When will State College Borough Council fill its open seat, and who are the candidates? What we know
State College Borough Council is less than a month away from filling the vacancy left by first-year Councilman Richard Biever, whose family is moving to Kansas later this summer.
Biever, who informally made the announcement in March, had his resignation formally accepted May 2. That means borough council has 45 days from then to find a replacement, making for a June 16 deadline.
The public will not vote for a replacement. Again, that duty simply falls to borough council.
Here’s what we know so far, based on information from Monday’s borough council meeting and documents provided by a borough spokesperson:
What’s going on?
For those in need of a refresher, Biever was among the three progressives elected to borough council last November. (Divine Lipscomb and Gopal Balachandran were the others.) Biever was set to serve a four-year term but, two months after taking office, he accepted a professorship at Wichita State University with his wife Heidi taking a position with Music Theatre Wichita.
Biever, founder and co-director of local musical theater studio Singing Onstage, said he looked upon the move as a now-or-never moment.
“This wasn’t planned,” Biever told the CDT in late March. “It was just kind of the circumstances and how it all came about was really interesting, with coming out of a pandemic and rethinking what I wanted do with my remaining active years here.
“It was really more about teaching and helping others to create theater than creating theater. So this opportunity came up, and it was really tough for many reasons — borough council being one of them — but just because of everything we’ve established in State College. But we also felt like we’ve done a lot here, and we both were looking for a new adventure.”
Without Biever, only six of borough council’s seven seats are now filled.
The last time a council member left before their term was up came in August 2020, when Dan Murphy resigned after citing physical and mental health reasons. Council ultimately appointed Katherine Yeaple as his replacement; her term ended in January.
What happens next?
With the deadline for residents to express interest in the position having already passed, four candidates have asked to be considered. (More on them a little later.)
The candidates will each publicly offer a 15-minute presentation during a borough council meeting 7 p.m. May 31 to explain their goals and qualifications. No follow-up questions will be asked, in part to ensure fairness and equity since different candidates might otherwise receive different questions.
Borough council will then publicly review and discuss candidates June 6, before voting and appointing a candidate to the open seat June 13. The voting process will be similar to the last time, for Murphy’s replacement: All council members’ names will be placed in a hat — except for council President Jesse Barlow — and a random member’s name will then be drawn. That member will then nominate one of the four candidates, and council will vote on whether that person should take Biever’s seat.
If that person receives a majority of council votes — four votes from the six council members — then the process is over, and that person will become the new council member. If that person does not receive a majority, then the process repeats. Another council member’s name will be drawn, another candidate will be nominated, and another vote will take place.
In 2020, council conducted seven rounds of voting involving 11 candidates before a new council member was chosen.
If borough council can’t come to a decision June 13, meetings will be held as necessary through June 16. If council still cannot settle on a candidate by the deadline, a county judge will appoint someone. The new council member’s appointment will run through 2023.
Who are the candidates?
The deadline to submit a letter of interest was May 12, and four candidates submitted them. They include:
- Eric Boeldt: A resident of State College since 1987, Boeldt began taking an active role in borough policymaking in 1995. He has served on several committees and currently chairs the Historical Architecture Review Board (HARB).
- Nalini Krishnankutty: Also a resident since 1987, the first-generation immigrant American describes herself as “an engineer turned writer, speaker, educator and Diversity-Equity-Inclusion (DEI) advocate and practitioner.” She currently chairs the borough’s Community Oversight Board, although she’s been involved with community service — with both the town and gown — for more than 30 years.
- Matthew Kwapis: As president of the Greentree Neighborhood Association, which includes more than 300 homes, Kwapis also counts himself as an active and invested member of the State College Neighborhood Coalition. He has been president since fall 2021.
- Katherine Yeaple: The registered nurse with a master’s in urban planning served as the interim council member after Murphy’s surprise resignation in August 2020. She ran in last year’s Democratic primary to continue her role as council member, but lost to Biever by 68 votes. (1,191 to 1,123)
