By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

Weisenberg Township supervisors met Jan. 4 at the municipal building to reorganize for the new year.

Chairwoman Linda Gorgas was reappointed to her position and Supervisor Anthony Werley was named the board’s vice chairman.

Werley will serve as roadmaster, with Jim Werley named the assistant roadmaster.

Administrator Brian Carl was named township secretary and Janet Henritzy will serve as assistant secretary.

Jeff Strauss was appointed as township treasurer.

In other matters, supervisors approved a motion to apply a 12-percent pension plan contribution for all full-time employees, as well as the appointment of the supervisors and secretary to the pension board.

Barry Isett and Associates will be retained as township engineer for a three-month period to monitor billing, and for the retention to be re-evaluated after the three-month period.

Carl was appointed as the enforcement zoning officer, with Barry Isett and Associates serving as alternate enforcement zoning officer.

Barry Isett and Associates was also hired to serve as the residential, commercial and industrial construction inspector, as well as the health officer.

The board approved the retention of Norris, McLaughlin, PA as township solicitor.

Kozloff Stout Attorneys were retained as special counsel for the township.

Christopher Noll, of Keystone Consulting Engineers, was appointed to serve as sewage enforcement officer at the current rates.

Furthermore, a motion was approved by the board to retain New Tripoli Bank for township banking business.

Carl was named chairman of the vacancy board, open records officer and the township’s representative to the Lehigh Valley Insurance Co-op Board.

Gorgas will serve as the voting delegate at the annual Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors convention, and any authorized township employees were also granted permission to attend.

For the Uniform Construction Code Board of Appeal, Dennis Trexler was reappointed by the supervisors, as were alternates Peter Everett and Mark Schlofer.

Gorgas will be the township’s representative to the Northwestern Recreation Commission and Anthony Werley will be the representative to the Weisenberg and Lowhill Historical Society.

Supervisor Richard Bleiler will serve as representative to the Ontelaunee Park Veterans Memorial Committee.

All three supervisors and Carl were appointed representatives to the Northern Lehigh Planning Committee.

Carl and Henritzy were named as the contact and secondary contact persons for the 2021 census program, while Carl and Strauss were named as representative and alternate representative to the Earned Income Tax Collection Committee.

For the Lehigh County Hazard Mitigation Plan update, Carl and Frank Bartholomew were designated contacts.

Bartholomew will attend emergency management meetings and help complete fire reports for a set payment amount.

For the final appointment, Carl was named representative to the Tax Increment Financing Committee and West Hills Infrastructure District Management Association board of directors.

Regarding other business, supervisors approved a motion to bill Lowhill Township $10,000 quarterly, at the rate of $40,000 per year plus mileage, for township administrative and secretarial services.

A resolution setting fees for a tax certification, duplicate bills and returned or canceled check fees, effective Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2025, was approved, as was a second resolution setting the tax collector’s compensation at 5 percent of the total taxes collected for the same window of time.

A third resolution to approve the destruction of certain documents held by the tax collector was also passed.

Lastly, supervisors approved the amendment of the township’s employee manual to permit workers to carry over up to five unused vacation days up until Jan. 31 of a new year, if the employee is called into work for a weather-related emergency on any workdays between Dec. 18 to Dec. 31 and had vacation days scheduled in advance.