Bethlehem Township fills vacancy on board
Kristine Blake picked to replace late Commissioner Nolan.
A seldom used government body in Bethlehem Township cast the tie-breaking vote to appoint a fifth member to the Board of Commissioners.
In a 3-2 vote during a special session of the commissioners Monday night, Kristine Blake was appointed to fill the seat left vacant after the September death of longtime Commissioner Tom Nolan.
The three votes for Blake came from commissioners Malissa Davis and John Gallagher and the township’s Vacancy Board, which consists of one person, resident Frank Pologruto.
“This is the first time I’ve had to preside over the Vacancy Board,’’ Pologruto said.
The Vacancy Board was needed because the commissioners cast a tie vote to fill the seat during a special meeting in October. During that meeting, Commissioners John Merhottein and Mike Hudak voted for former Commissioner Arthur Murphy while Davis and Gallagher voted for Blake.
In addition to Blake and Murphy, Tim Brady was also nominated but did not get enough votes to make him a candidate.
Brady is the vice president of the Housenick Foundation which oversees a trust of about $1.7 million that goes toward construction and renovation projects at the William D. and Janet Housenick Memorial Park off Christian Springs Road.
Act 69, passed by the state General Assembly in 1933, requires townships to have a Vacancy Board consisting of one person who acts as chairman of the board to fill vacancies when the elected board is unable.
Blake will serve out the remainder of Nolan’s term, which expires in 2020.
The 43-year-old Democrat said she submitted her name as a candidate to get involved in the community.
“I’m happy to have been appointed. I want to get involved to help better the community,’’ she said.
Right now, she has no agenda or issues to pursue. “At this point I just want to get to know what the job entails, what the issues are and learn the responsibilities. This is my first foray into politics. I want to keep an open mind.’’
She will represent the township’s First Ward and has lived in that ward on Bedford Drive since 2006. She is married to William Blake, a Northampton County assistant district attorney.
Blake is employed by Pro Unlimited in East Hanover, N.J., which provides services to Novartis Pharmaceuticals in the ethics and compliance department.
She was a Northampton County assistant district attorney from 2008 to 2017 and an attorney for the Phillipsburg, NJ, law firm Winegar, Wilhelm, Glynn & Roemersmafrom 2005 to 2008.
In 2000, she earned a law degree from the Villanova University School of Law and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
In other business, the commissioners unanimously approved the hiring of two police officers to fill two vacancies in the department left by the retirements of Dean Wilson and Scott Lepare.
Those hired were Seth Williams, 30, of Wilson and Adam Ebner, 22, of Allentown.
Williams was a sergeant in the U.S. Army, where he served for seven years including one tour in Afghanistan.
He is a graduate of the Lackawanna Police Academy and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Missouri at St. Louis. He has been employed as an analyst for Dunn and Bradstreet.
Ebner has a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Penn State and has been employed as a security guard at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem.
Charles Malinchak is a freelance writer.