Ashley Andyshak
News-Post Staff

(10/1) Mayor James Hoover and town commissioner Christopher Staiger were re-elected in an uncontested election Tuesday evening.

This will be Hoover's third term as mayor. He said he hopes to continue to strengthen relationships between the town, community organizations and Mount St. Mary's University, and to help the town deal with state budget problems that will likely threaten municipal funding.

In his second term as commissioner, Staiger has said he wants to encourage more town participation in government and continue to prevent government decisions from taking place "over the heads" of the community.

While the dearth of candidates made campaigning easy, Hoover said he's concerned that the race was the second consecutive uncontested election for the town. Only 51 ballots were cast Tuesday.

"As a candidate, it's good for me, but as a mayor, you have to look at it and ask, 'Why aren't people getting involved in the community, and how do we get them involved?'" he said. "It can be taken as a vote of confidence, but I still like people to get out and get involved."