8 candidates seeking White Oak council seats

Eight candidates are competing for four, four-year council seats in White Oak.

Republicans Julie Opferman, Jason D. Russell and Joelle Maree Harbert and crossfiled Loree L. Scharritter are looking to keep their seats.

Democrats Brian Dinkfelt, Amy R. Sotereanos and Janice Kortz are also in the race, along with current Mayor Ina Jean Marton.

Marton

Ina Jean Marton

Marton is also hoping to remain mayor, a position she has held for more than 20 years.

She wants to continue to make White Oak safe.

Marton said she plans on continuing her work with the police department, which need “necessary” upgrades at the moment.

“We just hired a new chief, and I think he is going to make a difference here,” Marton said. “He is a positive asset to our borough. We’re on the roll, and as far as the borough is concerned, we are still a very safe community, we can walk around our neighborhoods and we can raise our families here.”

Dinkfelt

Brian Dinkfelt

A resident of White Oak for 41 years and a Penn State civil engineering graduate, Dinkfelt has been working several years in structural engineering and almost a decade in municipal building inspection and code enforcement in another town.

As someone who knows residential code well, Dinkfelt said he plans to address the borough’s code enforcement issues if elected, along with having a smarter and transparent way to go about budget and daily operations along with updating recreation facilities, treating employees fairly and more.

“We need to tell people what’s in the actual budget, not just telling people to read it, and people need to have an idea of what’s going on. They don’t have a capital improvement plan for the next five years,” he said. “They need to get back to having that updated and having that every year. I saw things that were not getting done or done correctly, and having worked for other municipalities that are more efficient, I can see the problems and where we can get them back on track.”

Sotereanos

Sotereanos came to White Oak 18 years ago when her daughter was born and has lived here ever since.

Amy R. Sotereanos

She raised her kids, works as a freelancer in the film and television industry, is part of McKeesport Area Marching Band Boosters and wants to find her next chapter. She wants to address more community engagement, bringing in new businesses and more transparency of what White Oak can offer outsiders.

“I was not familiar with White Oak, but I have definitely grown to appreciate it and the neighborhood and community that it is,” Sotereanos said. “White Oak has a lot to offer. I want to make it better, I want to get it to work just to keep people in the community. I am excited to get in there and see what could be done. I want to work collaboratively to make White Oak better, not that it’s not already elevated.”

Kortz

Retiring three years ago from being the Director of Human Resources and Operations at Phipps Conservatory for 25 years, Kortz said 40 years of business management experience.

Jan Phipps Kortz

Kortz said she and Sotereanos have been knocking on doors asking residents what they would like to see done in the area in the next few years. She wants to address safety, bring in new family-friendly businesses, improve transparency and more if elected.

“I didn’t really think about going into politics when I was retiring, but just in searching for a way to help make things better locally and trying to help people, I connected with people that suggested I do this,” Kortz said. “White Oak is a wonderful place to live, everyone on council has given their time and it’s appreciated.”

Opferman

An emergency room nurse for more than 30 years and a resident of 23 years with seven children, Opferman is running for reelection

Julie Opferman

because there are projects she wants to see come to fruition, including the veterans memorial she has been spearheading for the past year and possible safe haven boxes.

Opferman also hopes to continue to address blight issues, add more recreation activities for children and continue to support the police department. She added that she put herself in politics because she wants to see good things happen for White Oak even if it can be hard at times.

“Things get done so slowly in politics and I thought some things would get done in four years,” she said. “We’ve made a lot of positive changes, but there are still a lot of good things that we can do. Everybody says they want change, but not everyone knows what that change is. I would like to ask the community what changes they would like so we can actually make those changes.”

Russell

A council member for the past four years, Russell plans on continuing to address blight issues, fully staffing the police department and adding more recreation.

Jason D. Russell

Russell said since they “revamped” the recreation committee this year, they hope to continue that and to continue staffing and training the police department since they are hiring several officers. He also hopes to add code enforcement employees next year.

“The amount the five of us have over the years has been about 14,000 hours among all of us,” he said. “Borough business we have to deal with, and replacing the police chief, we are trying and will continue to address it all. It was our first term to learn all this, and we really enjoyed being about to serve other people.”

Harbert

Taking her first four years to grow and learn her position in office,

Joelle Maree Harbert

Harbert said she hopes to accomplish more if reelected, including helping the police department, adding more community activities for children and addressing blight issues.

Harbert said the police department needs more people hired, that she has children who would like more activities in the area and she wants to lead the new blight committee the borough is working on.

“Blight is a huge thing to me. I walk up and down my street every day and pick up trash, and there has been a house on the corner that has been abandoned since I moved in 25 years ago. I get people’s frustrations,” Harbert said. “We also had community day, and they did a fabulous job with that this year, but we need more things for the kids to do. They’re bored.”

Scharritter

An advocate for the White Oak Athletic Association, Scharritter said it has been frustrating with the DEP to move work at their building,

Loree L. Scharritter

which she hopes to improve. While the group is a volunteer organization, she said it feels like it is taking a while to get improvements done there.

Scharritter also hopes to have a fully staffed police department if she is reelected. She added that she has worked “tireless hours” on hiring a new staff and police chief.

“It’s really hard sometimes because there are multiple things going on in the community, and I know it’s frustrating for everybody, as an outsider looking in, that maybe we aren’t spending as much time as they think we should in a certain area,” Scharritter said. “All seven of the council members that are on council now, we are all here for the right reasons. It doesn’t matter if we are Democrats or Republicans. It matters if we get things done.”