The departure of an Eldred Township supervisor in 2024 left a part-time opening in the Public Works Department and a search for a new supervisor.

At the end of February, Blaine Silfies, who was the vice chairman of the supervisors, announced his resignation from his part-time position with the Public Works Department. At the time, Silfies, who was 72, said he had a policy of never quitting, but he needed to this time. He had tore a hamstring a few weeks prior to the meeting.

“I’m getting too old,” he said at the meeting.

In March, he turned in his resignation as supervisor. At their meeting, Silfies said he and his wife had decided to move out of the township.

Silfies thanked the township staff, volunteers at the community center, the fire department, the solicitor and his fellow supervisors.

“For the two guys who sit alongside of me,” Silfies said. Of all the boards he has served on, working with supervisors Gary Hoffman and Scott Clark “has been the most enjoyable out of all that; 99.9% of the time, we’re on the same wave length. That’s unusual sitting on a board, and I thank you guys for that. It’s made this chair pleasurable to sit in, thank you.”

Silfies was elected to the seat in November 2021. He replaced JoAnn Bush, who did not run for re-election.

In mid-May, Hoffman and Clark appointed Susan McGinty to be Silfies replacement.

Silfies had been elected to a six-year term and had four years left. His term began in 2022 and would have run through 2028.

Township solicitor Michael Gaul McGinty will serve through Jan. 1 of the next municipal election.

McGinty will serve two years of the remainder of the term, and will have to run for election in 2025 if she wants to serve for the final two years of the term.

“That’s in order to keep the term staggered in a way that it was originally intended to be,” Gaul said.

McGinty said she wanted to communicate to the community about the supervisors and various groups in the township.