Civil Municipal Magazine - Dec 2023

224 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 12 Bouncing back from COVID While “agra-tainment” entrepreneurs were busy creating a new home-grown industry, COVID caused the cessation of many township events and enterprises. Recreation and Communications Coordinator, Courtney Corona, notes that it only recently reintroduced its popular summer camp program with 155 children between the ages of 6-12, as well as the annual Senior Day, which was put on hiatus for three years. “We ran Senior Day for 13 or 14 years prior to the pandemic,” she relates. “Once it hit, the township decided to stop for a few years in order to protect our older more vulnerable population. We also plan to bring back our Veterans Day event, which lets us honor our veterans. We are also hosting our Third annual Christmas tree lighting this year, which brings together a bunch of different community organizations and vendors, and gets the community together for our Christmas event.” “The main event is the Schnecksville Fair,” says Cope. “It’s a large scale fair for the area with fireworks, vendors, rides, farm shows, derby racing, etc. that brings in thousands of visitors into the township. The community and the Board of Supervisors have been very supportive of those recreational efforts, understanding that that is what builds community. It gets the residents out to talk with each other; they see some neighbors that they haven’t seen in a long time.” Infrastructure challenges and successes Keeping up with infrastructure needs is a necessary agenda item for any municipality. Challenges for North Whitehall include: providing sustainable roadways to keep up with Lehigh Valley’s ever-increasing traffic flow; working with local developers to provide more pedestrian access throughout the township; and updating its 537 Plan, which is the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act’s mandate for local municipalities to address sewage disposal needs and upgrades. “We’ve been taking a very serious approach to our infrastructure here in the township,” Cope declares. “We recently completed the rehabilitation of a new bridge on Park Valley Road. That’s something