There are two candidates for the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners, District 3, which comprises Catasauqua Borough and Hanover Township: Democrat Zachary Cole Borghi and Republican Jacqueline Rivera. Voters will choose one in the Nov. 2 election.

The candidates were asked to respond to the following question in 100 words or less:

Should Lehigh County have a health bureau to handle the next pandemic?

ZACHARY COLE BORGHI

A county health bureau has been a staple of my campaign and a prerogative of the current board of commissioners. I believe my election will help decide the health bureau’s fate since Republicans have notoriously voted against government-run aid; furthermore, the vote on the county health bureau may not arrive until the 2022 board takes control. I am in full support of the county health bureau. My hope is to appoint a dedicated opioid crisis coordinator to help educate youth, adults and government entities on the devastating effects opioids have on communities and how best to treat opioid dependencies.

JACQUELINE RIVERA

Great question. I will be honest, when I first heard of this argument, I automatically didn’t believe I wanted to support wasting taxpayer money on a county health bureau when the Allentown and Bethlehem health bureau do an amazing job. However, I will be open minded in this discussion and support meetings taking place with the Allentown and Bethlehem health bureaus to see if there is a need for this. We shouldn’t jump on wasting money for this until we can prove to everyone the need for it with having all parties involved in the discussion.