It took a rare mayoral tie-breaker vote to sort out the newest appointment to Bridgeville’s Zoning Hearing Board on Monday.
Borough council was stuck in a 3-3 deadlock about whether to appoint resident Eric Schmidt to the position when Mayor Pat DeBlasio cast the tie-breaking “yes” vote.
When the discussion about the vacancy began, council president Mike Tolmer promptly nominated Schmidt to the post.
Immediately after that, councilman Bert Cherry nominated former councilman Jeff Ghelarducci to fill the seat.
Procedurally, council had to vote on Schmidt first.
Tolmer, Neil Lyons, and Bruce Ghelarducci voted in support of Schmidt.
Cherry, Joseph Colosimo, and Joseph Verduci voted against appointing Schmidt.
Councilman William Henderson was not present.
Initially, solicitor Thomas McDermott was uncertain whether the mayor could cast a tie-breaker in this scenario, and spent a few minutes reviewing meeting procedures.
Schmidt was appointed to a five year term on the Zoning Hearing Board.
In other board appointment news, Richard Deklewa was re-appointed to the planning commission for a four-year term and Laura Deklewa was re-appointed to the parking authority for a five-year term.