Mayor Jane Favero

Settling down in her hometown after being away for 27 years was not the course Jane Favero of Leechburg expected her life to take. However, with no regrets, she is very content with the path she has traveled and chose to get involved in her community and give of her talents.

Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s was a great time, especially to be part of a small town like Leechburg. Many people bustled on the streets and there was that quaint, hometown feel. Jane met her husband, also a Leechburg native, and married at age 22. They went to Indiana for a year and the other 26 years were spent in West Deer Township. The couple returned due to family members having health problems as well as the encouragement of longtime friends from town. A permanent residence was not at all out of the question.

After returning to Leechburg in 1996, Jane started getting involved in the community by serving on the Leechburg Borough council. Not long after, the then current mayor, Rick Meyer, was in favor of having Jane's husband run for mayor. He was not interested, though, so Jane decided she might be interested and ran for the position. She had already served two years of a four-year term on the borough council. In addition, Jane's father, Ivan Donaldson, served as mayor during the mid 1980s, and she thought it would be great to follow in her father's footsteps as well as help the community she had returned to. "I am always willing to help people with anything I can."

Leechburg now has Jane serving as their first woman mayor in its 150-year history, and she's also part of the first father daughter team. Jane has gained many great experiences in this position, including many things about balancing a budget. The Borough is truly run off of the taxes and has been fortunate enough not to have to raise taxes in the last 6-8 years. She does not have the opportunity to vote like she did on council, unless there is a tie, but she doesn't mind. She likes being a representative for the people and has the opportunity to bring comments, wishes, and complaints to the council.

Experience in the business world is what Jane brings with her to the job. She raised two children while having a full-time career. Jane started out as a medical lab technician and worked in that field for ten years. Later, she changed career paths and received her teaching certificate. Afterward she taught at A.W. Beattie Vo-Tech School for a year and then at the Median School where she remained for ten years. While at the Median School, she was promoted to the Director of Education. Her next ten years, were spent working for Stuart Medical Company as a sales person and product demonstrator for medical equipment.

New ideas for projects and being able to help people are some of things that Jane likes about her job. She loves when people are brainstorming for projects and improvements. She also likes being able to help improve the community. "I like small towns as opposed to suburbia," and " I would like to see them [small towns] stay." says Mayor Favero.

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