Penn State students, faculty and former candidates. Who’s in the running for State College mayor?
State College Borough Council is considering 13 candidates who applied and qualify for the position of interim mayor.
Sixteen people applied, council President Evan Myers said at Tuesday’s borough council meeting, but three did not qualify on the grounds of not having residency in State College or being a registered voter in State College.
A multi-meeting debate divided council and the community over whether to adopt guidelines that excluded Penn State employees, developers and those without local government experience, among other things, from the mayor’s office.
The list of candidates includes Penn State students, Penn State faculty and staff members, former candidates for public office, former Borough Council presidents and others who have served on local boards, authorities and commissions.
- Thomas Daubert: Penn State professor emeritus, former State College Borough Council president, served 24 years on council
- Eleanor Schiff: Penn State Ph.D. graduate, visiting professor at Bucknell University
- Ronald Filipelli: Penn State professor emeritus, former borough council president, served eight years on council
- Ron Madrid: State College Planning Commission member, former mayoral candidate, former president of Holmes-Foster Neighborhood Association
- Isabella Webster: Penn State undergraduate student
- Jamey Darnell: Penn State assistant clinical professor of entrepreneurship
- Jacob Werner: veterinarian, Penn State assistant professor of veterinary medicine, dairy and animal science
- Katherine Watt: former Borough Council candidate, founder of Bailiwick News site
- Ezra Nanes: former state senate candidate, director of client relations at Accuweather
- Jim Leous: manager and research programmer at Penn State, ITS team leader, State College Area School District Board of Directors member
- Jason Browne: system administrator at Penn State, morning show co-host on B94.5
- Michael Black: former mayoral candidate, founder of creative advertising agency Black Sun
- Thomas Dougherty III: former Borough Council candidate, Penn State undergraduate student
“I think it’s impressive that so many people are so intensely interested in serving State College as mayor,” said Myers. “The job isn’t easy and I think it’s testimony to the high level of civic engagement that our citizens feel.”
Since there are 13 candidates, Myers said it might make more sense to have each prepare a five to six minute presentation answering questions submitted by council beforehand. That way, he said “we could make sure it was a meaningful process but it did not go on real long.”
He also said there would be opportunity for members of the public to submit or ask questions of the candidates. Since council members Dan Murphy, Jesse Barlow and Theresa Lafer were absent from the meeting Tuesday night, Myers said council would decide at a later date the process they will follow to select an interim mayor.
Last week, council tabled the controversial guidelines first proposed in October and it was unclear whether they would ever revisit them.
Council member David Brown, who last week derided audience members who clapped and snapped to show support for speakers at an earlier meeting, said he wanted to prevent “public displays of favoritism” during candidate interviews.
“I’m very concerned that we have a mechanism which deters and prevents any vocal or audible campaigning for one or another of the candidates that we’re looking at,” he said. “I think that would be very disruptive and distracting.”
Myers said he favors setting ground rules at the beginning of candidate interviews and discussion to guide the public’s behavior. Council member Catherine Dauler said ground rules are good, but “people need a little reminding.”
Pulling from borough solicitor Terry Williams’ memo sent last week on Robert’s Rules of Order, Myers said council members will nominate mayoral candidates they like and vote on them in the order they are nominated. The process could be subject to change so that council members aren’t competing to nominate someone first just to vote on them first — Myers suggested picking names out of a hat.
Discussion of mayoral candidates will resume next Monday at 7 p.m. during Borough Council’s regular meeting. Council must vote on a new interim mayor by Dec. 16, when Mayor Don Hahn’s resignation goes into effect. Hahn was elected magisterial district judge to replace Judge Carmine Prestia, Jr.
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