Frustrations boil over in Whitehall as board appoints new commissioner
Frustration and lengthy debates preceded the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners swearing in a new member Monday night.
Robert Piligian, chair of the township’s planning commission, was chosen to fill the vacancy left by former board president Joseph Marx becoming mayor.
The deadline for the appointment was Wednesday. Commissioners Randy Atiyeh and Alberta Scarfaro couldn’t attend the meeting, leaving Slonaker, Jeff Warren, Ken Snyder and Elizabeth Fox to consider the appointment.
The disagreements from the sitting board members came about over who to nominate and if they were properly doing so. At least four commissioners most vote for the same candidate before an appointment can go through, Township Solicitor Jack Gross said.
Four people applied for the position: Piligian, Michael Cocca, Danielle Devine and Ron Scholler.
Snyder initially motioned to nominate Piligian, with everyone but Warren voting in favor. Warren moved to nominate Cocca; when that didn’t garner votes, he motioned for Scholler’s nomination, which everyone but Snyder voted in favor of.
Snyder questioned Scholler’s nomination, saying that he didn’t know anything about him and that only Piligian and Cocca, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for mayor in last year’s primary election, appeared for interviews.
“The fact that this was even a nominee kind of flabbergasted me and caught me a little off guard tonight,” Snyder said.
Marx said that Scholler withdrew his application, blaming conflicts with his schedule and workload, to which Slonaker, the board president, said the board can still nominate anyone until a candidate accepts or denies the position.
Warren vouched for Scholler, who is a retired South Whitehall Township police officer who ran for magisterial district judge and has a “handle” on many municipal issues. Fox also pointed out that Scholler served in the United States Air Force.
“I like his application,” Warren said.
Two residents agreed that not showing up for the interviews should disqualify a candidate, while two other residents expressed concern over Atiyeh and Scarfaro not being present for the vote.
After finishing the rest of the board’s business on Monday’s agenda, the commissioners returned to the discussion of the appointment.
Snyder and Slonaker went back and forth on how to proceed at one point, with Slonaker imploring Snyder or another commissioner to once again nominate a candidate for the appointment, and Snyder repeatedly requesting the record to show that some candidates such as Cocca weren’t present for the Monday meeting.
Eventually, an exasperated Warren nominated Piligian for the position, for which the board voted unanimously in favor.
“A sunny day is a battle,” Warren told Snyder. “We’re done. We’re done with your battles.”
“Relax,” Slonaker said. Speaking after the meeting, Piligian said he’ll hold both the tittle of commissioner and planning commission chair while Gross investigates how to resolve that.
In other meeting news, the Board of Commissioners unanimously designated the Mickley-Prydun Farm as a place of historical significance.
The property at 3540 Ruch St., which contains a 19th century farmstead and 18th century summer kitchen, was purchased by Whitehall in 2013 for $310,000. It will receive upgrades such as rehabilitating the outside brick façade, repairing the wooden beam structure, renovating the bathroom for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, HVAC, plumbing and electrical work.
Warren, who worked to help secure funding for the restoration, said last week that the township has just under $350,000 to use for exterior and interior work for both
structures. The goal is to make it ready by the United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026, as well as to make it accessible to the public for small gatherings.
While the township hasn’t made specific plans to celebrate or collaborated with groups like America250 yet, Warren said he hopes the restored farm can host celebratory events such as historical reenactments.
During the American Revolution, John Mickley secretly transported the Liberty Bell to the Lehigh Valley while he was a private in the Northampton County militia.