Sewickley Hills Council President Thomas Klixbull Resigns Post

A longtime council president has resigned his seat for unspecified reasons, borough officials said.

After decades serving on the board, Council President Thomas Klixbull submitted his effective at noon Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Borough Secretary Diana Steele said Klixbull didn’t give a specific reason for his resignation. He couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

“He’s served on council for 30 years and just thought it was time to move on,” she said.

The departure makes Klixbull the fourth person to step down from council in about a year. 

Council accepted Klixbull's resignation at Tuesday’s meeting and also voted to appoint a new borough treasurer while dealing with a power outage.

Steele said the before the packed meeting ever started. Despite the outage, the meeting took place in the dark with the help of Mayor David Malarik’s flashlight and a spotlight shining through the windows from an police car.

Wayne Hyjek of Quaker Heights was chosen to fill the treasurer's seat, a position left vacant twice over the last year.

In March,  Tom O'Neill submitted his resignation after officials raised questions about his past accounting practices. Larry Hermes was in April to replace O’Neill, but tendered his resignation only a month later. Hermes later agreed to stay on until a replacement could be found.

Council met Jan. 9 to interview treasurer candidates. Hyjek is vice president of  and a member of the Quaker Valley Rotary. 

Steele said officials are now seeking to fill Klixbull’s seat, which is set to expire December 2013. Council also has yet to fill a planning commission seat left vacant by former councilman and planning member Klaus Gross.

Postcards will be mailed to residents seeking candidates for both vacancies.

Current council members include Vice president Cindy Phillips, Betsy Rengers, Kim Holzer and Christopher Cox. The board has yet to appoint a new president. 

A Quick Timeline

December 2010

• Councilman resigns and is replaced in January by Councilman .

March 2011

• Treasurer resigns.
• Emile Ketterer replaces Dan Slagle as borough engineer.

May 2011

• Councilman resigns and is replaced in June by . 

• Treasurer resigns, but returns to the job after rescinding the resignation he submitted. 

• Secretary resigns and is replaced in June by . 

December 2011

• Gross resigns and Fox, whose seat was up in December, is reppointed to fill the unexpired term.  

January 2011

• Rengers, elected in November, joins council.

• Council President resigns.

• is appointed treasurer.