During the June 14 Lehigh County Board of Commissioners meeting, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio discussed the importance of adding a new position to help his office.

“With the growth of the office, the busyness of the office that continues to get increasingly busier, this operations manager position will allow us to move forward and be more modernized with the office and the direction I want to take it in,” Buglio said.

He urged the commissioners to pass bill 2023-22, which would allow for this new role.

“This is going to be a huge help to staff and the residents of Lehigh County and beyond for us to continue to do rapid response,” Buglio continued.

“This will give you the opportunity to spread out the on-call hours in your office, which is a 24/7 operation,” Chair Geoff Brace said. “And this is a reminder that your office is always required. That somebody has to be available to respond. The burden that you and the other on-call staff face needs to be spread out, and this will help in that endeavor.”

With the passage of this legislation, a new position of Grade 21 is added for an operations manager, with overtime funds being transferred to fund this new position.

In other business at the meeting, a number of bills received a first reading.

A sublease agreement with Sticky Pig LLC would allow for the county to enter into a lease with the Velodrome portion of the Bob Rodale Cycling and Fitness Park and provide food to its customers. Commissioner Zakiya Smalls is the sponsor.

Commissioner Ron Beitler disclosed he would abstain from the bill due to a business relationship with the company.

Commissioners Dave Harrington and Zach Cole-Borghi sponsored a bill allowing a “recidivist study which will give us a baseline to let us know how we are doing, insofar as preventing people from committing crime after they gone through our criminal justice system.”

The next meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. July 12 at the county government center, 17 S. Seventh St., Allentown.