North Wales council names new VP, gives update on vacancy

A few seat swaps have set up North Wales borough council for the rest of the year.

Council members appointed two new officers, naming longtime councilwomen Wendy McClure to be vice president and Anji Fazio as president pro tem for the final few months of the year.

“Since I have become interim president of borough council, after Sal’s resignation two weeks ago, we have to fill the vacancy that I left, as well as the one that is going to be created,” said councilman Mark Tarlecki.

On Aug. 27 council voted to accept the resignation of longtime member Sal Amato, who had been elected in 2015 and had acted as president since the start of 2022, due to a move out of town. With that resignation now official, Tarlecki — a longtime educator elected to his fifth council term in 2023 —  held the gavel and center seat at last week’s council meeting, and kicked off the agenda with a call for nominations to fill the vice president role he had held until Amato’s departure. Fazio nominated McClure, who had served three terms on council before her most recent reelection in 2023, to fill that VP post, and the rest of council approved unanimously.

Next, the pro tem spot that had been held by McClure, which Tarlecki said is a standby role meant to lead meetings in case the top two leaders are unavailable. McClure nominated Fazio, who was first appointed to council in 2022 and elected for two more years in 2023, and councilman Alex Groce nominated himself. Tarlecki then asked for roll call votes on both nominees, and he and Groce cast the only votes for Groce; all but Groce then voted for Fazio, thus confirming her for pro tem for the rest of 2025.

After the nominations were finalized, former Mayor Greg D’Angelo raised a point of procedure: with Mayor Neil McDevitt absent from recent meetings due to a “major surgery,” as McDevitt posted on his Facebook page in late August, does the role of mayor then fall to the council president? Borough Manager Christine Hart and solicitor Greg Gifford both said they had received no formal letter stating that handover had happened, and the two said they’d they look into the situation and report back at an upcoming meeting.

“I’m hoping that the mayor will be back in two weeks — we’ll wait and see if his absence is prolonged,” Tarlecki said.

A call for interested residents to fill the Ward 3 seat vacated by Amatohas been posted on the town’s website and social media channels, with a deadline of noon on Sept. 18 for Ward 3 residents to submit letters of interest, a resume and a statement of financial interest.

“We’ve received one, to date, letter of interest,” she said.

All qualified candidates will be interviewed at the Sept. 23 council meeting and one would be appointed for a term running through the end of 2025; that seat would then be on the ballot in November’s election for the remaining two years of the term. According to a preliminary candidate list posted by Montgomery County, current planning commission member Star Little will be the only person on the ballot for the final two years of what had been Amato’s seat in November; and newly appointed Candace Anderson is the only person on the ballot for the Ward 1 seat that had been held by former councilwoman Brittany Kohler until her resignation in July.

Other candidates on the ballot include Melanie Catanese for the Ward 1 seat currently held by McClure; Susan Manning and Alex Groce for seats from Ward 2 currently held by Groce and Sarah Whelan; and Fazio, councilwoman Sally Neiderhiser, and D’Angelo for two seats from Ward 3; D’Angelo is also running for mayor against McDevitt, and is the only Republican candidate running for any town office.

North Wales borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 at the borough municipal building, 300 School Street. For more information, visit www.NorthWalesBorough.org.

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com