Upper Macungie Begins Search For Township Manager

A new year could bring a new leader to Upper Macungie.

Township supervisors voted Monday to hire the non-profit Meyner Center from Lafayette College in Easton to help them search for a township manager to run the 21,000-person community. 

"We are too big," Supervisor Kathy Rader said, noting that Upper Macungie is one of the few Lehigh County municipalities to not have a manager or administrator. "We cannot afford at this point not to have a manager.”

Meyner will charge $75 for its help, with costs capped at $6,000, but Rader said the center's director told her the fee rarely goes higher than $4,000.

The board also voted to set up a search committee of residents to help pick the manager. Supervisors said the hiring of a manager won't cancel out another proposed change in leadership: going from a three-member to five-member board.