Two-term Smethport Borough Mayor Ross Porter announced Monday that he will not seek re-election for a third term in office, and is withdrawing from the ballot for the fall general election.
Porter said the decision was largely due to health complications resulting from a near-fatal car accident in 2009.
“I’m going to try to spend as much time as I can with my family,” Porter told The Era. He and his wife, Jovanna, a retired Smethport school teacher, own and operate the Mansion District Inn Bed and Breakfast and the Pennsylvania Wilds Executive Suites & Rentals, both located in Smethport.
“We have our two businesses to run, which take a lot of energy and time,” he said. “Every day I have to work at moving forward.”
Porter explained that since his accident, his family has been blessed with two grandchildren. “We want to be able to make sure we have time to spend with them.”
While planning to step back from any elected role, Republican Porter said he anticipates that he will remain involved in the borough.
“I’m going to continue to be a contributor to the borough of Smethport, but I’m going to turn it over to a new direction,” he said. “Smethport has always been a passion of mine. It’s a wonderful community with a diverse population and remarkable history.”
During his tenure as mayor of Smethport, Porter directed the switchover of the borough electric supplier from Select Energy to American Municipal Power of Columbus, Ohio, resulting in the rebuilding of the borough’s capital reserve fund without the raising of borough taxes.
Porter also initiated the Potato Creek Trail Association, Smethport Creative Arts League, Smethport Historic Registry, Smethport Board of Trade, Smethport’s interpretive signage of historic events, the Wheel Around the Hub Gold Watch Bicycle Race, as well as numerous other grants and projects.
He is the originator and longtime director of the Planet Smethport historical geography web project, smethporthistory.org and the editor of Timeless Home Smethport, Pennsylvania, a comprehensive history of the Borough of Smethport.
Porter said he intends to remain involved in projects he has initiated, but will “let some other people take over and move things forward.”
For example, Porter explained he had been spearheading a biomass project in the borough. However, when the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom began, the biomass project took a back seat to compressed natural gas.
“Since natural gas developed, it really took the legs out of the biomass project,” he said. However, he added, “We’re really big fans of compressed natural gas and having our vehicles switched over so we don’t have to send our money out of his country.”
He will remain involved with the Pennsylvania Route 6 Alliance, and the group’s initiative to develop Route 6 as a compressed natural gas corridor.
“Those are things I initiated before, and there’s other people in place” to lead the initiative now, Porter said. “It’s time to let some other people take over and move things forward.”
Regarding his time as mayor, Porter said, “Eight years is a long time. I never took pay for my position. The entire borough council doesn’t take pay.
“We were all volunteers. I will continue to be a volunteer for the borough in ways that I can.”
