Lehigh County commissioners unanimously passed the first reading of a bill to restart and fund a countywide Redevelopment Authority March 22.

Chair Geoff Brace explained, “in addition to supporting this, I actually think that the Redevelopment Authority, as it gets its bearings and begins its work in Catasauqua, I think the scale of redevelopment authority-related projects is pretty significant in Lehigh County. All of those projects will happen outside of the city of Allentown and the city of Bethlehem. This will be a great tool for other municipalities to use, because those two cities already have a redevelopment authority.”

Second reading will take place April 12.

A bill amending the 2023-2027 Lehigh County Capital Plan, which will include renovations to the Cedar View Apartments ,was also passed. Records show that an engineering inspection and audit declared the balconies unusable. Commissioner Jeffrey Dutt explained the findings. “When they went in to look at the balconies, they noticed there was some chipping of the cement, the facing of it. When they did further studies, they needed more repairs so I came forward to have this Capital Plan amended to include so the balconies will be safe for the residents of Cedar View Apartments.”

Dutt also explained funding in the capital plan for mail ballot extracting equipment and upgrading mail ballot sorting equipment registration.

“This is to purchase a novel of separators so that we will be counting ballots on election night faster and more efficiently. So that was put through our capital plan and will be purchased for this year, and up and running for this year’s election.” The bill passed unanimously.

Resolution 2023-14 Approving Professional Service Agreements with Kim Gillen, Esq., Michael Gough, Esq., and Hala Khouly Esq. to Act in the Capacity of Juvenile Dependency Attorneys was passed.

Commissioner Dave Harrington, who chairs the Courts and Corrections Committee, explained, “dependency has to do with children who, unfortunately, have not had a more watchful eye from the county, and Children and Youth, and things like that. So, this is a very crucial function that we do here in Lehigh County.”

The next meeting is scheduled for April 12.