Data centers dominated politics and news in the Midvalley throughout 2025 as elected officials grappled with the new industry looking to reshape the local landscape, and next month’s elections are no different.
As the Nov. 4 general election looms, a dozen candidates across races for Archbald mayor, Archbald council and the Valley View School District’s Board of Education shared their stances on data centers, how they should be regulated and whether they should be allowed near homes and schools, with candidates largely agreeing the server-filled concrete structures should be kept away from residents and students.
While data centers remain a defining issue for the Midvalley’s political landscape, candidates also hope to revive Business Route 6 in Eynon and Archbald’s Main Street, combat blight, seek out additional funding and improve Valley View’s finances.
Contested races in the Midvalley include Archbald mayor, where Democratic incumbent Shirley Barrett faces Republican challenger Cynthia Snyder; Archbald Borough Council where five candidates vie for three seats, with Democratic candidates Councilwoman Marie Cooke Andreoli, Councilman Francis Burke and Tom Aniska competing with Republicans Louis J. Rapoch and Bruce Walder; and in the Valley View School District, incumbents Joseph A. Farrell and Tom Owen, both of whom cross-filed and won Democratic and Republican nominations, will compete with newcomer Julie Budd-Kulenich, who ran as an independent and earned a spot on the ballot via nomination papers, as they seek two seats in the district’s Region 1, which represents Archbald. In Blakely, incumbent Joseph F. Mondak will face Democrat Jim Rodway to represent Region 2 on the school board. Both Rodway and Mondak cross-filed under the Democratic and Republican parties for the primaries in May, with Rodway securing the Democratic nomination and Mondak winning the Republican nomination, according to certified primary election results.
In Archbald, a proposed data center zoning amendment died on the table during an Oct. 3 special meeting when a motion to consider the ordinance failed to receive a second, preventing it from even coming to a vote. Although it placed a slew of restrictions on data centers, the ordinance received significant opposition from residents, who urged council to place even more safeguards while reducing the locations it planned to allow data centers from four to one. Residents subsequently petitioned the borough to consider a new zoning amendment for data centers that incorporates their concerns.
That legislative process means Archbald’s future council members could have a hand in shaping the borough’s future with data centers in 2026, while school directors could eventually be tasked with negotiating host agreements involving data centers and Valley View.
Council members, mayors and school directors serve four-year terms.
Archbald mayor
As she seeks her fourth term as mayor, which follows six years on borough council, Shirley Barrett, 69, who retired as the owner of Barrett’s Pub on Main Street after 33 years, sought reelection because she loves her town and takes pride in what she does, hoping to continue her work with the Police Department as it seeks accreditation while also continuing her efforts to beautify Archbald without using tax dollars, including previously raising more than $95,000 for Christmas lights.
“I love my borough,” she said. “I take pride in what I do.”
Shirley Barrett (SUBMITTED)
Barrett considers developers coming into Archbald looking for land to develop data centers to be the most important issue facing the town. She wishes data centers were never coming to Archbald but acknowledges that, legally, the borough has to allow them. Fearing the unknown, Barrett said data centers have to be zoned correctly in industrial areas, not near homes. She especially opposes a proposed, principally permitted data center on the Eynon Jermyn Road at the site of the Highway Auto Parts junkyard, which is near the Valley View School District. She also criticized the pending sale of the Valley View Estates mobile home park on the Eynon Jermyn Road to make way for another data center project.
Data centers “came in so fast,” and Barrett said she learned about them by listening to borough council, residents and Archbald’s zoning officer.
“Council has to sit down and listen to what the residents want and come up with a good conclusion for everybody on it — what’s good for the whole borough,” Barrett said.
Barrett prioritizes moving the borough in a more positive direction and figuring out what type of additional training or resources Archbald’s police, firefighters and paramedics would need responding to emergencies at data centers. She also wants to address issues in town with dilapidated low-income rentals.
Challenging Barrett, Cynthia Snyder, 41, a full-time paraprofessional at the Valley View Middle School and a part-time real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Town & Country in Clarks Summit, emphasized the need for change and new leadership in Archbald. She advocated for transparency, community involvement and more say from residents in the future of their town.
