Two Incumbents Not Seeking Re-Election As Township Commissioner

South Whitehall Commissioner Howard Ellsworth announced Sunday that he will not seek re-election to the board of commissioners, as he shifts his priorities to family and travel.

Ellsworth, who is the board vice president, is the second of three incumbents to announce that he will not seek re-election to the board.  

"This was not an easy decision," Ellsworth said in a prepared release.

" With our daughter and grandchildren in Texas, and the rest of our family spread throughout the US, it has been difficult to balance the desire to spend quality extended time with them yet meet my commitments as a member and Vice President of the Board of Commissioners." 

Incumbent Brad Osborne, who is board president, said last week that he will not seek re-election to the board, and he will instead run for an at-large Lehigh County Commissioner seat. 

The third incumbent, Dale Daubert, was circulating nominating petitions last week but said he had not yet decided whether he'd run.

Ellsworth, a Republican, is serving the last year of his four-year term on the board. Prior to that, he served seven years with the planning commission.

In announcing his decision, Ellsworth lauded the township.

"I believe South Whitehall is one of the best places to live and raise a family in the valley and have embraced the opportunity to do my part in helping keep it that way," he said in the release.

He said he will leave the board knowing that the township is in good hands with township Manager Jon Hammer and a dedicated township staff.

"A strong management team can survive and even thrive despite major changes in the makeup of the Board of Commissioners," he said.

Ellsworth said that his main platform, when he ran for office four years ago, was to effect change by updating the Comprehensive Plan. The township's outdated strategy for managing township development hindered the planning commission's decision-making when he served there, he said.

The township also approved its first official map, which grew out of the comprehensive plan.

Ellsworth also cited his contributions to the following:

- Serving on the sub-committee to choose Hammer as township manager, the first new township manager in 22 years.

- Representing the township as a member of Lehigh County Congress of Governments.

- Serving on the sub-committee for interviewing and appointing volunteers to township Boards and Commissions.

- Undertaking the first human resources survey for staff.

- Surveying residents and businesses on their satisfaction with township services.

- Serving on a sub-committee to select a solicitor and engineer for the first time in more than 30 years. 

- Representing the township on the Western Lehigh Chamber of Commerce.

- Representing the township at celebratory functions.

"I have tried to listen, be fair, reasonable, yet firm in placing benefit to the majority of residents first in my decision-making," he said in the release. "With the 10 months left in my term, I look forward to continuing work on the goals we have set forth for the rest of this year."

Ellsworth said he is not ruling out the possibility of running for office in the future.