DUBOIS – The DuBois/Sandy Consolidation Joint Board on Wednesday took the first step towards authorizing the cross-hiring of their municipal manager and engineer positions.
It was noted that both the Sandy Township Board of Supervisors and DuBois City Council must give approval for the municipalities to proceed with the pair of cross-hirings.
Pending final approval, Sandy Township Manager Shawn Arbaugh will also be hired as DuBois City manager and Interim DuBois City Manager Chris Nasuti will also be hired as Sandy Township engineer.
Arbaugh and Nasuti would then hold these respective positions in both municipalities. Both would receive a salary increase of $15,000/annually, according to Supervisor Mark Sullivan.
The Joint Board consists of the DuBois City Council and Sandy Township Board of Supervisors. The cross-hirings were approved unanimously. Councilman Jim Aughenbaugh was excused from the meeting.
“We thought the best way to move forward was to have a manager manage both Sandy Township and the City of DuBois,” explained Arbaugh. Both the city manager and township engineer positions have been vacant for about a year.
The city suspended John “Herm” Suplizio as city manager following his arrest in March 2023, and has initiated the process for his termination. Since then, Nasuti has served as interim city manager.
Arbaugh has filled in as the township’s engineer, in addition to utilization of outside consulting services following the departure of the previous township engineer.
The township has been trying to avoid the hiring of a new engineer with the pending consolidation. Council attempted to initiate the process of hiring a new manager but faced opposition from Sandy Township, which also needed to give approval.
Also, on Wednesday, the board decided it will use the current DuBois City building to house the municipal offices of the new city following renovation work.
The police department will be housed on the first and third floors, with the second floor to house administrative staff. It will be renovated and expanded to provide more office space and a locker room.
The Sandy Township Municipal Building will be used for long-term document storage and emergency management while its garage will house off-season street department equipment.
The renovations and maintenance of both buildings will be around $3.5 – $4 million, 50 percent of which should be covered by grant funds.
The board’s approval has two stipulations—that costs be capped at $4 million, and that an architectural study be done to confirm the city building would be usable for at least 30 years.