Steve Dillon of Nicktown has announced his candidacy as the Republican candidate for the office of Cambria County Controller.
He’s a life-long resident of Cambria County, and was born and raised in Nicktown.
After graduating from Bishop Carroll High School in 1970, and then working for a year to get an idea of what he wanted to do with his life, he chose to attend college and get an Associate’s degree in computer programming.
Upon graduation from Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, Ohio, where he lived with his older brother, he immediately came back to Nicktown and was employed at Kimball Engineering as a computer programmer in late 1973.
Dillon took a job with Lloyd’s Transmission and Auto Body in Spangler in 1975 and soon began running the body shop part of the business, only to take over that part of the business and change the name to Steve’s Auto Body in early 1977.
With success in that business, he expanded into wholesale and retail distribution of auto body parts and supplies as well as mobile glass repair and replace.
In 1984 he opened Penn Glass & Fender, which has now served the area for nearly 35 years, along with Steve’s Auto Body for over 42 years. It’s currently been located in a new building and property since 1999 in St. Benedict near Carrolltown.
Dillon is married to Mary (Kuntzman) for nearly 42 years and they have five grown children and six grandchildren to date. They are still residing on the farm where he grew up and in the house that he and Mary had built in 1988.
He enjoys drag racing and skiing with his friends and family, and now enjoys skiing with grandchildren. His Christian faith is very important to him, and he is a member of the First Baptist Church of Ebensburg where he and Mary attend weekly services.
Dillon has chosen to give back to the community by donating time and resources to several local organizations, including the Citizens Concerned for Human Life of Cambria Somerset, actively participating in the Cambria Somerset TEA party as treasurer and currently serving as the first vice chairman of the Cambria County Republican Party.
He’s involved in a leadership role in the Reverse Drugs Coalition/City Plan, which is working with the Cambria County Drug Coalition to curb the drug epidemic in this area.
Dillon has also been a Barr Township Auditor since 2017. He was also honored in May of 2018 as being chosen as the guest speaker at the prestigious Memorial Day parade in Nicktown where several hundred people gathered in honor of fallen veterans.
He believes, as the County Controller, he can bring some new ideas to the table, and get back to basics by recognizing what a local government’s role really is.
“All government is really just an organization of representatives of the citizens, in a particular geographic area, established to provide services that the citizens democratically agree they need, and those same citizens agree to pay for, in as equitable a manner as is possible,” Dillon says.
He continues: “And, [they] operate within the guidelines established by the State (in this case Commonwealth) of which it is a part.”
He also believes that he can work with the County Commissioners, and other departments of the courthouse, regardless of their party affiliation.
Dillon answered, at a recent NCCDC meeting when a marketing person asked each of the attendees why they stayed and lived in Cambria County, “Because of the good people that live here, it’s a great place to live and raise a family”