Fazio

Finance Committee Chairman Richard A. Fazio announced that he would not seek a second term on the Borough Council, but would instead help fellow councilman A. Wayne Burton win. For the first time, because of the gradual phase-in of West Chester's ward system, which began in September 1987, a ward election will be held in the First Ward, where both Fazio and Burton live. Fazio said after last week's Finance Committee meeting that he is not running both because he does not want to compete with Burton and because he may have "higher political aspirations.

For Richard Fazio, it's a debate about constitutional law - and his right to earn a living. For West Chester officials, it's just a bunch of words being tossed around by someone who wants to keep his position at the public trough. Either way, it should be settled by the end of this week, when County Judge Leonard Sugerman is expected to rule on exactly who has the right to call himself West Chester's tax collector. Fazio, who was appointed as tax collector last January, contends that his Nov. 2 election earned him the right to stay on until 1998 - even though voters on that day also approved a new home-rule charter giving tax-collection duties to Borough Treasurer Doug Kapp.

West Chester Borough Councilman Richard Fazio has come under criticism from fellow council members who contend that he has appointed himself as a spokesman on key issues. At the Borough Council meeting Wednesday, Councilman William Bowes - reading from a prepared statement - rebuked Fazio for "grandstanding" on three proposals before the council for consideration. "Plans have been in the press, and it appears they have council sanction when they may not," Bowes said. The first of the issues is a business privilege tax proposed publicly by Fazio that seeks to shift a portion of the town's tax burden from residents to the business community.

A $15,000 proposal to computerize the operations of West Chester's local government will come before the Borough Council for a vote Wednesday, according to Richard A. Fazio, chairman of council's finance committee. Under the plan, which was discussed at a finance committee meeting Wednesday, $1,000 would be set aside for a computer consultant who would evaluate the current system and analyze the improvements that could be achieved through computerization, Fazio said. The money, which is part of the 1987 operating budget, would be used to purchase computer hardware and software, Fazio said.

West Chester Councilman Richard Fazio voted himself onto the borough's Civil Service Commission last week, leaving a bitter Ashton B.T. Smith Jr. off the board he served for 18 years. At Wednesday's Borough Council meeting, Smith was removed from the commission by a 4-3 vote when Fazio voted for himself to begin a six-year term in 1990. Council members Ray Ott, Susan Armstrong and Eleanor Loper voted to reappoint Smith. Mitch Crane, Ann Aerie, A. Wayne Burton and Fazio voted to appoint Fazio.

The investigation of state Department of Transportation employees who allegedly accepted gifts from contractors has been expanded amid indications that money and not just gift certificates were involved. State Inspector General Peter J. Smith said yesterday that his investigation, which resulted earlier this summer in the suspension of three employees, now involved numerous employees and "more than a dozen" contractors. "We have indications now that cash was involved . . . substantial amounts of cash, in addition to gift certificates," Smith said.

Within six months, most of West Chester's municipal services will be computerized, according to the borough finance committee chairman, Councilman Richard A. Fazio. Before bringing the matter to Borough Council, the committee must choose between the $28,400 proposal of Municipal Management Systems Inc. of Pittsburgh or the $32,400 proposal of Metro Technology Services Inc. of Malvern. A computer consultant will be asked to render an opinion. Both companies offer the same hardware - a Compaq 386 system for $19,000.

After winnowing out several alternative sites, the West Chester Borough finance committee has three options for a new borough hall: building on the current site with commercial development, building alone on the current site or swapping with the Penn Mutual building on Gay Street. There's no question that something needs to be done, finance committee Chairman Richard A. Fazio said, because the finance committee decided earlier this year not to spend $3.63 million to renovate the current building, which has termite damage and is structurally unsound.

Several key votes are expected by the West Chester Borough Council this week, including one on whether to commission an architectural evaluation of Borough Hall following the discovery of extensive termite damage and decaying asbestos. The results of a study commissioned by the council in January show that asbestos in the building at Gay and Adams Streets is beginning to deteriorate and could present a health hazard if the fibers become airborne. A routine inspection by public works crews revealed extensive termite infestation beneath a section of the Police Department offices.

West Chester Councilman Richard E. Fazio says he is prepared to "walk away" from a deal in which the council would exchange a borough building for one owned by Chester County. Under the terms of the proposal made public last month, county government offices in the Dague Building at New and Market Streets would be moved into the Borough Building at Gay and Adams Steets. Borough government offices would be relocated to the Dague Building. Fazio, angered by County Commission Chairman Earl M. Baker's comments about the plan, said, "The ball is in their court and we are prepared to walk away.