“I believe it’s time for a new voice that listens, includes everyone and works for progress,” said Snyder, who is the volunteer cheer coordinator for the Valley View Junior Cougars and has been volunteering with them for 20 years.
Cynthia Snyder (SUBMITTED)
Snyder wants to focus on supporting small businesses in Archbald, revitalizing local storefronts instead of “chasing large corporations that don’t benefit us residents,” encouraging progress without losing Archbald’s small-town charm and promoting possible grant opportunities for local entrepreneurs looking to come to Archbald. Addressing the mayor’s role overseeing the police department, Snyder said she believes strongly in public safety and strong community relationships; she promotes community policing with a focus on crime prevention. She said she wants to give police the resources they need to do their jobs well, and residents should also have confidence their voices are heard and rights are protected.
Archbald needs to ensure its zoning laws protect residents, neighborhoods and the environment — not just outside developers, Snyder said. There are currently limited restrictions in Archbald for data centers and their noise, light, water and energy use, she said.
Data centers should be regulated away from residential areas and schools, and she wants to ensure data centers won’t increase the cost of electricity or water bills in Archbald.
“I’m hoping I can work with council and get better zoning laws written out for our residents, and for what the residents want,” she said.
Archbald council
Marie Cooke Andreoli, 74, a retired psychology professor with a Ph.D. in psychology who spent 27 years at Keystone College, said she has loved her time on council and believes she has accomplished a lot since was appointed in July 2024 to serve the remainder of former Councilman Brian Gilgallon’s unexpired term following his resignation, including finishing the borough’s first-ever employee manual. Andreoli pointed to the work she has put into the borough since her appointment, including attending 96 meetings so far in 2025 and earning 85 credits through Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs webinars.
Marie Cooke Andreoli (SUBMITTED)
Blight is one of the biggest issues in Archbald, especially on Main Street, said Andreoli, who previously served on the Valley View School Board from 1994 to 1998. While Archbald has numerous parks, it lacks anything for senior citizens, Andreoli said, advocating for the borough to build a senior center, potentially somewhere on Main Street. She also supports bringing more commerce to Archbald, and if elected, she wants to prioritize pursuing more grants to support the town.
She noted Archbald’s current zoning ordinance included language for data centers while nobody really knew what they were, and she described the current efforts to regulate them through zoning.
“Do I want a data center on every corner? No, I don’t, but I’m sure there are places in Archbald that we can put them without disturbing our neighborhoods,” she said. “Will they help us? Maybe financially they will help us, but I just think we have to have lots of conditions on them.”
She would seek out host agreements with data centers to “have them as good neighbors” and help the borough grow.
As he seeks his first time on borough council, Tom Aniska, 62, a Democrat who also won a Republican nomination through write-ins, believes it is a critical time in Archbald with new housing developments coming in and economic growth in the borough.
Tom Aniska (SUBMITTED)
Aniska, a retired sales rep and district manager after 32 years in the pharmaceutical industry, emphasized that data centers are Archbald’s most pressing issue. He said he wants to ensure the best outcome for Archbald under its current protections for the already-proposed data centers while setting up more protection against future ones. He pointed to potential impacts on infrastructure, water and electricity.
He is “against data centers, 1,000%, anywhere near a residential area.” They also shouldn’t be anywhere that could impact children, he said. If he wins, Aniska wants to better define data centers, distinguish between an individual data center and a data center campus, ensure developers pay for infrastructure costs, and look at zoning ordinances, utility use, and environmental impacts to decide on where to allow data centers. He also supports limiting them to one location in town, questioning why the borough wanted to allow them in four different areas.
Aniska, who served on the Valley View School Board from 2007 to 2011, does not want data centers in Archbald, but if they move forward, they should be conditional uses and the borough should have community benefit agreements with them, he said.
“If we can’t stop these, I think there needs to be a plan in place to make something positive come out of these,” he said.
He also prioritizes economic growth, small businesses, identifying and combating blight, and revitalizing both downtown Archbald and the borough as a whole.
Looking for his third term on council, Francis Burke, 78, a U.S. Navy veteran and retired United States Postal Service worker of 40 years, emphasized his love of the people of Archbald and his work in the town, including organizing annual fishing derbies and involvement with the Santa Train.
