Last week, every governing body in our region reorganized, meaning they put officials, both elected and hired, into either positions of authority or work assignments.

This is a good time to look at some of our government bodies and see what is ahead for them.

We can’t cover all them or their issues here, so let’s just pick a few.

Summit Hill: Officials in this borough have to realize that constant talk of rats (rodents) is not a good look. More than one headline has appeared in this paper about the ongoing problem with the vermin in the borough. Residents have every right to be upset and demand that officials take care of the problem. Residents have complained about it for more than a year - it’s time to take care of this problem, pronto. My advice to Summit Hill residents: Don’t let up, keep hounding officials until it is solved. Be a pest, an even bigger pest than the rodents.

Kidder Township: You have a warehouse problem and unless you want heavy truck traffic on Route 940 officials need to come up with a way to prevent four warehouses from being built. Environmental groups are not happy and residents are concerned. Who can blame them? Look at what is happening in the Lehigh Valley and imagine that kind of truck traffic, or even a fraction of it, on Route 940 heading to and from Interstate 80. Having watched the boom in the Valley, if officials allow four warehouses it won’t be long before that number doubles or triples.

Lansford: Talk about getting the year off on the wrong foot. Borough officials looked like the Keystone State cops in their first meeting when they couldn’t decide on a secretary - the assistant secretary job is open too - and therefore had to close the office on Jan. 3. Let’s hope for the residents of Lansford, which is already dealing with a multitude of blighted properties, this is not a harbinger of things to come in 2024.

Schuylkill County: County commissioners and state elected officials, state Sen. David Argall and state Reps. Jamie Barton and Tim Twardzik, need to keep a key statistic in mind when it comes to Schuylkill County - the life expectancy rate in the county ranks 66th out of 67 counties in the state. Only Philadelphia County is worse. The population has dropped by more than five percent since 2000, another reason for concern as its residents age. Tamaqua is making strides in revitalizing the borough and the huge lettuce producing plant is a boost, but with a poverty rate of 12.2%, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates in July 2022, which is above the national average of 11.5%, county officials and state lawmakers representing Schuylkill residents have a lot of work to do. We’ll be keeping an eye on their progress.

Jim Thorpe and Lehighton: Enough of this bickering and finger pointing about the traffic patterns going into and out of Jim Thorpe on weekends. You both look silly. Sit down with county officials and PennDOT and figure out a way to make the traffic flow better without Lehighton businesses withering on the vine.

The new year is a time for a fresh start and creativity. I hope the New Year’s resolution for every official was: I am going to work my tail off and figure out ways to make things better for the people who voted me into office. If it wasn’t, the voters will notice.

Tom DeSchriver/tdeschriver@tnonline.com