Lower Towamensing Township finally has a new supervisor.

Michael Takerer was appointed Tuesday night via a vacancy hearing to fill the seat left behind by the resignation of Terry Kuehner. He was one of three people being considered for the position. The other two were Jay Mullikin and Dwight Hawk.

The vacancy hearing was called because Supervisors Connie Brown and Brent Green both supported different people at the March meeting.

At that meeting, Brown made a motion to appoint Dwight Hawk to the seat, but Green didn’t second her motion. Green nominated Jay Mullikin, but Brown would not second it. The decision would ultimately come down to Vacancy Board Chairman Scott Hawk.

Since Hawk was unfamiliar with the procedure of a vacancy hearing, township solicitor James Nanovic guided him through the steps.

As the hearing got underway, Dwight Hawk spoke up and said he was withdrawing his name from consideration, because Scott Hawk is his son. He said he knows of another Scott Hawk in the township, and thought maybe he was the one on the vacancy board. Since that was not the case, he withdrew in light of a possible conflict of interest. Some residents applauded him for his decision.

With two candidates left, they were asked to present a statement about who they are and why they wanted to be supervisor.

Mullikin, chairman of the Planning Commission in Lower Towamensing Township and a former supervisor, had been appointed to the position of supervisor following the death of Supervisor Bernard Jesse Mendez in 2019. He went on to run for the seat in 2021, but lost to Kuehner in the primary election in May to represent the Republican Party. He did garner votes during the general election as a write-in candidate, but did not beat Kuehner.

Takerer said he has lived in the township for 23 years and is the superintendent of the wastewater plant in Lehighton. He said he wanted to be a supervisor because he is interested in the sewer project and thinks his work experience can help the township with it.

Brown nominated Takerer, and again, Green nominated Mullikin.

The votes ended with Brown and Hawk casting their support for Takerer, and Green saying that he would support that decision. Takerer was then sworn in.

Following the meeting, Takerer said, “I just want to help out.”