“The top priorities (are) the children of the neighborhood and people in the community,” Burke said.
Francis Burke (SUBMITTED)
He wants to improve playgrounds in the borough and “just make them smile,” he said of kids in the borough.
Burke declined to share his stance on data centers and their proximity to schools and residents in Archbald because council has yet to vote on any legislation, only saying, “I just want to protect the people of Archbald.”
As a longtime borough business owner at the Louis J. Rapoch Funeral Home, Louis J. Rapoch, 72, decided to run for office after semi-retiring from his funeral home because “nothing is happening except for data centers, which is not a good fit” in Archbald. He contends there should be some Republican opposition to Democrats on council.
Louis J. Rapoch (SUBMITTED)
Rapoch, who served on Archbald’s planning commission for four years in the 1980s and spent six months appointed to council around 1990, wants to bring more business to Business Route 6, which is currently dead, he said. The Burlington Plaza is half-empty, Sugarman’s is dead, and they’ve lost restaurants along the road, he said. Main Street is also dead and needs to be cleaned up, he said.
“What can we do to bring people here?” Rapoch said. “We need our government to get out and propose these things and say, ‘We would like you to come here.’”
He floated tax breaks as an incentive to bring in businesses like Wawa, and he supports giving borough police “everything and anything they need.”
Rapoch commended residents who petitioned the borough to revisit its data center zoning with additional safeguards and restrictions, explaining he is against data centers and “totally against” building them near homes and schools.
Data centers should be “on the mountain, away from any residents or business” where they are out of sight, he said.
The borough should not allow data centers in four areas like council previously considered, Rapoch said. Instead, Archbald should allow them in one location and assess their impact on the town, impact on the environment and what they will give the borough, he said.
Bruce Walder, 61, who is a heavy equipment operator and project manager with Powell’s Excavating, said he fell in love with Archbald after coming to the town in 2005 to work with his friend, developer Ken Powell, to develop the Highlands at Archbald residential development off the Eynon Jermyn Road, including working on site plan development and infrastructure, recently installing nearly 3,000 feet of water main for a new subdivision.
Bruce Walder (SUBMITTED)
Speaking to older people buying townhouses in Archbald, Walder hears stories about residents leaving the area for employment and then returning for their golden years.
He believes there’s opportunity to create jobs for younger people to stay in Archbald. To do that, Walder wants to explore stimulating business growth along Business Route 6, and if elected, working with council members to come up with a plan. Citing his previous experience as the roadmaster in Tunkhannock Twp. for about five years, Walder also would address borough streets, which he said he often hears residents complain about, by looking at ways to keep costs down while improving the infrastructure. He also served on Tunkhannock Twp.’s zoning hearing board and worked as its emergency management coordinator.
In the short-term, data centers are his top priority, though other priorities include infrastructure, quality of life and the borough’s green areas, waterways and parks. He believes data centers should only be permitted in industrial areas of town.
Pointing to pros and cons of the facilities, Walder considers noise to be his biggest concern, and Archbald needs a long-term plan if it receives money from data centers, rather than treating it like a windfall, he said.
“If we’re going to get a data center, it has to be worth it,” he said. “There has to be tremendous worth for each resident of Archbald.”
Valley View Region 1 (Archbald)
As a newly retired special education teacher at Valley View, Julie Budd-Kulenich, 57, believes it’s time for change and wants to “give back to the district what I got out of the district,” bringing the perspective of a Valley View teacher who was “in the trenches for 33 years.”
“I have a sense of what the teachers need, what the students need, and I think that greatly is going to help the kids in the long run,” Budd-Kulenich said.
Julie Budd-Kulenich (SUBMITTED)
Money is a major issue in Valley View, and while the district always tries to keep taxes down as much as possible, children need to be put first, she said.
“When you have kids in school (and) there’s not books for every kid, there’s something wrong somewhere,” she said. “That needs to change.”
Ensuring children have all the supplies they need while also listening to teachers — who are very frustrated — are her top priorities, she said. If elected, Budd-Kulenich wants to be visible in schools, walking through them and talking to teachers about what they need while also considering budgetary restraints.
