Lansford Borough Council has new leadership.

Council appointed Joseph Genits as president and Joseph Butrie as vice president at a special meeting Thursday night.

Genits, who was council vice president, had been serving as acting president since George Gilbert resigned Jan. 19, two weeks after being seated.

Genits said serving as acting council president has given him renewed insight into the daily operations of the borough, the many emails received daily and the few complaints.

He also acknowledged the many grants written by past council president, Bruce Markovich, who was absent from the meeting, and expressed his hope that he would continue to make contributions as a committee chair.

“I give him credit for all that he did, and I certainly acknowledge his due diligence with his great writing abilities,” Genits said.

Markovich has adamantly stated that he is not interested in continuing to work on grants and wanted to step back after serving as council president for six years.

“No, that is out of the question. That’s 100% out of the question,” Markovich said during the Jan. 14 council meeting when asked about continuing the grant paperwork and administration.

“That’s why I stepped down. So, I don’t have to do this,” he said.

Genits still selected Markovich to head the economic development/tourism/grant development committee for borough council and also serve as chair of the zoning and ordinance committee.

Genits proposed the new committee assignments on Feb. 17, as serving as acting council president and sent them to council members for input on how they preferred to have their committee meetings, he said.

Genits only heard back from five of the seven council members, he said, and Markovich was not among those.

On Thursday, committee chairs set dates and times for their meetings moving forward. Instead of having one workshop type meeting, committee chair selected back-to-back meetings for the first Thursday of the month starting at 5 p.m.

Committees are as follows:

• Municipal administration: Genits, chair; Jack Soberick, Michele Bartek.

• Zoning and ordinance: Markovich, chair, Butrie, John Zym.

• Public safety: Soberick, chair; Butrie, Zym.

• Public works/streets: Butrie, chair; Soberick, Markovich.

• Parks/recreation: Gwyneth Collevechio, chair; Bartek, Markovich.

• Economic development/tourism/grant development: Markovich, chair; Bartek, Collevechio.

• Handicapped parking review: Bartek, chair; Collevechio, Mayor Denise Leibensperger.

Starting March 5, municipal administration will meet at 5 p.m.; public safety, 6 p.m.; and public works/streets, 7 p.m. Handicapped parking review will be held as needed the same day at 5:30 p.m.

Genits will reach out to Markovich to see when he would like his committees to meet, if he chooses to accept the chairmanships.

Some in attendance felt Genits should move forward and choose a different chairman, since Markovich has not responded to emails regarding the committee assignments.

A meeting time and date was not set for parks/recreation. Collevechio joined the meeting by phone late.