Rodney Conn received heartfelt words of praise at his last Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners meeting as a township official.<\/p>\n
Conn, Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners\u2019 vice president, chose to not run for reelection.<\/p>\n
The Dec. 11 commissioners\u2019 meeting was Conn\u2019s last meeting as a township commissioner. Conn\u2019s tenure concludes Dec. 31. The commissioners canceled the Dec. 23 meeting.<\/p>\n
Conn has served as a township official for nearly two decades, 17 years in total.<\/p>\n
In addition to his years as a township commissioner (2018-2025, serving as vice president since 2020 and commissioners\u2019 liaison on the Civil Service Board, 2024 and 2025), Conn was on the Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board (2008-2017) and the Salisbury Township Environmental Advisory Council (2018-2020).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been showing up for meetings pretty regularly for 17 years,\u201d Conn said in an interview with a reporter for The Press before the Dec. 11 meeting.<\/p>\n
Conn, a native of Mentor, Ohio, is a graduate of the University of Akron. He and his wife, Sarabel, moved to Salisbury Township 26 years ago.<\/p>\n
Conn worked as a chemist for 20 years before being employed as a senior scientist at Evonik Degussa Corp. Most recently, he was environmental health and safety director for Smooth-On, Inc., Lower Macungie Township.<\/p>\n
His wife was a chemist for Wacker Chemical Corp.<\/p>\n
They each retired eight years ago.<\/p>\n
At Nativity Cathedral, Bethlehem, he is the Rev. Rodney Conn, where he is a coordinator of the Cathedral\u2019s emergency shelter ministry (Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering), was a president of the board of directors and is property committee chairperson.<\/p>\n
Conn is a member of the Cathedral Church Standing Committee, Commission on Ministry, Mission Resources Grant Committee and the Reunification Discernment Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m stepping down from a couple of things to enjoy retirement,\u201d Conn told The Press.<\/p>\n
Of his role in Salisbury Township government, Conn told The Press, \u201cIt\u2019s been part of my life for 17 years,\u201d adding, \u201cI fell in love with Salisbury when I moved here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resolution approved by a 4-0 vote, with one commissioner absent at the Dec. 11 meeting, states \u201cConn represented the residents of the Fourth Ward with care and humility; and Mr. Conn\u2019s peaceful disposition and thoughtful consideration of the residents of Salisbury Township garnered him the respect of his colleagues and residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will miss Rodney for sure,\u201d Commissioner Alok Patnaik said.<\/p>\n
Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners\u2019 President Debra J. Brinton, who sits adjacent to Conn at the dais at commissioners\u2019 meetings, gave him a hug.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure working with you,\u201d Salisbury Township Director, Public Works Department, Jim Levernier said to Conn.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe [Conn] really took an interest in our police department,\u201d Salisbury Township Police Lt. Christopher Casey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did several ride-alongs [in Salisbury Police Department vehicles],\u201d Casey noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a leader who wanted to get involved with police, that\u2019s important to our leadership,\u201d Casey said.<\/p>\n
The township resolution honoring Conn concluded: \u201cThe Board of Commissioners extends its grateful appreciation to Rodney Conn for the dedicated service he has rendered to the township and best wishes and appreciation of the members of the board and staff be extended to Rodney Conn for his years of service to the community of Salisbury Township.\u201d<\/p>\n
The January 2026 Salisbury Township meeting schedule includes: 6 p.m. Jan. 5, board of commissioners reorganization to elect new board officers; 7 p.m. Jan. 8, board of commissioners\u2019 regular first meeting of month; 7 p.m. Jan. 14, zoning hearing board; 7 p.m. Jan. 22, board of commissioners\u2019 second meeting of month and 7 p.m. Jan. 28, planning commission.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY PAUL WILLISTEINSalisbury Township Board of Commissioners\u2019 Vice President Rodney Conn accepts a commemorative plaque for his 17 years of service as a Salisbury Township official from Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners\u2019 President Debra J. Brinton at the Dec. 11 township meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rodney Conn received heartfelt words of praise at his last Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners meeting as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-72134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72134","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=72134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}