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Lori McGowan moved to East Hempfield Township because of its quality of life, but said that a community won't "stay healthy unless you get involved."
And at a time when her suburban township needs "sensible growth," she said, she is running for elected office to help bring that about.
Scott Russell said he wants "issues like the condition of the roads, traffic and development to be done in a smart manner."
And since winning his party's primary in the spring, he said, he is seeing more and more voters "feeling a disconnect with government" that he wants to tackle.
McGowan, a Democrat, and Russell, a Republican, will face each other for East Hempfield Township supervisor in Tuesday's election.
Growth and the things it brings about, like more traffic and a drop in that ever-elusive item "quality of life," always seem to be the top issues in the township.
Russell, 39, is a professional engineer who won the spring GOP primary by a 3-to-1 margin in the largely Republican township.
McGowan, 45, a medical doctor and adjunct college professor, was unopposed in her party's primary.
The two candidates, both Landisville residents and non-East Hempfield natives, are making their first run for elected office.
They are running for a six-year term that will be vacated at the end of the year by current supervisor Heidi Wheaton, who chose not to seek re-election.
Both candidates, who have been busy in recent weeks campaigning across the suburb, say development and traffic, along with concerns about the economy and its local impact, seem to be the top issues to voters.
Russell, of 1048 Lambley Road, works for the civil engineering firm Herbert Rowland & Grubic Inc. and says his years of experience working with local municipalities give him the knowledge to best address East Hempfield's development issue.
He is strongly in favor of East Hempfield adopting measures that will impose traffic impact fees on development.
Russell calls this "a smart and legal way to manage development and ensure that new traffic that is generated is properly accounted for … using developer fees, not property taxes, to pay for the necessary road work."
Such a measure ensures that "when a developer comes in, there will be a mechanism for improving the community," said Russell, who called this "an example of how I will use my experience to put the township residents' best interests first."
Russell, who grew up in Langhorne and served in the military before moving to East Hempfield eight years ago, and his wife, Cheryl, have four children.
He served on active duty in the U.S. Army and then in the National Guard before being honorably discharged as a captain in 2002.
Working for HRG, which has been hired by Lancaster County to oversee all the county's building and engineering projects, presents no conflict of interest if he's elected supervisor, Russell said.
The few times he'd have to abstain from voting would be more than outweighed, he said, by "the positive of having a supervisor who is a civil engineer specializing in traffic engineering and pavement management."
McGowan, of 1391 Nissley Road, is a pediatric doctor and surgeon who moved to East Hempfield a decade ago.
She has become active in East Hempfield issues — and has been going to supervisors' meetings for the past two years — and as a candidate seeks to bring about what she calls "responsible" development.
"The things that seem to be most important to people are (avoiding) getting stuck in a traffic jam and things like, 'Will my taxes go up to pay for a new school?'" she said.
East Hempfield is generally following guidelines for how rapidly it should grow, she said, "but at the same time, now is a time to think of responsible growth."
She said she would seek to maintain the right mix of green space and growth in the right places, including light industrial development.
McGowan recognizes that a Democrat has never been elected in East Hempfield, but said she'd like to bring about "a balance of representation … . Many people are telling me as I go door to door, they're not voting 'party,' they're voting 'person.'
"I don't have any special interests, and I want to represent the entire community … . My background has prepared me for this position," said McGowan, who with her husband, Matt, has one child, a daughter.
McGowan has been a biology professor at Harrisburg Area Community College for 10 years, volunteered on-site in New York after Sept. 11 and directed pediatric and laboratory services for a Wisconsin clinic.
