Following the oath of office ceremony, the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners held its organizational meeting Jan. 5 where the chair and vice chair were elected, alongside a number of other appointments to the Lehigh County Election Board.

Before getting into the nominations and appointments, there were a few virtual participants who took time to comment on current events.

Ed Angelo labeled President Donald Trump a “fascist dictator” and once again expressed his plea for more Americans to speak out and denounce the horrible and unconstitutional actions of our current president.

Susan Jordhamo concurred and voiced her desire to join Angelo in the request for the board to pass a resolution officially denouncing Trump. Lastly, Mohammed Khaku spoke of the large-scale military operation which Trump ordered to capture the Venezuelan president Jan. 3 for charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy. Khaku expressed deep concern over these actions, stating the “U.S. is no longer acting as the world’s policeman, but more like a global gangster.”

Moving on to the nomination and election of both the chairperson and vice chairperson of the board of commissioners, the discussion relating to the chair was a rather short one. Commissioner Ron Beitler proposed the board retain Geoff Brace as the chairperson and this nomination was unanimously voted upon.

When it came to the election of vice chairperson, both Commissioner Sheila Alvarado and Beitler were nominated. Several commissioners took the time to speak and the question most predominantly up for debate was whether or not to maintain a bipartisan leadership structure. To this end, Commissioner Dan Hartzell and newly-elected Commissioner Sarah Fevig spoke in favor of Beitler.

On the other side, Brace is entering the sixth year as chair and said, “It is perhaps too long for one person to be in the role of chair.” As such, Brace strongly believes the elected vice chairperson shall be one that will train to fill the shoes of the next chair of the board.

With that in mind and even foregoing his usual tendencies toward bipartisan governance, Brace is confident Alvarado will rise to the task. The vote concluded 5-4 in favor of Alvarado as the elected vice chairperson.

A motion was made and approved setting the scheduled meetings for 2026 at twice each month during the entire calendar year. They will take place 7:30 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesdays with exceptions in the months of November and December due to the holidays.

Next on the agenda was the appointments to the Lehigh County Board of Elections with a term expiring Dec. 31, 2029. The board voted in favor of the recommendation from the governance committee to appoint Michael O’Hare as the Republican candidate.

For the Democratic candidates, the board chose to vote against the recommendation of the governance committee and rather appointed the incumbent Dr. Jennifer Allen.

Brace likened the choice for the Democratic candidate as an “embarrassment of riches” because the candidates presented were highly qualified; however, in the end, the board voted 6-3 in favor of Allen over Kathleen Parsons.

The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners will meet 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14.