Jan 9, 2020 3 min read

The new year started off with a bang in some of area municipalities.

In Uniontown, treasurer-elect Antoinette Hodge wasn’t sworn in alongside other elected officials after a bonding company rescinded the bond she needed to hold the post. Hodge’s attorney accused council member Martin Gatti of interfering with the process and telling a bond surety agency partner Hodge wasn’t honest enough to serve in her elected role. The attorney also accused Gatti of referring to Hodge as a “colored girl” when he spoke to the company, an allegation Gatti vehemently denied.

And in Westmoreland County, Monessen’s mayor, Matt Shorraw, returned to public meetings after taking a 19-month vacation from the job he was elected to do. He, along with council members Gil Coles and Don Gregor, fired the city’s solicitor and its administrator/clerk. Then, Shorraw refused to hear public comment at the end of the meeting and left, escorted out of City Hall by two city police officers.

All of these things happened Monday night in council chambers packed with each city’s respective residents.

Yep, it’s been a rockier post-municipal election start than we can remember in a long time.

The new faces elected in November to serve in municipal government bring with them personalities that might not gel with those already serving.

That’s totally understandable, but working together for the greater good (that’s what elected officials are supposed to do, right?) is more of a choreographed dance, and getting there can take some time.

Attacks and ramrodding agendas don’t typically enhance to governmental unity.

In Uniontown’s case, while Hodge has filed a lawsuit alleging council members and others conspired to keep her from her office, we remind our mayor, council and the treasurer-elect that they still have a job to do and we hope they can push aside their differences and work together for the betterment of our city.

Beyond that, we truly hope that in 2020, race isn’t a factor for anyone in considering a person’s qualifications for, well, anything.

And in Monessen, it seems as though a definitive “us-versus-them” mentality has come home to roost with Shorraw’s apparent return to city government. If this week’s meeting is any indicator, Shorraw is in the majority with two councilmen at his back. If the only reason he came back is because he has the votes, then we hope he goes back home and stays there.

Local government shouldn’t be about shows of power; those officials are there for one simple reason: to serve the people they were elected to represent within their community.

There is, as they say, no “I” in team – nor is there an “us” or “them.”