By TAYLOR BROWN
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In the past five months as mayor of Speers Borough, and after securing his spot on the November ballot Tuesday, Timothy Herd still does not consider himself a politician.
Herd was appointed by Speers council to take over the position after former Mayor Bill Lee passed away in January due to COVID-19.
He was sworn into the job Jan. 19 and has spent the past several months getting his feet wet in local government. A long-time borough resident, Herd thought it might be time to give back after his long-time friend, Lee, died.
After council nominated him to the job, he has gotten to know a little bit more about running a borough, with a lot of help from his council members, neighbors and friends.
A Republican, his first election run has been successful, as he secured 75.4% or 98 votes, on Tuesday, leaving him humble and excited for the future.
His Republican opponent, Chuck Balieu, received 32 votes at the polls, according to unofficial election results.
No Democrats ran for mayor.
Balieu said he is happy for Herd.
“Because of some unforeseen circumstances, I was not really able to run the campaign I intended to, but that is OK. Tim put a lot of work into this campaign, and he is a good guy. He really deserves it,” Balieu said.
Herd said his success at the polls would have not been possible without his wife, Carrie, and the support of his current council who have walked him through the ins and outs of local politics in the past five months.
“My wife, who was behind the scenes doing so much, and all of my council, truly, this would not have been possible without them,” Herd said. “We have a pretty good vision of what we want this community to look like and what we know it can be, and we are well on our way to making that happen.”
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