HERMITAGE Attorney is named new commissioner

By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Atty. William J. Moder III has been picked to fill the unexpired term of city Commissioner Bill Scanlon.
Moder, of Basil Drive, was one of eight Democrats who applied for the post left vacant by Scanlon's death in May. The remaining four commissioners voted unanimously to name him to the board during a special meeting Thursday.
Scanlon, president of the board, was re-elected to office last year, and Moder will complete the remaining 31/2 years in his term.
The city's Home Rule Charter mandates that an appointee to a vacancy must be of the same political party as the person vacating that post. Scanlon was a Democrat. Moder has served as chairman of the Hermitage Economic Development Commission, an advisory group to the city commissioners, and is an assistant Mercer County district attorney.
Gary Hinkson, city manager, said the open panel interview process for the eight candidates went smoothly and it took only two votes to narrow the selection down to Moder, who was then formally nominated and appointed to the position. He was immediately sworn into office by Sylvia Stull, board vice president.
After the eight candidates had an opportunity to make statements and answer eight questions posed by the city solicitor, the board ranked the applicants, narrowing the list to three -- Moder, Timothy Ruffo of Wakefield Drive and Mark Passalinqua of Fran Lane. The board then ranked the three finalists and Moder came out as the top candidate, Hinkson said.
Moder, a Hermitage native, is a 1970 graduate of Hickory High School, earned a bachelor's degree in education and taught in the Hermitage schools before going to law school at the University of Akron. He served as corporate counsel for First National Bank of Pennsylvania for 13 years and is now in private practice.