Hampton Township council met Jan. 24 for one of its regular monthly meetings.
But this meeting was not regular, at all.
For the past 37½ years, Chris Lochner has sat in the seat marked “township manager.” That era ended and a new one began with the swearing-in of Ryan Jeroski as the first new manager since 1986.
He and Lochner shook hands, and Lochner took a seat in the crowd. Jeroski took Lochner’s seat and guided the rest of the meeting.
“I think tonight was more of Chris’s night,” Jeroski said. “Next meeting will sort of be where I officially start everything and begin my role.”
Jeroski looked confident as he spoke into the microphone for the first time during the meeting.
“I really didn’t have much anxiety about it,” he said. “Chris has done a great job of preparing me.”
Prior to being hired in Hampton, Jeroski was the assistant township manager in Peters Township for six years.
Jeroski credits some of his confidence to his former mentor.
“I really had a great teacher when I was in Peters Township. Paul Lauer was another great guy, and he also did a good job preparing me,” Jeroski said about the township’s manager, who has worked in Peters’ administration for 40 years.
As the Hampton council meeting ended with Lochner sitting in an audience seat, it was a bittersweet moment for him.
“I never really felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I didn’t see it that way,” he said. “ I had good people around me and I guess you could say I put them there.”
He tried to break down his former position into more simple terms, using sports analogy.
“I guess you could compare it to like a baseball manager,” he said.
Lochner worked with Jeroski quite a bit over the past few months and he feels very confident leaving the position in the new manager’s hands. He did not wish to reveal his final piece of advice for Jeroski.
“That was more personal. I’d prefer to keep that between him and I. But I will say what I have told him all along is: Just be you, don’t be me,” said Lochner.
Part of the reason Lochner was not more saddened by his retirement is because he will be staying on as a special consultant for the township’s new sewer treatment plant that is under construction. Lochner was deeply involved in the project from its inception, so township officials saw no better person fit to see the project through.
“Yeah, I’ll still be seeing everyone probably once a month or so until the plant is done,” he said.
Hampton council members recently toured the facility, which is roughly 50% complete.
During the Jan. 24 meeting, council welcomed Thomas Adams as a full-time police officer, effective Jan. 29.
“Adams has spent many years as a Port Authority officer in the city of Pittsburgh, and he brings great experience to our department,” Hampton police Chief Thomas Vulakovich said.
Adams not only will serve as a regular patrol officer, but also is part of the department’s Special Response Team. His position opened up when a senior officer recently retired from the force.