A two-man race to fill a vacant Jim Thorpe Borough Council seat was decided by the mayor Thursday night when council couldn’t break a 3-3 deadlock despite two tries.

When the dust settled, Mayor Michael Sofranko cast the tiebreaking vote for Jay Miller over Andrew Roberts, citing Miller’s 49-year experience with the fire company as a key factor given the fact he’ll be chairing the borough’s emergency services committee.

“We have $1.5 million in firetrucks coming in the next six months,” Sofranko said. “There have been all kind of delays with that, but the person who spearheaded it was Jay Miller. He seems to have a good grasp on it. He also comes from the Heights area, which is where Councilman Sheckler was from.”

The vacancy was created last month when Councilman Kyle Sheckler resigned, citing an inability to find the time needed to continue in the role.

During council’s vote, Miller received votes from Bob Schaninger, Joanne Klitsch and Greg Strubinger, while Roberts received votes from Jessica Crowley, Michael Rivkin and Michael Yeastedt.

“I’m going to do the best I can,” Miller told council and the audience before being sworn in by Sofranko.

The appointment wasn’t without controversy as resident Robert Ewashko criticized council for bringing Miller back on board.

“We keep voting people out and council sticks them back in there,” Ewashko said.

Miller was elected to council in the 2015 general election and served as vice president during his term. He lost a re-election bid in 2019. In 2021, council appointed Miller to fill the seat vacated by Edith Lukasevich.

He will serve the rest of Sheckler’s term, which expires at the end of 2023.

“In defense of Jay, he has decades of service to this community on this council and in the fire company,” Strubinger said. “He was elected by this community several times over the past few decades. I think that comment about him was way out of line.”

In addition to Roberts, other candidates who applied for the seat included Clem McGinley, John McGuire, James Dougher and Sydney Wernett.

Other than Miller and Roberts, Wernett was the only candidate to receive a nomination, garnering one vote from Crowley.

After the vote, McGuire, another former councilman, said he’s confident Miller will do a great job.

“I’ve worked with him for a lot of years and he is as good a councilman as I’ve ever seen,” McGuire said. “I know one thing about Jay. He is not up there for personal reasons. He is up there to help the town.”