MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

Robert Davis and Gary Dillaman have been elected to fill the two open seats on the Vernon Township’s board of supervisors, according to Tues-day’s unofficial election results — as a 24-year veteran of the board, Norm Cronin, lost his re-election bid.

Davis topped Tuesday’s unofficial count with 772 votes. Dillaman was second with 597, and Cronin had 436.

“I’m very grateful to have an opportunity to serve again,” said Davis, 70, who has been on the Board of Supervisors for the past 12 years and currently serves as the board’s chairman. “I still feel that I’m a servant of this township, and I appreciate them having the faith in me to put me back in.”

Dillaman, 57, currently serves on the township Zoning Hearing Board and as president of Vernon Central Hose Company. He previously served one six-year term as a Vernon supervisor in the mid- 1990s. He also served as an appointed member of the Meadville Area Industrial Commission, and on the township’s Water Authority and its Recreation Authority.

“I’m just looking forward to being a supervisor and representing the residents of Vernon Township,” Dillaman said. “I’m looking forward to the next six years. There are a lot of challenges ahead.”

The celebration for Davis was tempered a bit by the Cronin’s election defeat.

“Well, yeah,” Davis said. “I’ve been on the board with him for 12 years and it’s been a real journey. We’ve accomplished a lot. I feel that we had a real good team there.”

Cronin, 71, had 24 years of experience as a township supervisor. He also serves on the advisory board of LTAP (Local Technical Assistance Pro-gram), the New Products Evaluation Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Penn-sylvania State Association of Township Supervisors’ standing committee for townships of 5,000 to 10,000.

“Hey, I congratulate the two fellas that won and thank everybody that voted for me and had faith in me for the last 24 years,” said Cronin. “Good things have to end. I enjoyed working with everybody that I worked with. And I wish them the best for the next six years.”

According to Davis, “It will be a different team now. But we’re looking forward to working with whoever is in there. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

The economy was the main talking point for each of the candidates throughout the election.

The top priority for Davis was, as he recently told the Tribune, keeping township taxes low “by attracting new businesses to our township and representing the businesses that are here.

Finances was also at the top of Dillaman’s priority list.

“As the economy turns positive,” he recently said, “I believe that Vernon Township will be a center for growth. That growth must be managed to benefit our residents and surrounding communities.”