Current State College Area School Board member Jim Leous is running for mayor of State College, he announced on Wednesday.
Leous said in a statement the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, as well as “the fraying of our community” and a “divided country,” require local solutions.
“We don’t fix this on a national level. The only way we fix this is in our local communities, person to person and neighbor to neighbor,” he said. “Local government needs to provide the bridge to economic recovery for all of us, and help rebuild a sense of cooperation and well-being. I believe I can be part of the solution. That’s why I’m running for mayor.”
State College Area High School now has an official student representative to State College Borough Council.
During its meeting on Monday, council unanimously approved adding a representative recommended by State High student government and appointed annually by council. The position joins two student representatives to council from Penn State’s University Park Undergraduate Association and Graduate and Professional Student Association.
State High junior Clarissa Theiss, who brought the proposal to Council President Jesse Barlow and Mayor Ron Filippelli last year, will serve as the high school’s first representative.
“I’m so excited not only to serve as a representative but to continue working to promote civic education at State College Area High School,” Theiss said.
Mayor Ron Filippelli and former Councilwoman Cathy Dauler will seek a return to State College Borough Council in this year’s election.
In a joint statement on Friday, both said that they will run as a team on the Democratic ballot in the May 18 primary.
Filippelli previously was elected to two terms on borough council from 2006 to 2013, serving one term as council president and one year as the chair of the Centre Region Council of Governments. He was appointed interim mayor of State College in December 2019 to fill the remaining two years of Don Hahn’s term after Hahn was elected district judge.
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