Published: November 04, 2009 01:34 am      

Three newcomers gain City Council seats

JOHNSTOWN — Three newcomers swept into Johnstown City Council on Tuesday, and one councilman lost his seat after serving for eight years.

With four council seats available, the top three vote-getters were Democrats Marie Mock, Pete Vizza and Rose Englehart Howarth. All will take council seats for the first time.

Republican Councilwoman Ann Wilson grabbed the final available spot. That means Democratic Councilman Bill Neatrour will not get a chance to serve a third term.

Mock and Howarth ran as a team; both are leaders of the West End Improvement Group.

And both used the word “overwhelmed” when contacted after the final results were counted Tuesday night.

“I can’t wait to hit the ground running,” said Mock, who led the field of eight candidates by garnering 2,305 votes.

Vizza, a Hornerstown resident, said his election comes with “a lot of responsibility” but said he is looking forward to the opportunity.

“It was a pretty crowded field, and people had enough faith in my ideas to support me,” Vizza said.

Wilson, an Eighth Ward resident, won a second term by beating Neatrour by 187 votes. Next year, she will be the lone Republican on the nine-member City Council.

Republicans Lonnie Rietscha and Richard Beauregard both lost.

Finishing last with 571 votes was Gary Tokar, who had entered the race in July.

Tokar had invented the name of his party – “A Grassroots Initiative” – and had made no secret of his advocacy for marijuana legalization.

The City Council race had included only two incumbents because two other councilmen – Democrats Nunzio Johncola and Al Reynolds – decided to not seek new terms.

Reynolds resigned in April, and council in June appointed Republican Frank Kiefer to fill his spot until year’s end.

That meant that at least two newcomers were certain to claim council spots, which fit neatly with the central theme in this year’s campaign: Johnstown needs change.

While Wilson and Neatrour had defended their records as individual council members, more than one challenger used the word “circus” to describe city government.

Johnstown has been financially distressed since 1992 and, in recent years, has been running annual budget deficits. The city’s work force has been reduced, and property taxes have been raised twice in the last four years.

Also, city government this year has been rife with public disputes, mainly due to tension between some council members and City Hall administrators.

Within less than two months, former Finance Director Mary Lou Johnston and former City Manager Curt Davis left their posts. A new finance director has been hired, and the current council expects to hire a city manager before year’s end.