Trafford Borough Council President Receives the

2021 PA Councilmember of the Year Award

On Tuesday, December 7, 2021 Trafford Borough Council President Kris Cardiff was presented the 2021 PA Councilmember of the Year Award by the PA Borough Councils Association (BCA).  The BCA voted unanimously to bestow the award to Councilman Cardiff because of the nomination letter submitted by Trafford Mayor Ed Llewellyn:

I am writing this letter to nominate Trafford Borough Council President Kris Cardiff for the PSAB Outstanding Council Member of the Year Award.

Mr. Cardiff has served on Trafford Borough Council since January 2014 and was appointed as Council Vice President in March 2015.  Due to the resignations of both the council president and mayor on the same evening in October 2015, Mr. Cardiff served as the Mayor, President, and Vice President of Council until January 2016 when a new mayor was appointed.  From that point on, Mr. Cardiff has led the Trafford Council as President and still does so today.

From the first day Mr. Cardiff was sworn in as a council member of Trafford Borough, he has accomplished many things for the people of our community to include:

• As Council President, he has significantly decreased the rate of turnover of borough employees and council members.
• Led the way for the creation of a well-needed borough website, a starting step to modernize the community in efforts to attract new business and young families.
• Created a partnership with the recently formed Trafford Business Association to open better lines of communication to address and support the needs of existing and potential community businesses.
• Re-structured and re-defined council committees to focus more on community outreach while maintaining a more efficient and effective means of oversight.
• Worked with the mayor to create the Renee Cappetta Volunteer of the Year Award to show appreciation of the volunteers in the Trafford community.
• Worked to create a community environment that encourages volunteerism and involvement.
• Volunteers several hours a week to maintain and update the Trafford Borough website to ensure maximum communication with the community.
• Established the goal of being one of the most transparent municipalities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by posting approved monthly borough expense lists for the general, sewage, and liquid fuels funds, meeting minutes, and budget to keep the community consistently informed.

As Mayor of Trafford Borough, I believe that Council President Cardiff has gone above and beyond in his service to the Trafford community. His dedication and selflessness has attributed to countless positive changes and improvements to our borough and his leadership has been long-overdue in our community.

Thank you for considering Councilman Kris Cardiff for the Pennsylvania State Association’s Outstanding Council Member of the Year Award.

Please feel free to contact me at mayor@traffordborough.com for any additional information required.

Sincerely,

Edward Llewellyn

Mayor, Trafford Borough

Photo Credits: Philip Hensler Photography – https://philiphensler.com/

Councilman Kris Cardiff commented by saying “this is huge for our community!  This shows that hard work and cooperation within our community can make things happen!  I am humbled by this award and grateful for the team we have built with the admin staff, borough employees, Police Department, Public Works and Council.  I set some lofty goals in January 2020 and then COVID hit, but our team adapted and carried on through uncertainty to achieve many of the goals we set out for.  And we didn’t stop throughout 2021”

Cardiff continued by stating, “we’re not done yet by any stretch of the imagination.  I’ve already started to put together goals to present to the new council for 2022.  Our community is resilient and Trafford will continue to be a leader and inspiration to other communities in Western Pennsylvania.  My goal is to continue focusing on transparency as well as economic development.”

Cardiff also stated that over the past year he has been working with the Westmoreland Cultural Trust for the Wings Across Westmoreland project.

“One of the most exciting things to happen to Trafford recently was the merger between the Trafford Theater Factory and the Apple Hill Players.  I’ve always been a fan of the arts and this became an inspiration to me.  When I met with Adam from the WCT for the Wings project, I told him that I’ve always worked towards more economic development but now I feel that needs to be equally partnered with cultural development.  So that is part of my goals for the upcoming years.  To support and bring more cultural development here in Trafford.”

At the end of Cardiff’s BCA award acceptance speech, he thanked the admin staff, council, his family, and as he choked up as he thanked his wife and daughter whom were in attendance.  “I couldn’t do what I do without them”, Cardiff stated.

In honor of Cardiff’s Councilmember of the Year Award, the Westmoreland County Commissioners presented an official proclamation to Kris during the Commissioners’ December 16th Meeting.

Cardiff stated, “all I want is for this to be an inspiration for small town elected government officials to remember to serve with integrity.  We’re all neighbors and we should serve, remembering we are neighbors.  Representing your neighbors in a small town is the foundation of our great nation.”