Swissvale Council Welcomes Newcomer Darrell Rapp

 and  all won the Democratic nominations for Swissvale Council in the primary and all secured seats in Tuesday's general election.

Rapp, a newcomer in the election, initially became involved in the improvement of Swissvale while working on activities with the . The organization was completing a street tree inventory in Edgewood, and he helped to bring that program to Swissvale in 2006. Rapp has been attending borough council meetings for the past five years.

"I am excited that it will finally be official," Rapp said Tuesday night. "It has been a foregone conclusion, but it’s nice to have the day over and I am looking forward to getting started helping Swissvale down a really positive road."

Kuhn-Hanchett, currently a council member, went to the University of Pittsburgh and has a bachelor's degree in nursing. During her time on council, she has been very involved with the Mon Valley Initiative, whose goal is to get all of the communities in the Mon Valley to work together to get things accomplished.  She has also been working on getting more properties back on the tax roll.

“We have a considerable amount of blighted, dilapidated, or vacant properties. We can’t function as a borough without an adequate budget, and our budget is formed from our taxes. If we have a vacant property, then no one is paying taxes,” she said in a previous interview.

She wants to keep the community safe, make sure properties are up to code, and keep the neighborhood looking nice. Kuhn-Hanchett's number one priority is finances.