents believe that the former West Alexander Borough, which lies in the westernmost end of Washington County and is less than a mile from the West Virginia border, and its approximately 800 residents, could sustain itself if it separated from Donegal Township.
Township officials, however, question the viability of the proposed municipality and have opposed the group’s move to separate from the township.