Mayor-Elect Donchez Picks First 2 Cabinet Members

Bethlehem Mayor-elect Bob Donchez reached into county government and mined a family with a long history of city government service to fill two slots in his cabinet.

Alicia Miller Karner, the current administrator of economic development in Northampton County, will be the city’s new director of community and economic development.

Attorney William P. Leeson will serve as city solicitor in the Donchez administration. Both Leeson’s father, Joseph Leeson Sr., and brother Joseph “Jay” Leeson, have also been Bethlehem solicitors.

Donchez announced these appointments in a news conference at Town Hall on Monday. He said he expects to be making more appointment announcements in the weeks after Thanksgiving.

Donchez’s cabinet appointments will be subject to City Council review.

Karner would take over for Joe Kelly, who has been department director for three years, taking over in 2011 when longtime director Tony Hanna left to become executive director of the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority.

The department includes the city’s bureaus of health, code enforcement, planning & zoning and housing inspections, has 32 employees and an annual budget of a little more than $5 million. Kelly’s salary is $92,114 annually.

Karner, 39, of Bangor, has been in charge of the county’s economic development department since 2010. She is also the former chief of staff for state Sen. Lisa Boscola.

Leeson, 55, is a lifelong resident of Bethlehem and works full-time at his civil practice at Leeson, Leeson, Leeson Law Offices. He was an assistant solicitor for Northampton County for nine years and has been assistant solicitor in East Allen Township for the past seven years.

Leeson would take over for Jack Spirk as the city administration’s lead counsel. Spirk’s annual salary is $50,853.