Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners will hold a special meeting 7 p.m. May 24 to appoint a commissioner to fill the vacant seat on the seven-member board.

Commissioner Gerard “Jerry” Palagonia resigned from his elective office April 11.

The three candidates seeking the commissioners appointment are Shawn B. Clary, a social studies teacher at Whitehall-Coplay Middle School; Joseph J. Marx Jr., a member of Coplay-Whitehall Sewer Authority and employed in business; and Dennis Yoo, employed by the City of Bethlehem.

Interviews by the commissioners with the candidates seeking the appointment were held May 11 at the township municipal building.

The three men vying for the appointment are registered Democrats, per information received from the Lehigh County Voter Registration Office.

In a 2015 general election referendum question, township residents voted favorably that when a vacancy exists on the board of commissioners, the appointee must be of the same political party as the person leaving the elective office. Palagonia is registered as a Democrat.

There were two township residents, Kerry S. Kromer and Victor Nasser, who applied for the seat but were ineligible since their political affiliation is registered with the Republican party.

Commissioners’ political alignment shows five Democrats - Phillips Armstrong, Philip Ginder, Dennis Hower, Thomas Slonaker and Linda Snyder - and one Republican- Jeffrey Dutt - elected in November and seated in January.