She contends Archbald doesn’t need data centers, nor the noise or landscape decimation that comes with them. They should be placed as far from populations as possible where they aren’t going to interfere with anyone, she said, worrying about how data centers on the Eynon Jermyn Road would affect students nearby at recess, the nearby Staback Park, Archbald residents at the Valley View Estates mobile home park who will be displaced by data centers, and residents in the Highlands at Archbald who will have a data center next door.
Joseph A. Farrell, 65, who was first elected to the board in December 2019 to fill late Director Ellen Nielsen’s unexpired term, and then ran unopposed in 2021, said he spent his life involved in public service, initially working as a part-time Archbald police officer and eventually retiring from the Pennsylvania State Police as a sergeant and the station commander at the Gibson barracks following a 25-year career. He now works for the U.S. Marshals Service providing security at Scranton’s federal courthouse.
As an officer, Farrell said he was an advocate for victims, and serving on a school board is also advocacy.
“You’re an advocate for the children in the district that don’t have a voice, but they need somebody to look out in their best interest,” he said.
Joseph A. Farrell (SUBMITTED)
Finances are the biggest issue in Valley View, compounded by Pennsylvania’s budget impasse, Farrell said, prioritizing fiscal responsibility and fair funding. Past administrations and school boards put the district in a financial bind by not raising taxes for extended periods, he said. The district now has no money at all for capital improvements, Farrell said, hoping Lackawanna County’s reassessment will bring in more funds.
The district is also obligated to pay significantly more for charter school students than it costs to educate its own students — about $8,500 per student — and Farrell contends Valley View should only be obligated to pay what it costs to educate a student within the district.
Valley View is also unable to prepare long-term plans because the towns within the district don’t provide them with plans to work with, Farrell said.
Data centers serve no value to the community or school, Farrell said, calling funds from them “blood money.” Valley View has had to close schools in Archbald due to insufficient water pressure, and he worried if nearby data centers would exacerbate it.
Having served the past 24 years on the Valley View School Board, Tom Owen, 72, the retired former owner of Bear Owen Paving Company, said he is well educated on public education, and although he wasn’t planning to run again, he felt he had more to offer Valley View.
“The most important thing that everyone out there should know is the state of Pennsylvania is failing public education,” Owen said. “It’s been that way for a while.”
Tom Owen (SUBMITTED)
The state places demands on schools without giving them the funding to back it up, leaving school officials with no alternative except taxpayers, which isn’t fair, he said.
Owen criticized how much the district has to pay into retirement contributions under the state, as well as charter school costs, explaining Valley View paid more than $2 million last year for approximately 130 students to attend charter schools.
As a result, despite having a great staff, Valley View has some of the lowest-paid teachers in the area, and they deserve more, Owen said. He wants to prioritize working with state legislators to address things like charter school costs, in addition to school safety and staying on top of programs to address bullying and suicide prevention.
If data centers are coming to Archbald, they need to make sure everything is done right, Owen said. Officials have to ensure the infrastructure can handle them, and they need information on how they will be supplied with water, drainage, noise and other concerns, he said. He supports seeking impact fees to benefit the school district and town but worried about the impact from data centers on nearby homes and the schools.
Valley View Region 2 (Blakely)
Hoping for his fifth term on the school board, Joseph F. Mondak, 66, a lead IT system administrator in configuration management for UPS, said he chose to run again because he cares deeply about the future of his community and the children who will shape it.
“It’s about standing up for our teachers, supporting the families, making thoughtful, logical decisions that will help our school progress,” Mondak said.
Joseph F. Mondak (SUBMITTED)
Cyber charter schools are a major concern, Mondak said, citing the $2 million that Valley View pays for about 130 students to attend the schools. However, they aren’t held to the same standards as public schools, he said, questioning how those students would measure up to state standards. He emphasized getting fair funding at Valley View while making sure children are educated to the same standards at charter schools.
Mondak, who is on the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County’s board of directors, also pointed to the district’s employee retirement contributions, health care costs rising 6% to 10% annually and Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage, which he called “scary.” He prioritizes school safety, going after cyber charter school funding, supporting after-school programs, staff development and keeping education at the forefront. As technology grows exponentially, Mondak also supports early digital literacy with more STEM programs.
