After months of debate, State College Borough Council appoints interim mayor
After months of debate, State College Borough Council appointed Ron Filippelli as interim mayor by a 6-1 vote Monday night.
Council had to choose from 11 applicants — since two Penn State students dropped from the pool two weeks ago — using a nomination and voting process gleaned from the Home Rule Charter. Last week, councilwoman Theresa Lafer called the process “not an election” and emphasized that its purpose is to appoint a mayor until the position can be filled in the 2021 municipal election.
Penn State employees, former government officials and longtime community members comprised the pool of applicants.
Discussions over whether to implement proposed “guidelines” for the interim mayor that would exclude Penn State employees exposed a deep town-gown rift, in which those affiliated with the university largely felt council members who supported the guidelines were discounting their voices and leadership ability.
Filippelli was the first applicant nominated and the first to gain a majority of votes from council for the mayoral appointment. Council member Dan Murphy voted against Filippelli’s appointment.
Filippelli, who served eight years on borough council and was council president, said he was “happy” and “humbled” to have been chosen by a majority of council to serve as interim mayor.
He steps in to a $67.4 million 2020 budget approved unanimously Monday that raises the real estate tax rate 16.76 to 18.26 mills.
Filippelli said that though the mayor has no voting power, he’s looking forward to running the meetings and acting as a “conduit” between borough council and the community.
“I’d like to get much more involved with students, for example ... have the opportunity to speak to student groups, individual students, students’ concerns, but also the business community in town,” he said. “All the groups that make up State College, I think, need to have some access to borough council, and I think the mayor is a conduit to that.”
He said it would be important to bring students’ concerns to other members of the community, like business owners and rental companies that interact heavily with students.
Of the mayoral selection process, Filippelli said he was impressed at how “transparent” and “detailed” the process was, especially considering the high number of applicants.
He also tipped his hat to former mayor Don Hahn, whose resignation council officially accepted Monday night. Hahn was elected Magisterial District Judge in November to replace Judge Carmine Prestia.
“Don was a good mayor, I think, in a very difficult time,” he said. With the police shooting of 29-year-old Osaze Osagie in March, “and the problems that that brought to the community, and kind of the concerns the community had, the divisions in the community, it was a very stressful period to be mayor. I don’t think any other mayor in State College history had that kind of a challenge during their mayoralty.”
He added that it is important to get involved with local government in order to make your voice heard in the community.
“Local government is open to everyone. Anyone can run for election. Any citizen can run for borough council. Council has all kinds of boards and commissions, which are all volunteer. And people can get on them. But they don’t,” he said. “If you want to have a piece of the action, whatever your interest group is, whatever your issues are, that’s the way to really do it. Organize yourselves. Get involved. Run for office. Volunteer for boards and commissions.”
Council President Evan Myers said the community should feel “fortunate” that there were so many qualified applicants for mayor.
“There are no losers in this process ... everybody put themselves forward in a heartfelt way,” he said. “The uniqueness that everyone brought is truly amazing and we really appreciate everyone’s participation in this process.”
Filippelli will be sworn in at noon Tuesday in council chambers in the State College Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen Street, with President Judge Pamela Ruest performing the ceremony.
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