The Jan. 6 Lower Milford Supervisors meeting was conducted in two-parts; the first was the reorganization meeting, the second was the regular meeting as scheduled.

The reorganization meeting began with the changes to the board. Introduced at the December 2019 regular meeting, Ellen Koplin was formally recognized as a supervisor for Lower Milford Township and took her place on the board. Following her recognition, the nomination and appointment of the chairperson for the board of supervisors was decided.

Supervisor Donna Wright nominated John Quigley for the chairperson position and he was consequently appointed for the 2020 year. Following, Ellen Koplin was nominated and appointed as the vice-chair.

Next, Quigley went through the agenda and announced township positions, appointed positions on boards and commissions, as well as several organizational items.

Stacy Smith was appointed Lower Milford Township treasurer/bookkeeper. It was noted she is in the process of implementing Quickbooks, which will help organize the township’s accounting information. She was also appointed to be the township’s representative to the Lehigh County Tax Collection Committee.

Township Manager Zachary Cooperman retained his position as secretary.

Mark Cappuccio, Esq. and the firm of Eastburn and Gray, were, again, appointed township solicitor and planning commission solicitor for 2020.

Cowan Associates, Inc. was appointed as the township engineer and Embassy Bank was appointed the township’s designated depository.

John Kortvely, primary, and Scott C. Bieber, alternate, will remain the township’s sewage enforcement officers for 2020.

Following these announcements, long-serving Lower Milford Township resident Lowell Linde was nominated and appointed the township resident to the vacancy board for 2020. He was also retained on the historical commission for another three-year term. Lowell was in attendance for the meeting and thanked the board for re-appointment.

Also in attendance, Lois Gadek accepted her re-appointment to the planning commission and Emily Fucci accepted the position as township open records officer. Emily is also the township zoning officer.

Brian Dillman, who was not in attendance, submitted a letter applying for the position on the recreation and open space board and was appointed by the supervisors for the five-year term.

Lower Milford is still in search of one more resident who would like to join the township planning commission. Applications and information can be found online at lowermilford.org.

In other business, wages were announced for both 2020 non-union employees and the public works department. Each of these employees will be receiving a 3 percent salary increase, as it was decided non-union workers will receive the same salary increases dictated by the union workers in the township.

The public works director will receive $69,557, the zoning and planning administrator will receive $40,315, the township manager will receive $61,392 and the treasurer/bookkeeper will receive $39,000.

The most heated discussion of the night came with the announcement of the treasurer/bookkeeper salary. Formerly, the township treasurer/bookkeeper position was a part-time position which paid $22 an hour. However, after a short, closed-door meeting between the supervisors, they voted to increase the position to full time and pay a yearly salary with benefits.

The decision to increase the position to full-time was debated for some time once the supervisors returned to their seats. Quigley said he did not support this decision and felt the supervisors should not be making quick decisions like this, especially in terms of township finances.

Koplin retorted the treasurer/bookkeeper position should not have ever been reduced to part time and the past decision was made far too haphazardly. She argued that with her over 30 years of experience as township manager, she knows the responsibilities of that position and believes it needs to function as a full-time role.

This debate started the conversation of which roles and responsibilities the treasurer/bookkeeper were tasked to. Quigley argued many of the tasks could be handled by the township manager. However, when the question of which responsibilities were taken by Cooperman, he shared he could not present that at the time.

This led to Wright suggesting, “Perhaps a workshop meeting will be needed to go over each township employee’s job tasks and roles.”

The debate ended with a 2-1 vote, in favor of increasing the treasurer/bookkeeper position to full time.

Following this debate, it was quickly announced Berkheimer will remain the Earned Income Tax and Local Services Tax Collector for the township.

The reorganization meeting closed with the established holidays for the township.

The day and time for the regular monthly meeting of the board of supervisors was not changed. The meetings will take place 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. The workshop meeting will also remain the same. The workshop meetings, if needed, will take place 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. It is important to remember these are on an “as needed” basis and will not take place every month.