DOUGLASS (Mont.) >> The township supervisor’s race pits a newcomer with no government experience against an incumbent with more than 25 years of local government experience in a variety of positions.
The position carries a term of six years.
John Stasik is the Democratic incumbent and currently the chairman of the three-member board of supervisors.
His opponent, Republican Alan Keiser, is a family doctor whose most public experience with local government is his involvement with the fight against Mountain Mulch, which this year vacated protected open space on Sassamansville Road after clashing with neighbors, including Keiser.
Keiser, 61, lives on Hoffmansville Road and has lived in Douglass for 27 years.
He won a primary battle in May against former supervisor Fred Theil, who was also seeking the Republican nomination.
Keiser said he considers the most important issue facing the township to be “transparency” and “putting an end to lawsuits that waste time and money and have absolutely nothing to do with the daily tasks of township operations.”
One of the township’s higher profile lawsuits is the one the supervisors initiated against Theil for what they allege to be his role in the Mountain Mulch controversy during his term in office. Theil, who resigned from the board in 2013, is countersuing.
Keiser said his goals, if elected, are to “maintain the rural character of our township,” and “continue to provide support for our excellent recycling programs, police, fire and EMS services and to improve our maintenance building.”
He decided to run because “after living here for 27 years, I feel obligated to give something back to Douglass Township. Douglass is packed with wonderful friends and neighbors, and I would like to be part of its very bright future.”
Stasik, who did not provide his age or his street address, has lived in Douglass for more than 50 years. He is “a retired technical director, with degrees in business management, mechanical engineering, quality assurance, and welding metallurgy,” according to a short biography he provided to The Mercury.
Stasik is in his 28th year of service on the Berks-Montgomery Municipal Authority and is a past chairman, and served for six years and is a past chairman on the Boyertown Area School District Authority.
He is an original founder and president of the board for the past 25 years of St. Luke Knolls Inc., a non-profit housing complex for senior citizens.
He is a member and past president of the church council at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville, is involved with Boy Scout Troop 36 and is a life member of the Gilbertsville Fire Company.
Stasik told The Mercury, “The most important issue facing Douglass Township is growth and related impacts on roads and bridges due to gross increase in traffic.”
He said his goals are to “stabilize the board of supervisors due to the current situation and previous resignation and continue to develop a resolution of the issues between Gilbertsville Fire Company No. 1 and Gilbertsville Fire and Rescue.”
Those goals, and the encouragement of constituents, are his motivation for seeking another term in office, he said.
