State College borough appoints new council member. See their priorities
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- State College council appointed Susan Venegoni to fill vacant council seat through 2027.
- Venegoni brings housing experience and is an active community member.
- Her priorities include broadening focus beyond downtown and creating a housing policy.
The State College borough council appointed a new member during its meeting Monday night, filling the vacant position left by former council member Josh Portney.
After hearing presentations from six candidates, the council voted to appoint Susan Venegoni. She will fill the remainder of Portney’s term, through December 2027. Council President Evan Myers said he anticipated being able to swear Venegoni in on Tuesday, or shortly thereafter.
Venegoni is newly retired after working in human services and directly working with people and their housing needs. She previously worked as a HUD certified housing counselor and property rehab coordinator at The HOME Foundation, a housing specialist at Housing Transitions, property manager, and assistant director at Centre County Women’s Resource Center (now Centre Safe).
Her community involvement includes being a fire police officer, which she just retired from, and serving as the treasurer of the firemen’s relief association, managing a $7 million budget. She’s the vice chair of the transportation commission, sits on the zoning revision advisory committee and is the secretary of the Highlands Civic Association. She has lived in the borough for 30 years and is originally from Chicago.
She is a homeowner and has two rental properties in the Centre Region, she said, and previously managed rental housing in the borough for about 30 tenants before returning to work and getting her counseling certifications.
“I do understand the borough ordinances, regulations, ordinances, code and all of it that relates to rental housing. I know it works, and I know what could be better,” she said.
Candidates were given several questions from council members and the public that could choose to address during their presentation. One of her favorite questions, she said, was what she thought the borough’s top priority — other than the zoning rewrite — should be. Venegoni said the council needs to address “municipal tunnel vision.”
“I believe we have concentrated too much of our time and efforts on downtown, and we need to broaden what we do. When our attention and efforts are concentrated primarily downtown, the rest of the borough absorbs the impacts,” she said.
In response to other questions, she said she supports affordable rental and homeowner opportunities in the borough and her commitment to that is proven through her professional career. In terms of the zoning rewrite, she said there’s still work to do to make the borough an attractive place to live, work and visit.
As a council member, she said her top priorities include advocating for a housing policy with stated goals and dedicated local funding.
“We need dedicated resources to make our plans come to fruition. Public-private partnerships actually work, and we need to make those connections so we can attain, maintain and retain the affordable housing we have. To be a truly healthy community, we need diversity, and I mean that in every sense of the word,” Venegoni said.
Other priorities she listed are exploring opportunities to fill the borough’s funding gaps, and pedestrian, bicycle and micro-mobility safety.
State College Mayor Ezra Nanes applauded the candidates and thanked them for participating in the process.
“I myself participated as an applicant like you twice, and I was not appointed either those times, but I believed in the importance of being a part of that process. What you did tonight, all six of you, was incredibly important and valuable,” Nanes said. “The ideas that you brought forward, the perspectives, were so mind-expanding for all of us. And the council had a choice tonight, and you gave us a choice, and that is very important to this community. So thank you, each of you, and I do hope you’ll stay involved.”
