Oct 29, 2015 3 min read

It may not exactly be the best of times and worst of times as imagined by Charles Dickens in “A Tale of Two Cities,” but Washington County is facing both boom times and a set of challenges that could well make “A Tale of Two Counties” an apt description.

The county has benefited from an economic shot in the arm delivered by the burgeoning Marcellus Shale industry, and witnessed housing and business development on its northern tier in Peters and North Strabane townships. At the same time, however, it has endured an epidemic of heroin and opioid use so devastating The Washington Post recently used the county as a focal point for a story on heroin addiction. Growth is also stubbornly bypassing other parts of the county, particularly communities in the Mon Valley like Donora, which is still reeling from decades of deindustrialization and depopulation.

The three-member Washington County Commission will be confronting these issues over the next four years, along with everyday administrative tasks of running county offices, approving budgets and overseeing its human services departments. Voters on Tuesday will have a choice between the status quo or the status quo with a slight variation. Three of the four candidates – Democrats Larry Maggi and Harlan Shober, and Republican Diana Irey Vaughan – are incumbents. The fourth contender, Republican Mike McCormick, has worked as the CEO and chairman of a wealth-management firm and twice challenged U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara in congressional elections in the 1990s. He has run an aggressive, well-financed campaign, and comes to the contest with ideas on how to revitalize parts of the county that could use it. If McCormick, a resident of Venetia, is one of three winners next week, we believe he will prove to be a competent and able commissioner.

However, we believe the three incumbents in this race have served the county well, and we see no need for a change. That being the case, we hope voters re-elect Maggi, Shober and Irey Vaughan to the Washington County Commission.

Though she is the youngest commissioner at age 53, Irey Vaughan is the seasoned veteran of the board, having served on it since 1996. As we pointed out in the spring when we endorsed her in the primary election, she persuasively argues the county has done a good job of managing development and would like to lure more. Although some voters, including some of her fellow Republicans, believe Irey Vaughan has been on the commission long enough, her experience, in fact, enhances and strengthens it.

Seeking a fourth term, Maggi also contends commissioners have managed growth skillfully. Maggi teamed up with fellow Democrat Shober to run as a slate, and in the four years since he narrowly made it onto the commission, the affable Shober has proven to be up to the job. A former Chartiers Township supervisor and onetime executive with Bell of Pennsylvania and AT&T, he positions himself as a problem-solver who can get things done. He also points to tourism and the county’s history as avenues of economic development.

No matter who wins Tuesday, however, the next four years on the commission could prove to be tumultuous, with a much anticipated and feared reassessment of property within the county due to be wrapped up in 2017. It makes us wonder: Will the victors Tuesday later view their triumph as a poisoned chalice?