Developer R. Bruce Fazio was charged Wednesday with fraud, deception, and risking a catastrophe for building a Norristown condominium project deemed so unsafe that a judge ordered its residents to evacuate. Fazio, 46, of Collegeville, surrendered to Montgomery County detectives early Wednesday, according to District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. He appeared briefly before a district judge and was freed on $50,000 bail. The charges - more than three dozen counts - followed a criminal investigation into how Fazio built and won occupancy permits for such a flawed building as the Rittenhouse Club, which opened on Sandy Street in 2007.

Foge Fazio, who succeeded Jackie Sherrill as the football coach at alma mater Pittsburgh and later was a defensive coordinator for the NFL's Vikings and Browns, died last night following a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 71. Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson confirmed Faizo's death while attending the Pitt-Duquesne basketball game last night. Fazio, who grew up in Coraopolis, Pa., in suburban Pittsburgh, was a former Pitt linebacker and center. He spent nine seasons as a Pitt assistant before being promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in 1982, following three successive 11-1 seasons under Sherrill.

About five years ago, Tony DeFazio was a hired cheerleader for the Riverwalk at Millennium. The luxury apartment complex was under construction on Conshohocken's riverfront, and DeFazio was working for a public-relations agency hired by developer J. Brian O'Neill to whip up enthusiasm for life on a former industrial site. DeFazio is in the advocacy role again - this time as a resident of the fire-ravaged complex who, though not among the burned-out, has his share of concerns about life there going forward.

He is one of the most celebrated, highest-paid golf-course architects in the world today. But without much prompting, Tom Fazio can easily recall that summer 37 years ago, when he was 19 and working tirelessly from sunup to sundown to build Waynesborough Country Club, to help fulfill his uncle's dream of creating something special. "His dream was to take that piece of property at Waynesborough and design an outstanding course, a high-end public course or a corporate course," Tom Fazio said late last week, recalling the birth of the Paoli club that his late uncle, George Fazio, designed and that will be host this week to the SEI Pennsylvania Classic.

Just the thought of a 25-inning baseball game might make most people tired, but some Unionville youngsters took part in one yesterday in memory of a former high school ballplayer. About 300 youths and adults spent the afternoon either watching the baseball marathon or taking part in it, and although they gathered to have fun, they also knew it was for a good cause. The game was used to raise money for a college scholarship fund in honor of Steve Fazio, a student at Unionville High School whose death in an accident last month shocked the community.

Students returning to Unionville High School from their Labor Day holiday yesterday began the day with a moment of silence to honor Steve Fazio, a 17-year-old junior killed in a car accident late Saturday. Stunned students dropped in on impromptu grief counseling sessions led by Ned Jenny, the Unionville-Chadds Ford district's student assistance specialist. "We had about 40 kids throughout the day who came together and wanted to talk to each other and to us about their experiences through all of this - where they were, what they were thinking, what they were feeling," Jenny said.

After nearly two years of teacher contract negotiations, the Penn-Delco school board has proposed that the two sides enter non-binding arbitration in another attempt to reach a settlement. At a meeting Wednesday night, Mark T. Osborn, chairman of the school board's negotiating committee, said each side would submit its final offer to a three-person arbitration panel. The offers will be posted for public comment, he said. Linda Cook, president of the Penn-Delco Education Association, said union members would meet next month to decide whether to move ahead with non-binding arbitration.

Plymouth-Whitemarsh coach Al Angelos has used six players through the boys' basketball playoffs, with only fouls forcing him to look down his bench for a seventh. Most people are familiar with three of the six: Chuck Moore, Gene Shipley and John Salmons, all future Division I college players. The other three - John Fazio, Billy Guess and Bryan Collins - aren't as well-known. But all have started this season for the Colonials, who will face Glen Mills at 7 tonight in a PIAA Class AAAA semifinal at Norristown.

Tom Fazio has done it again. One of the top golf-course designers of his time recently unveiled his No. 8 layout at fabled Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort & Country Club. It's called the Centennial, in celebration of Pinehurst's 100th anniversary. Fazio, a native of Norristown, now lives in Hendersonville, N.C. In the last two years, he has opened two courses in the Delaware Valley to rave reviews - Galloway National, a private facility near the South Jersey shore, and Hartefeld National, a public course in Chester County.

When Timothy Joseph Fazio was a fifth-grader, which wasn't so very long ago, he fancied himself one day as a budding Gaylord Ravenal. There being no riverboats for hire in tiny Kinnelon, N.J., a remote speck on the map of Morris County, he set up his let's-pretend gambling casino in a neighbor's basement. The enterprise lasted only one day. "I did it to earn money for a new fishing reel," the 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania junior remembered ruefully the other day, "but I never made a penny.