After years of heated, hours-long meetings, voters in Lower Saucon Township are picking two people to join Council.
In a race that won’t change party control of Lower Saucon Township Council, the four candidates vying for two seats have vowed that they will help reestablish civility at meetings that have been famously contentious over the last two years.
Results are not yet available; check back for updates.
The two winners will succeed Republicans Jason Banonis and Thomas Carocci, both of who chose not to seek reelection. The pair led council when Republicans held a 4-1 advantage until 2023, when two Democrats, Laura Ray and Victoria Opthof-Cordaro, defeated Republicans and joined longtime council member and fellow Democrat Priscilla deLeon on the five-person board, giving them a majority.
Since then, council meetings have been heated at times, with exchanges of insults between members and at times residents in attendance.
Among its tasks come the January reorganization, the new council will have to determine what happens with Bethlehem Landfill, which is seeking to expand.
It also plans to hire a township manager to replace John Finnigan, who has worked as acting manager since Mark Hudson left in March 2024 and moved to a similar role in Hanover Township, Northampton County, where Finnigan worked before he retired.
Voters are choosing between two Democrats and two Republicans:
Democrat Chad G. Heimbecker, 47, works in information technology and web development, operating his own consulting business since 2007. Since 2023, he has been a member of the Lower Saucon Township Environmental Advisory Committee. An Allentown native who moved to Lower Saucon Township in 2013, he also has nearly 30 years of experience in road safety and served on the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation Committee.
Democrat Hunter Gress, 21, is a welder for Norfolk Southern Corp., volunteer firefighter with Lower Saucon Fire Rescue, an Eagle Scout and “a proud union worker.” He grew up in Lower Saucon and graduated from Saucon Valley High School.
Republican Cheyenne Reiman, 38, is a real estate broker who owns a brokerage company in Hellertown. She has lived nearly her entire life in the Saucon Valley. A Bethlehem Catholic High School alumnus, she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Cedar Crest College before moving into real estate. She calls it a blessing to raise her family in the same community she grew up in.
Republican Donna Louder, 65, served from 2016-19 on Lower Saucon Council. A retired health care professional, she has lived exclusively in Lower Saucon and attended Saucon Valley schools. She is also a Northampton Community College alumnus.
Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.