Bethlehem Township Commissioners Narrowly Elect President

Commissioners met Tuesday evening, Jan. 3, for their biennial reorganization meeting.

Sworn into office by District Judge Joseph Barner were new commissioners Phil Barnard and Martin Zawarsky, along with reelected commissioner Thomas Nolan.

All will serve through 2015.

Barnard and Zawarsky replace outgoing president Arthur Murphy, defeated by Zawarsky, and third ward representative Jerry Batcha, who did not run.

In the matter of electing a president and vice president for the township commission, Commissioner Paul Weiss, who formerly served as the commission's vice president, was elected by a 3-2 vote, with Commissioner Michael Hudak being voted vice president, also 3-2.

Zawarsky supported them both, while Barnard nominated and supported Nolan for both the presidency and vice presidency votes.

Weiss and Hudak will serve in the leadership roles until the end of 2013.

The board then reappointed a number of appointed township officials, along with various board and committee positions.

Notably, Township Manager Howard Kuntzler was reappointed, and commissioners voted to retain Broughal & DeVito for legal counsel and Pidcock Company as the township engineering consultants.

Other usual reorganization appointments were filled with reappointments to various committees and boards, with the only new appointment being that of Robert Szakos to the Municipal Authority, who will fill an unexpired term until 2014.