-McKEES ROCKS-
By Elizabeth Perry
McKees Rocks has made it official. LeeAnn Wozniak is no longer acting manager, but the borough’s new manager.
Her change in title for the secretary/manager role was unanimously approved July 12. Wozniak replaces Ruth Pompey, whose retirement was made official May 24. Pompey joined the borough in October 2016 and had been on long-term leave since June 2021. While Pompey was on leave, Wozniak picked up her duties.
Falling in line with that change, Jennifer Slavicek was made assistant borough secretary and Amantha Schoen was named administrative assistant.
Street closures
Minister Norman McCormick requested a road closure, for an Aug. 13 religious concert hosted by Faithbridge Community Church. McCormick said the church had rented the vacant lot beside the Roxian and wanted the police to close Furnace Way between Union Way and McDonald’s Way in order to set up a stage from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Faithbridge had a block party a month before that was attended by nearly 1,000 people, McCormick said, and he wanted to be prepared.
The board unanimously agreed to approve the street closure subject to Chief Rick Deliman’s approval.
Chris Ruppenthal and Kris Buggey with Paramount Plus requested street closures to accommodate filming for the television show, “Mayor of Kingstown.”
The meeting took place on a Tuesday, and the men wanted closures for Friday in McKees Rocks Bottoms.
“We usually try to be a little bit more prepared with our filming, but things have been really hectic and changing like crazy,” Ruppenthal said.
They wanted to film around 5 to 6 p.m. at the Rox Bottoms Hunting and Fishing Club on Olivia and St. Mary’s Church on Ella Street. They requested closure of Helen between Catherine and Agnes Streets and offered to pay the borough police for the help.
“That’s not much notice to find a detail to do that,” Deliman said.
Brinza offered flaggers from the streets department to help with the closure if police weren’t available, then urged Ruppenthal and Buggey to stay after the meeting to discuss the issue further, to “work out the ins and outs.”
“We’ll make it happen, if you want,” Deliman said.
“Mayor of Kingstown” stars Jeremy Renner, who is most famous for playing Hawkeye in the “Avengers” films. Formerly, the show was filmed in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Construction
The McKees Rocks Bridge is still on track for renovations at the end of the summer, said Wozniak, who was a party to the first in-person PennDOT meeting since the pandemic lockdown.
Rehab on the bridge over Chartiers Creek is also in the works, but the bridge is not scheduled for repair until 2026, Chief Deliman said.
The board also voted unanimously to pay CTM Construction $51,453 for West Carson Phase I Construction. They voted unanimously to discard a bid for the 2022 catch basin project. They only received one bid and it was much higher than it should have been, according to Borough Engineer Doug Evans.