LEHIGH CO., Pa. – Less than a year after leaving Lehigh County government, former County Executive Phil Armstrong is back.<\/p>\n
Armstrong, 77, was appointed to the Board of Commissioners after Commissioner Jon Irons stepped down. He was one of 10 people who applied for the vacancy.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he thought he was finished with county government when he left the executive\u2019s office, Armstrong answered simply:<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong served two terms as county executive before leaving office eight months ago. He said the opening on the board gave him a chance to stay involved in issues he helped start during his administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there was an opening, I love being involved,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
His return also creates an unusual political dynamic.<\/p>\n
As county executive, Armstrong ran the administration. As a commissioner, he is now one of nine members of the legislative body.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have all the respect in the world for the county executive,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cNow, I\u2019m here strictly as one of nine, and I will work that way. But again, I will make sure my opinion is heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Current County Executive Josh Siegel said Armstrong\u2019s return was not something he expected when he succeeded him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gotta say, I didn\u2019t anticipate it when I succeeded Phil as county executive,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cIt was not on my bingo card that he would be back on the Board of Commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siegel had been openly critical of Armstrong\u2019s administration shortly after taking office, calling it a \u201ccaretaker administration\u201d that lacked energy and ideas.<\/p>\n
Siegel now says those comments were aimed more at Armstrong\u2019s governing style than his priorities, and that the two share many of the same political goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery much like me, an FDR kind of New Deal Democrat who believes in the legacy of our party and what our party is supposed to be about, which is fighting and standing up for working people and working families,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a great ally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong said he intends to continue working on projects that began while he was county executive.<\/p>\n
Among his priorities is making sure plans for a multi-county juvenile detention center continue moving forward. That project is expected to come back before commissioners at an upcoming meeting.<\/p>\n
Armstrong is also interested in expanding affordable housing, an area where he and Siegel appear to agree. Siegel is pursuing a $100 million housing plan.<\/p>\n
Armstrong\u2019s new nameplate at the commissioners\u2019 table was not yet ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are working on that,\u201d Armstrong joked. \u201cHave to get some nameplates from my office.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the nameplate is still being prepared, Armstrong says he already knows what he wants to accomplish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get involved with something and you start things, you want to make sure they keep going the way you were hoping they would go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong will serve out the remainder of the current commissioner term, which ends next year.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he plans to run for a full term, Armstrong said voters will have to \u201cwait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also continues to serve as treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and in a leadership role with a national county executives\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEHIGH CO., Pa. – Less than a year after leaving Lehigh County government, former County Executive Phil Armstrong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2313,119,121,120,1665,8111,852,16438,82608,433,883,16441,112720],"class_list":["post-267255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-affordable-housing","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-appointment","tag-board-of-commissioners","tag-county-executive","tag-josh-siegel","tag-juvenile-detention-center","tag-lehigh-county","tag-local-politics","tag-phil-armstrong","tag-political-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}