IN Peters Township Spring 2014 | Page 13

P E TE RS TOWN SHI P NE WS Frank Arcuri Councilman Frank Arcuri has been a fixture of the Peters Township Council for nine years and is serving out his third term, bringing a wealth of experience to the position. As a professional attorney in private practice for 30 years, Arcuri said that such experience, as well as being a resident of the township with his wife and two children for 18 years, makes him uniquely suited to represent the people of Peters Township. “I feel that I can identify with most people in the township and their concerns,” he said. “As a small business owner and a husband and father of two children – one in the school district now, one in college – I believe I can identify with most people in the township. I carry with me a great sense of what’s right and what’s wrong and tend to look at things in a cost-benefit way so that I’m not spending taxpayer money on something that I don’t think will produce returns in the form benefits to the community as a whole.” Prior to coming to Peters Township, Arcuri spent time on the planning commission and school district budget committee in a neighboring community, so the learning curve to sit on the Peters Township Council was small. However, during his nine years, Arcuri said that the challenges facing the township grow each year. “Every 10 years, we’re required to update our comprehensive plan,” he said. “We just received a lot of input from residents and business people in the community and now we have to spend time implementing those directives that they’ve identified, which I believe will be very challenging if we’re going to develop a plan to ensure growth in our community.” While that challenge looms ahead for Arcuri and the rest of the council, Arcuri said that one of the major hurdles facing the township has already been addressed and resolved in favor of residents – the oil and gas debate. “I think (one of our biggest accomplishments) was our successful challenge of the Act 13 amendments, which we were able to have ruled unconstitutional, retaining those rights necessary for a municipality to operate and manage the development of land within its borders,” he said. “We were able to strike a fine balance between our land use planning needs and the needs of the oil and gas developers, which was a credit to the efforts of council and our staff.” Peters Township Councilman 20+ Years of Service Shown l to r: Officer Jay Griffith, 25 years, Sgt. Donald Heinlein 25 year 2