Jul 26, 2018 2 min read

MONESSEN – The new mayor of Monessen is fulfilling his promise to boycott city council meetings until a vacant seat on the board is filled by Westmoreland County judges, possibly next week.

Mayor Matt Shorraw missed his seventh consecutive council meeting Thursday, doing his part to ensure council wouldn’t have a quorum again to conduct business.

“This is a nightmare,” Councilman Anthony Orzechowski said Thursday, when he and Councilman David Feehan once again where the only two of five elected Monessen officials at the meeting.

“I don’t have answers,” Orzechowski said. “We’re trying to do things the best we can.”

Shorraw has issued statements in which he expressed concerns that council, with a quorum present, would have appointed former mayor Lou Mavrakis to the seat that became vacant in May. Mavrakis has denied interest in the appointment.

Shorraw, who was elected in November, also has said he felt threatened by statements made by his colleagues. Meanwhile, Councilman Gil Coles has missed all but one meeting since May without giving a public reason for his absences.

Judith Taylor, the city’s clerk/administrator, said people call City Hall daily asking to be paid for their services.

“Our vendors are being very patient with us,” Taylor said Thursday.

The motions to pay bills Thursday indicated the city is behind payments that reached into hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the council meeting agenda.

Council missed the 30-day deadline it had to appoint someone to the council seat after it became vacant in the May 28 death of former councilman Ron Chiaravalle.

Westmoreland County Court Administrator Amy Mears DeMatt said earlier Thursday the judges have historically filled vacant seats on municipal boards on the days they held hearings on the vacancies. She said it would be hard to predict what will happen in the Monessen case.

The full panel of judges in Westmoreland County will consider applicants for Chiaravalle’s seat at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 2.

The deadline to apply for the vacant council seat was 4 p.m. Wednesday. Nine people have submitted applications to the court to be considered for the appointment, DeMatt said.

They are: the Rev. William C. Bass, John Francis Golomb, former state Rep. Ted Harhai, Shane Lanham, Tina O’Dell, Donald R. Rattay Sr., Darryl Ray, Lois Thomas and Dominic Zboyovsky.