GOP leads in race for 3 supervisor seats in South Whitehall Township
Several Lehigh Valley townships featured hot election races, many of them centering — as is common for the area — on development and its role in the community.
South Whitehall Township
South Whitehall politics have been contentious for years, with residents’ continuing to be fired up about the large Ridge Farms project that first came up in 2017, and issues surrounding its development. Residents voiced their opposition to the 780-unit, mixed-use project at contentious public meetings, mobilized the formation of a Concerned Citizens group calling for more moderate growth and supported like-minded candidates in a crowded 2019 race that saw three new commissioners elected.
Since that election, the Board of Commissioners has often split 3-2 amid contentious debates. Commissioner Matthew Mobilio abruptly resigned, citing his frustrations. On Tuesday, voters appeared to have selected former township and Lehigh County Commissioner Brad Osborne to fill out the remaining two years of his term, according to unofficial results.
Osborne was leading Democrat Jamal Ahmed and Libertarian Matthew Schutter.
With one of eight precincts reporting as of 10 p.m., unofficial results showed Republicans Monica Hodges and David Kennedy in the lead for two four-year seats on the board. Hodges and Kennedy had 335 and 324 votes, respectively. Democratic incumbent Joe Setton and fellow Democrat Thomas Johns earned 173 and 157 votes, respectively.
Hodges and Kennedy supported each other in their campaign, and shared concerns about how Ridge Farm was approved.
Whitehall Township
A tight race for the Board of Commissioners was too close to call Tuesday evening. Republicans Andy Roman and Karen Wilt and Democratic incumbent Thomas Slonaker had slim leads over Republican Lori Ann Fehnel and Democrats Michael Dee and Joseph Marx Jr., but the six candidates for three seats were separated by less than 25 votes, according to unofficial counts.
The election in Whitehall centered largely around the township’s financial health, money missing from the treasurer’s office and public safety.
The township’s money issues include COVID-related losses suffered by local businesses and the disappearance of $77,992 from treasurer Colleen Gober’s office. Gober said she returned from sick leave in June 2019 to discover the money missing. Authorities conducted a 16-month investigation ending in December that found no conclusive evidence of theft or mismanagement due to records being so poorly kept. Commissioners did not fire Gober, but voted 4-3 to approve a vote of no confidence in her and ordered her to implement better security measures.
Upper Macungie Township
Republican incumbent Sean Gill was ahead with 357 votes over Democrat Sunny Ghai’s 181 votes for a six-year seat on the three-member Board of Supervisors, according to unofficial counts. Gill, an Army veteran and terminal manager at Estes
Express Lines in Kutztown, is a former Lehigh County Republican Committee chairperson.
Both Ghai and Gill focused on development in the township, with both candidates’ agreeing on limiting warehouse expansions. The township supplies 26% of the Lehigh Valley’s industrial space, according to a recently completed 2019 comprehensive plan. However, Upper Macungie is “substantially developed and is at the break point of its ability to mitigate impacts of the existing warehouse cluster and any future expansion of this cluster,” the plan states.
Upper Mount Bethel Township
Republican incumbent John Bermingham and Democrat David Friedman, who both prevailed in write-in campaigns in the May primary to get on the November ballot as a candidate for both parties, appeared to have won two six-year seats on the five-member Board of Supervisors. Bergman and Friedman had 225 and 204 votes, respectively, while Independent Wayne Smith received 75 votes shortly after 10 p.m.
Both Bermingham’s and Friedman’s campaigns centered around township supervisors’ vote in September 2020 that eased the way for River Pointe
Logistics to build 13 manufacturing and distribution buildings on 725 acres of undeveloped land near Interstate 80. Residents say this would increase truck traffic and cause an eyesore while developers argue it would bring more jobs and tax revenue to the community.
Smith, an engineering supervisor, ran on a platform calling for more open dialogue and civility among township leaders at public meetings. Tense meetings about River Pointe Logistics over the summer gave the final push for him to run.
Plainfield Township
Republican incumbent Glenn Borger was leading in his bid for another six-year term on the board while Democratic challenger Donald Moore had a lead over Democratic incumbent Joyce Lambert. Unofficial results showed Borger with 437 votes and Moore with 413 votes. Lambert and Republican Robert Cornman Jr. had 352 and 315 and votes, respectively.
The election could determine what happens with Waste Management’s Grand Central Sanitary Landfill. Supervisors last year denied an early request that could have allowed the landfill to operate for an additional 20 years.