Cheers to Al Vavro, John Conrad and David Korn, who are setting the correct tone — and rapid pace — in Butler's search for its next superintendent of schools.

The three Butler School Board members, who make up the board's administrative search committee, have set a mid-March deadline to find a successor to Superintendent Mike Strutt, who will retire June 30.

The plan gives the new superintendent some time, about three months, to participate in the search for other keys posts being vacated in the district. They include an assistant superintendent and the business manager.

Vavro admits his committee is “under the gun” to find Strutt's successor in three months. Vavro says he has been busy studying search strategies the Butler district has taken in the past, along with what other districts in the region have done when looking for a superintendent.

It gives the search committee, which met for the first time Wednesday night, only three months to advertise the superintendent position and select a candidate.

The search committee intends to include the public in its search, not only to meet the candidates for the job, but also to focus on the qualities and experience a candidate should possess.

They shouldn't have to ask us more than once for volunteers.

There's a taint of cynicism in the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's appointment this past week of a new inspector general.Ray A. Morrow, a Washington, Pa., native and career FBI agent, succeeds the commission's first inspector general, Anthony L. Maniscola, who retired last summer at about the same time as a grand jury investigation triggered an indictment of CEO Joe Brimmeier, on charges including bid rigging and trading political contributions for turnpike contracts. Several other executives were also charged with corruption, including former turnpike Chairman Mitchell Rubin, former Chief Operating Officer George Hatalowich and former state Sen. Robert Mellow.Brimmeier, a top Democratic Party operative and confidante in Ed Rendell's campaign for governor, voiced support when Maniscola was appointed in February 2009.“We are appropriately being held to the highest ethical standards,” Brimmeier said in a news release back then.Similar support is being voiced now for Morrow, this time by new turnpike CEO Mark Compton.“Ray's diverse background will serve the Turnpike well as we continue moving forward to enhance the transparency and accountability of our organization,” said Compton Wednesday.Here's the cynical part, spoken by Maniscola shortly after his retirement as inspector general: “Transparency? That's the one thing the turnpike doesn't want.”In that same interview, Maniscola suggested Pennsylvania abolish the Turnpike Commission and roll its functions into the state Department of Transportation. The appointment of Compton as CEO might signal a step in that direction, since he is a former PennDOT deputy secretary of administration.The appointment of a second inspector general implies the turnpike's problems are systemic or, at least, the cleanup is far from complete.

Cheers to Dan Hahn, the Cranberry Township police officer who retires this month after a valiant attempt to return to work from job-related injuries.Cpl. Hahn, 50, suffered massive injuries in 2011 when he fell more than 20 feet from an overpass while chasing a suspect.Although Hahn made a major effort to return to the department last year after spending months in hospitals and rehabilitation, his injuries won’t let him continue his career. He returned for light duty in late 2012, working as liaison between the township’s engineering and the police departments managing traffic data.“I haven’t healed up, and I won’t heal up to the point where I’m going to be able to do the job,” Hahn said last week in an interview. “I don’t want to retire, but I don’t have a choice in the matter.”The community rallied around Hahn during his recovery, which included a series of surgeries and rehabilitation to learn how to walk, stand and sit again, but he doesn’t believe he’ll ever progress to the point where he can perform all the police duties.The township supervisors voted last week to promote Hahn to sergeant before he retires Jan. 31. The promotion doesn’t change Hahn’s salary, but it is meant to recognize his service. He has worked in Cranberry for more than 24 years and more than three decades in law enforcement.It’s a fitting tribute to the heroic dedication of a career public servant.