Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to say Steve Meining is not interested in the supervisor position.

By Kristine Porter

kporter@tnonline.com

The Lower Towamensing Township supervisors officially accepted the resignation of Terry Kuehner at their meeting on Monday night.

Kuehner, who could not hold the seat due to prior felony convictions, submitted his resignation to the Carbon County District Attorney on Jan. 24, but the supervisors did not receive his letter of resignation in time for their February meeting.

Brent Green, chairman of the supervisors, said the township has received five letters of interest in the position over the past few weeks. Former Jay Mullikin has expressed interest.

Mullikin had been appointed to the supervisor position after the passing of Jesse Mendez. He ran against Kuehner, but lost his party’s nomination by one vote in the primary election. A woman asked why the position doesn’t just go straight to Mullikin since he ran for the seat.

“That’s not how the law works,” said township solicitor Jim Nanovic.

Nanovic explained that under the township code, it comes back to the supervisors to appoint someone.

“We have to go through this process,” he said.

Nanovic said that if the two current supervisors can’t agree on who to choose, then the decision would go to a vacancy board.

A man then asked if the supervisors could just offer the position to Mullikin first. He blamed himself for Mullikin losing the nomination, because he had to go to Florida unexpectedly due to a family emergency and wasn’t able to vote. He said it’s true that your vote does matter.

Green said they aren’t doing this because they question Mullikin’s qualifications for the position. This is what they did when Mendez passed away.

“It very well could be Jay that’s recommended. It’s just to give the option to those that are interested. There’s no right or wrong way to do that,” he said.

The board could just appoint Mullikin, “but I think out of fairness that we can say we looked at all the candidates and he’s still the best.”

Steve Meining gave the supervisors a letter with qualifications for supervisor. Meining said he was site manager of the New Jersey Zinc Co. and part of his work was filling vacancies. He presented a list of qualifications he thinks would be important for a township supervisor.

“I’d like you to add those to what you are already thinking about,” he said.

Meining does attend the meetings regularly and was the proponent for the regulation governing the township’s short-term rental ordinance.

Anyone interested in the open seat for supervisor can email a letter of interest to the township at lowertow@ptd.net, or mailed or dropped off at the township office. Green said there is a drop-off box at the office. The mailing address is 595 Hahns Dairy Road, Palmerton, PA 18071.

In order to qualify to be a supervisor, a person:

• Must be a resident of the township continuously for one year or more;

• Cannot be serving as a current elected official for another organization, and;

• Cannot be prevented from serving due to a legal reason.