The Lower Milford Township Board of Supervisors met 6:30 p.m. Jan. 5 to hold the township’s organization meeting, followed by the regular meeting which typically occurs the third Thursday of the month.

The supervisors determined there would not be a need for another meeting in January; therefore, they will continue with the schedule to meet for workshop the first Thursday in February unless a particular matter necessitates a special meeting. If not, the next regularly scheduled meeting will take place 6:30 p.m. Feb. 19 and will be open to the public.

Some of the first items on the agenda included the official organization of the board of supervisors. With a couple new faces looking out at the crowd, Tim Cougle was named the chair, while Susan LaBrie was named vice chair.

Also voted to remain in their previously-held positions, Emily Fucci, township secretary and Wendy Stryker, township treasurer.

Mark Cappuccio, Esq., Eastburn & Gray, was appointed to remain the township solicitor and planning commission solicitor for 2026. The HR Council appointed for 2026 will also remain as Joseph Rudolf and the firm of Clark Hill.

Several motions were made and approved, including the authorization for the supervisors to work on township roads and for the advertisement of township meetings throughout the upcoming year.

The regular monthly meetings for the board of supervisors were confirmed to remain 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month and in a similar fashion, the workshop meetings will occur 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month.

LaBrie was designated to be the voting delegate to the 2026 annual Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors convention in Hershey, as Cougle was unsure of his ability to attend this year. Supervisor Jason Flexer was appointed to serve as chairperson of the agricultural advisory board.

A motion was made to accept the letter of interest submitted by Jeffrey Tankred as he will once again serve as the resident to the vacancy board with a term expiring Dec. 31.

A number of other appointments carried over from the previous year, including the township engineer, building code official and building inspector, township sewage enforcement officers, open records officer and several more.

Residents were also appointed to terms holding nonelected positions, such as to the zoning hearing board, planning commission and historic commission.

The full list of appointments made as part of the organization meeting will be viewable online at www.lowermilford.org once the meeting minutes have been uploaded to the website, specifically on the board of supervisors page.

Establishing the 2026 wages for nonunion employees brought about a discussion among the board as Flexer advocated for an increase to the wages for township treasurer, township administrator and administrative assistant. After discussion and calculation, Flexer made a motion to add $2,000 to the wages listed for each of the three nonunion positions. LaBrie made her opposition to the motion clear by voting against; however, she was outnumbered by a 2-1 vote, and thus the wages were respectively increased to $61,000, $75,000 and $50,000.

Multiple announcements were made pertaining to the wages for the public works department in accordance with the 2026-2028 contract, as well as Berkheimer being the earned income tax and local services tax collector for the township as selected by the Lehigh County Tax Collection Committee.

The holiday schedule was also agreed upon as there will be 11 established holidays in which the township office will be closed in 2026.

Nearing the end of the agenda items for the organization meeting, five resolutions were reviewed and approved. These included setting of the 2026 fee schedule, authorization for payments of certain expenses, appointing residents to the zoning hearing board, authorizing a cap for the township’s purchase of agricultural easements within township boundaries and a blanket approval of the fire police to assist in events outside of the township boundaries.

With no public comments made, the organization meeting was adjourned. After a brief break, Cougle began the first regular meeting of the year.

The minutes from the Dec. 18, 2025, regular meeting were approved and a motion was made to authorize payment of the January bills.

When discussing old business, there was an unfortunate hiccup with the planned approach to collect and recycle Christmas trees as the process has proved more challenging than initially anticipated.

During the Dec. 18, 2025, meeting the supervisors agreed to advertise collection of Christmas trees on the property they would then work to donate to local goat farms. However, many of the farms confirmed they would not accept the trees, primarily on the basis of not knowing whether sprays or chemicals were used which could in turn harm their animals, as well as the trees not being freshly cut.

Moving into new business, there was a discussion over the decision to appoint a single supervisor as the keyholder. Cougle provided some background as there were previous issues with supervisors maintaining the keys to the buildings on the property. As a result of these past instances, a formal policy was made to designate a lone supervisor to hold the keys in addition to the office staff who already have such keys.

In the end, a motion was made and unanimously approved for all of the supervisors to be given the keys and passcodes to all township property buildings.

The supervisors agreed there were no pressing issues or resolutions to be voted on which would prompt the need to meet again in January. Therefore, the next meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Feb. 19, unless a matter arises calling the need for a special meeting.

Visit www.lowermilford.org/bos-agenda-and-minutes to monitor for upcoming township meeting activity.