MIDDLESEX TWP — A business owner appointed a year ago to a vacated supervisors seat and a former federal agent will vie to become the Republican candidate for supervisor this fall.

Robert Brash and Matthew Duff will appear on the ballot on Tuesday as Republicans. There are no Democrats running for supervisor, which means the winner in the Republican race will be unopposed in the fall election and most likely become the next supervisor.

Robert Brash

Brash is the owner of a construction business in Allison Park, Allegheny County.

He was appointed to the board of supervisors in March 2016 when James “Hap” Evans resigned.

Brash said he feels he would be the better candidate because he has spent a year becoming acclimated to the township and its needs through his supervisor's seat.

Brash said if elected, he will continue to support the police department, monitor development throughout the township, and work to prevent any tax increases.

He also appreciates the annual paving program in effect during the past several years that sees local roads improved to handle the traffic caused by growing development in the township.

He said he feels that he and supervisors Mike Spreng and Don Marshall make a good team.

“I am in line with their way of thinking and I think the three of us together can continue to do good for the township,” Brash said. “They're great mentors.”

The development coming into the once-rural township, Brash said, can provide a larger tax base.

“Development is coming, like it or not,” he said, “and being involved in that and making sure the concerns of the residents are met and can be handled well, those are my priorities.”

Matthew Duff

His opponent, Matthew Duff, is a young father and husband who is a fraud program manager for UPMC and a former federal agent.

Duff said the three-person board of supervisors should be more transparent so residents know what is happening in the township.

Controlling incoming development is also a priority of Duff's.

“(Residents) want it to be safe and we want to be able to have the development that Cranberry has had, but we want it to be controlled,” Duff said. “That's why we live in Middlesex.”

If elected, he would also institute a long-term look at the direction in which the township is headed, and create a township Facebook page where residents could give input and ask questions of township officials.

In his career as a fraud program manager for UPMC, Duff said he is on the front line of the opioid epidemic.

“I want to keep Middlesex out of that epidemic,” he said.

Republicans can select their candidate at the two polling places on Tuesday.