BETHLEHEM, W.Va. \u2014 A number of local mayoral races will be decided this upcoming primary, including Bethlehem — where voters will find two names on the ballot.<\/p>\n
Incumbent Matthew Saseen was appointed to the position in 2023 after former Mayor Aaron Snider resigned that October.<\/p>\n
“We’re forever Bethlehem people. My family has been here since 1913, so I\u2019m planning to stay here and help bring a better community for everyone,” he said.<\/p>\n
Saseen previously served as the village’s recorder for four years.<\/p>\n
He says in the time since, Bethlehem has accomplished many things he’s proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve spent about $900,000 in grant money to upgrade water lines, water valves, hydrants, infrastructure. We’ve started a lot of programs for the youth in our community,” he said.<\/p>\n
Saseen wants to continue that, plus expand on security initiatives, like the village’s new 9-1-1 system.<\/p>\n
“The village’s safety comes first,\u201d he said. \u201cWith that goes with having a strong police department and having good infrastructure. As long as we keep heading in that direction, I’m very confident that for generations to come, we are going to be in a very great position.”<\/p>\n
Facing Saseen is Scott Himrod, who is originally from Valley Grove.<\/p>\n
“I’m hardworking. I’m caring. I have a lot of compassion,” Himrod said.<\/p>\n
Before taking on a job at the Bethlehem Public Works Department, Himrod Spent 20 years at the Ohio County 9-1-1 Center.<\/p>\n
He also serves as a volunteer member and EMT with the Bethlehem Fire Department.<\/p>\n
If elected, Himrod aims to strengthen police protection and ensure the first responders are compensated properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom infrastructure to the police department to the road crew needing equipment, just overall somebody with good leadership skills to lead the village,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, making sure that the police department has the equipment they need, plus making sure they have enough officers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, W.Va. \u2014 A number of local mayoral races will be decided this upcoming primary, including Bethlehem —…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-188062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}