Breaking News
Local News

‘It’s been a good ride’: Smith reflects on political service upon retirement

Smith reflects on political service upon retirement

By Matt Churella 6 min read

After eight years in office, former Cambria County Commissioner William "B.J." Smith is ready to close the chapter on his political career to spend time with his family.

Smith, 69, said he will still be active with charitable work and donating to organizations, like St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. But after failing to win re-election in November, his days in office are over, he said.

Current commissioners Tom Chernisky and Scott Hunt thanked Smith for his eight years serving as a commissioner and awarded him with a plaque Jan. 4 in Ebensburg.

Hunt said he has enjoyed working with Smith, who always made him laugh with his jokes and outgoing personality.

"Being a commissioner isn't always the easiest job, so I appreciate his service to the county," Hunt said.

Chernisky, Smith's Democratic running mate, said it was a privilege to serve with him. He said their record as an administration was "second to none."

"B.J. Smith is a class act," he said. "We ran together with the same 'can do' work attitude, and we did it for eight years."

In those years, the Chernisky-Smith administration replaced the county's

$10 million budget deficit with a $7 million surplus, improved the county's Standard and Poor's rating from B- to an A for the first time in 30 years and restored 10 of the county's structurally deficient bridges.

Both Chernisky and Smith said they're proud of the work they accomplished together.

"B.J.'s been a great teammate to work with, and he's going to be missed," Chernisky said. "He left Cambria County a better place."

Smith said he was also proud of increasing the county courthouse minimum wage to $12 an hour and enacting Act 152, which allowed the county to impose $15 fees on certain deed and mortgage transfers to fund blight removal.

Smith said the act raised about $100,000 annually to demolish about eight blighted structures in the county.

"It's been a good ride," he said of his time in office. "I have no qualms about anything that I've done."

Early in his life, Smith found a passion for playing baseball. He played for his Little League team as a kid and was a baseball player for the University of Pitt-Johnstown, where he completed three years of history education before the 1977 Johnstown Flood destroyed his father's mining business in South Fork and forced him to step away from school. He never went back.

He said he was 16 years old when his father took him into the mines for the first time because his father's work partner had too much to drink that night and wasn't going to show up for work.

"I hear the roof cracking, and my dad says, 'Don't run. Just stand here and hand me what I need,'" Smith said, adding he worked in several coal mines for 25 years after leaving college.

Since coal miners were making more money than history teachers at the time, he said he didn't have any desire to return to UPJ and finish his degree.

His wife, Joan, said she remembers a time when he came home to shower after a cold day of working with the conveyor belts in the mines under the worst conditions.

"When the cold air hit him, his tooth cracked," she said. "It was just so cold outside. He really worked in some terrible conditions in the mines."

"Whenever the coal mines were done, all of the people said, 'Why don't you run for township supervisor?' I didn't think about politics or anything, so I ran and I won," Smith said, adding he served 14 years as an Adams Township supervisor before serving two terms as a county commissioner from 2016 through 2023.

Smith said he feels he was the wrong political affiliation to win re-election in November, since Cambria County "turned red" over the last two years.

"I'm not going to jeopardize my morals over a party affiliation," he said. "I wanted people to vote for me for what I've done, not for what I'm registered."

Now that he's able to enjoy a life outside of politics, Smith feels like "a ton of bricks has been lifted off my shoulders."

"I couldn't hunt when I wanted to," he said. "I just feel like I've been set free."

In addition to hunting with his son, Brett, behind mine No. 33 in Ebensburg, Smith is excited to go fishing in the Juniata River this spring.

He said he doesn't use artificial bait or take much with him when he goes fishing.

Smith said he takes a net and a bucket along the river on a hot day when crabs start to molt and uses them as bait for bass along with hellgrammites that he picks up underneath rocks.

"They peel their skin, and they're like jelly," he said. "When you put that on your hook and you throw it out, it's like candy to a small-mouth bass. It's a lot of fun."

At home, Smith said he's still getting used to retirement.

"It's whatever you want to do now. It's a totally different lifestyle," he said.

Joan said she enjoys having him home so they can go through their closets together and organize their house.

"We're trying to get some things accomplished that we haven't gotten done," she said.

Since his grandson, Grant, was born four days before Christmas, Smith said he feels blessed to be able to spend time with his family.

"God has blessed me very, very much," he said. "I couldn't ask for anything more, and I wouldn't change a thing in my life."

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

The Smith file

Name: William "B.J." Smith

Age: 69

Hometown: Sidman

Education: Forest Hills High School, 1973; University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, 1973-77.

Family: Wife, Joan; son, Brett; daughter-in-law, Jennifer Silvis; son, Christopher; grandson, Grant; pets, Maggie, a German shepherd and black lab mix; cat, Tuxedo.

Hobbies: Hunting, fishing, Little League baseball

Career: Coal miner, 1977-2002, Adams Township supervisor, 2002-16, Cambria County commissioner, 2016-23.

Starting at /week.