With an industrial park two miles from Blakely, Mondak said data centers shouldn’t be built near schools or homes. He supports bringing in experts to look at items like environmental impacts with impact studies, energy sourcing, backup power generation, water and cooling systems. He also doesn’t want the region to lose out on the possibility of “stepping into the future a little bit.”
Jim Rodway, 61, the director of the Community Service Program for the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office, said he decided to run for school board after hearing early this year that Mondak didn’t plan to run again.
“I’ve always been involved with politics. I helped a lot of people get elected,” Rodway said. “Maybe it’s my turn to step up and do my civic duty.”
Jim Rodway (SUBMITTED)
With two children who graduated from Valley View and his wife having worked in the district for 32 years, Rodway said the district’s biggest problem is that it’s losing good teachers — an issue he believes is financial. Valley View’s contract is “a little bit on the lower scale” compared to other districts, he said. While he acknowledged money is an issue, he wants to try to work on the budget to see what’s available.
If elected, his top priorities would be figuring out why teachers are leaving and rectifying it, while also ensuring programs don’t go away for students. The state needs to contribute more funding, he said, noting Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget enhances the public school budget. With a background in politics, Rodway said he has good relationships with local state legislators to seek out more grant funds.
Addressing data centers, Rodway acknowledged working with local data center developer Jim Marzolino to do marketing. Marozlino is involved with two data center projects on the Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald and a now-withdrawn proposal to build up to four data center buildings in Blakely. Marzolino, who is the president of Kriger Construction, asked him to help set up meetings with local elected officials for the data centers, and as a borough resident, Rodway said he arranged meetings with Blakely council members in small groups. He is also assisting Marzolino with his plans to build four Wawas in Lackawanna County.
Rodway said he isn’t opposed to data centers, and they’re a good thing if they’re in the right areas.
“The farther away they could be from residential, the better, if the land permits,” he said.
With projects likely moving forward in Archbald and Jessup, Rodway believes his familiarity with everyone involved will make sure Valley View gets a good deal with a host agreement.
Contested Mid/Upvalley council races
Elsewhere in the Midvalley and Upvalley, voters will select their new municipal leaders in contested council races in Jermyn, Jessup, Olyphant and Throop.
Jermyn
In Jermyn, two incumbents will face a challenger as they vie for two four-year terms on borough council, while two other incumbents will likely retain their seats running unopposed for two two-year unexpired terms in a special election. Incumbents Jeff Morcom, who secured both Democratic and Republican write-in nominations in May despite not appearing on the ballot, and Democrat Bobbiann Davis will contend with Douglas Bowman, who also earned a Republican write-in nomination during the primaries despite not being on the ballot.
In an uncontested race for two two-year terms, Democratic incumbents Frank Kulick and Kevin Napoli have a straight shot to serving again. Both men filed special election nomination papers for the seats.
Jessup
Five candidates, including three incumbents, will contend for four council seats in Jessup. Council members Gregg Betti, Thomas J. Fiorelli III and Roberta Pitoniak Galati seek to retain their seats against challengers Robbie Martin and Ronald Richard Kordish. All five candidates ran on the Democratic ticket in May, with Betti, Fiorelli and Martin all securing Democratic nominations along with Republican write-in nominations. Kordish narrowly edged out Galati by 11 votes in May to secure a Democratic nomination with 505 votes to her 494, according to certified election results, but Galati earned enough Republican write-in votes to appear on the November ballot.
Olyphant
Olyphant will have a new face on council as two incumbents and two challengers contend for three council seats. Democratic incumbents James Baldan and Joseph Collarini, will face Democrat Eric Hartshorn and Republican Dave Mitchko. Both Collarini and Hartshorn earned Republican write-in nominations.
Throop
With six candidates facing off for four council seats, three incumbents and three challengers will compete in Throop in November. Those candidates are: Democratic incumbents Matthew Chorba, Richard Kucharski and Vince Tanana, who also secured a Republican write-in nomination, along with challengers Republican Jeanine Chomko Capman, Democrat Melissa Lokuta-Fazio and John James Richardson, who is running under the “Rough and Ready” party after securing a spot on the ballot through nomination papers.
Jeff Horvath, staff writer, contributed to this report.
Originally Published: October 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM EDT