ARCHBALD — Borough council fundamentally changed Wednesday night.
Confronted with a looming petition signed by 800-plus Archbald residents calling for the removal of the former council president and three borough employees, council members Dave Moran, Richard Guman and Marie Andreoli resigned from their seats on council Wednesday, effective immediately. It is the fourth resignation from the seven-member council in three weeks. Last month, after voting March 27 to deny an 18-data-center campus next to Staback Park on Eynon Jermyn Road, former Councilman Tom Aniska resigned from council, citing health reasons.
To replace Aniska, Guman and Andreoli, council appointed borough residents Madonna Munley, Lisa Osborne and Larry West, with plans to fill Moran’s seat within 30 days. Council President Louis Rapoch, Vice President Joseph Altier III and Councilwoman Erin Owen voted in favor of the appointments.
Madonna Munley is sworn into Archbald Borough Council on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at the borough building. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Madonna Munley, blue shirt, gets a hug from Archbald Mayor Shirley Barrett after being sworn in as a member of Archbald Borough Council on Wednesday, April, 15, 2026, at the borough building. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Madonna Munley takes her seat to a round of applause as a member of Archbald Borough Council at a meeting Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at the borough building. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Larry West waves to supporters during a meeting at the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. West was later named to the board after three members resigned from their seats. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Lisa Osborne answers questions from Archbald Borough Council members during a meeting at the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. Osborne was later named to the board after three members resigned from their seats. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Larry West answers questions from Archbald Borough Council members during a meeting at the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. West was later named to the board after three members resigned from their seats. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
New Archbald Borough Council member Larry West shakes hands with council president Louis Rapoch during a meeting at the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Larry West answers questions from Archbald Borough Council members during a meeting at the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. West was later named to the board after three members resigned from their seats. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Madonna Munley is sworn into Archbald Borough Council on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at the borough building. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Using her final vote on council, Andreoli voted against Munley’s appointment minutes before submitting her letter of resignation and leaving the Borough Building’s third-floor gymnasium where council held its meeting to accommodate 60-plus residents in attendance.
Archbald Borough Council members, from left, Louis Rapoch, council president; Joseph Altier III, council vice president, and now former council member Marie Andreoli are seen at the start of an Archbald Borough Council meeting on Wednesday, April, 15, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Moran and Guman, who previously served as president and vice president, respectively, were absent. Andreoli was previously president pro tempore.
The unprecedented shakeup follows a reorganization at council’s March 18 meeting when Moran, Guman and Andreoli voted in favor of stripping themselves of their leadership positions, joining Rapoch, Altier, Owen and then-Councilman Aniska in a unanimous vote. Immediately afterward, Rapoch, Altier and Owen, supported by Aniska, then voted to appoint themselves as president, vice president and president pro tempore.
With the new resignations, every council member who voted in favor of a contentious zoning amendment to regulate data centers is now off of council. Moran, Guman, Andreoli and former Councilman Francis Burke, who lost reelection in November, all voted in November to adopt the amendment. Owen and former Councilwoman Laura Lewis voted against the legislation.
The ordinance applied a slew of restrictions to data centers, though it received significant pushback from the community who sought additional safeguards while asking the borough to reduce the number of locations that the ordinance conditionally allowed data centers. Notably, the legislation gave the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus the zoning designation it needed to move forward with a conditional use application to build 14 data centers that could use up to 3.3 million gallons of water per day during the summer while requiring 1.6 gigawatts of electricity.
Citing records obtained via Right-to-Know Law requests, Tamara Misewicz-Healey and Justin Healey, the husband and wife from Archbald who founded the 9,200-plus member Stop Archbald Data Centers on Facebook, began to circulate a petition calling for the resignations of Moran, Solicitor Jay O’Connor, Borough Manager Dan Markey and Zoning and Building Code Official Brian Dulay.
The petition, titled, “Citizen Demand For Accountability Resignation or Removal of Borough Officials,” contends the borough violated public trust, citing communications between borough officials and data center developers where the developers received draft data center ordinances and contributed their own. Other contentions in the petition include negotiations over setbacks for data centers, reducing them from 1,000 feet to 400 feet to 300 feet because developers agreed to 300 feet.
“The conduct documented above reflects not mere procedural irregularity, but a fundamental failure of the obligation of these officials owe to the residents they serve,” according to the petition. “Borough governance must be conducted in the interest of the public, not shaped in private by the interests of developers seeking approval.”
The petition concludes, “Failure to act will demonstrate that council itself has abdicated its responsibility to the community.”
Megan Farrell mans a sign and T-shirt table outside the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A man wears an “Archbald residents for responsible zoning” shirt outside the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Archbald residents applaud at an Archbald Borough Council meeting on Wednesday April, 15, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Archbald resident Mike Pilch addresses Archbald Borough Council on Wednesday April 15, 2026, at the borough building. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Megan Farrell mans a sign and T-shirt table outside the Archbald Borough Building on Wednesday April 15, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Resignations
Council began its meeting Wednesday by interviewing three candidates — Munley, Osborne and West — for Aniska’s open seat. Andreoli interviewed the three.
Following the interviews, council voted 3-1 to appoint Munley. Rapoch, Altier and Owen voted for her appointment. Andreoli voted against it.
Andreoli then left the room as Mayor Shirley Barrett swore in Munley.
After the newest councilwoman took her seat, Borough Manager Dan Markey announced that three envelopes had just been placed in front of him.
The crowd erupted into applause.
Markey then read off letters of resignation from Moran, Guman and Andreoli, all of whom cited different reasons for their decisions to step down from council.
Council voted to accept their resignations and appoint replacements for Guman and Andreoli, with Moran’s seat remaining vacant Wednesday.
Misewicz-Healey formally submitted the petition, which had 820 signatures from voting-age Archbald residents, to council during public comment near the end of Wednesday’s meeting.
After the meeting, O’Connor said he had not seen the petition but stood by his work.
“I am confident in the work I’ve done here for the last 25 years,” O’Connor said. “I don’t represent the people. I represent the council. People are entitled to their opinion. That’s what makes America great.”
Markey declined to comment, explaining he had not read the document.
Rapoch stood by Markey, Dulay and O’Connor. Asked about the petition to remove them, the council president said, “That’s not going to happen as far as I’m concerned.”
“Our men did a wonderful job,” Rapoch said. “And they’re still doing a wonderful job.”
Check back for updates.