Abington Reorganizes

The Abington Board of Commissioners held its reorganization meeting last night. While the board looks quite different with its four new members, its leadership remains the same.

administered the oath of office to the four incumbent commissioners in one fell swoop. They are:

• , Ward 1
• Wayne Luker, Ward 5
• , Ward 9
• , Ward 13 

The newcomers were sworn in one by one — each was accompanied by his or her family. The newly-minted commissioners are:

• , Ward 3
• , Ward 7
• , Ward 11
• , Ward 15

Board president Carol DiJoseph and board vice president Peggy Myers were each re-appointed unanimously by a vote of 14-0. (Commissioner Lori Schreiber was not in attendance; township manager Michael LeFevre said she had a death in the family earlier that evening.)

DiJoseph, on being appointed board president: 

“Being in politics, no one ever knows what’s going to happen waiting for an evening such as this,” DiJoseph said. “Of course I wondered, ‘Well, I don’t know if I’m going to be president again.’ And then I had a sign at around 3 o’clock. I heard that Andy Reid was going to continue as coach of the Eagles. I said, ‘If that man — after all the times he’s been vilified in the press, and everyone has called him all kind of names — if that man can come back as coach, they’re probably going to put me back in tonight as president.”

Notes:

• Rex Herder was re-appointed township solicitor through Dec. 31, 2013; the annual retainer is $105,000, paid in monthly installments. After some discussion, DiJoseph called Herder "a bargain." She also said she felt there was "no reason to entertain any other applications [for township solicitor]." Herder said he went to a fixed retainer in 2000 and added that his rate only increased once — from about $97,000 to the current $105,000. Newcomer Madeleine Dean — who voted for Herder — interrupted the roll-call vote, and said that she was uncomfortable voting for an appointment so shortly after being sworn in.

• The board of commissioners appointed Michael Powers to the position of township engineer through Dec. 31, 2013.

• The board of commissioners appointed James Carroll to the position of Chairman of the Vacancy Board through Dec. 31. Carroll was elected by a vote of 8-6. Former commissioner Michael O'Connor also received a nomination, but lost.

• Rabbi Lawrence Sernovitz of Old York Road Temple-Beth Am gave the invocation.

• Boy Scout Troop 72, which has been in operation since 1934 at the Roychester Community House, led the Pledge of Allegiance.