EMMAUS, Pa. — Five applicants for an empty seat on Emmaus Borough Council were interviewed on the spot Monday, delivering passionate visions for the borough's future.
After more than an hour of lengthy and, at times, challenging interviews, however, council voted to appoint former councilman Chris Defrain, who previously served eight years.
"This isn't Republican and Democrat. This is about doing what's right for Emmaus. So if there ever is a place to put more than eight years in, it's on Emmaus Borough Council."Chris Defrain
Defrain, who resigned in 2023, also was chairman of council's budget and finance committee, and once served as its vice president.
"I'll be honest, I told everybody I believe in term limits, and that was my eight years. I had to reconcile this with myself and have conversations," he said, explaining why he chose to return.
Defrain also said he had experienced health problems near the end of his term, which he said, thankfully, are no longer an issue.
"Anyone who knows me knows it had a little bit of a rough health experience there," Defrain said. "So kind of two of those years, they were kind of lost. I am healthy now."
In his interview, Defrain said his decision to come back was partially influenced by the borough's recent property tax hike, but also by a love for the area.
"This isn't Republican and Democrat," he said. "This is about doing what's right for Emmaus. So if there ever is a place to put more than eight years in, it's on Emmaus Borough Council."
Defrain said he has spent 30 years of his career as a CPA, and now runs a small accounting business, which is not time consuming.
"If I work 10 hours a week, that's a busy week," he said.
Defrain took an oath of office and took the empty seat at council.
Tax hike
In every interview Monday, one of the first questions asked by Councilman Brent Labenburg was whether, if not for the recent tax hike, the applicant would be applying for the seat.
All of the answers — some more avoidant than others — leaned toward "no."
Borough Manager Shane Pepe said five applicants for a council seat was not a record.
"If anything it was a record low," Pepe said. "There were something like 12 last time."
Asked about the tax hike, Pepe said there was nothing the borough reasonably could have done to avoid it.
"Here's the problem," he said. "My boss has voted to fire my assistant manager — in front of her — and my parks director, and eliminate another management position."
"So, like, I'm three less managers, I am a second ambulance less with dismissing another full-time ambulance employee and part time employees that go with that.
"And that saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. The problem is, you know, costs keep going up exponentially."
Pepe said the borough even briefly considered reducing ink cartridge purchases for the printers.
He said a large bulk of the costs come from expenses related to union employees.
"You know, the cost to run a single [full-time] police officer is $200,000 a year, whether you're in Emmaus or Salisbury Township or Whitehall Township or South Whitehall or the city of Allentown," he said.
"Multiply that by 20 full time police officers, right? It's a big number."
Prospects
After Defrain's appointment, he went around the room and shook all the other applicants' hands and wished them luck in their political careers.
Multiple times, various members of the council offered to get in touch with the other candidates and help them organize the paperwork needed to run for future positions.
One applicant who said he took the suggestion to heart was Neil Valois.
Valois, who spent much of his career in law enforcement and as a private investigator, moved to Emmaus from New York four years ago.
He seemed well prepared for the interview, and made it clear that he's read just about everything there is to know about how council operates — so much so, that he said he became inspired by some of its inner-workings.
"It's a lot more complex than I thought."Emmaus Council applicant Neil Valois
"It's a lot more complex than I thought," he said. "What I learned was that Emmaus is doing a really good job, and even some of my own criticisms that I've had, I have learned, and even going back into some of the old agendas, you guys are actually addressing some of these issues."
Valois admitted he was disappointed by Monday's result, but said he was grateful that borough council offered to help him put together his paperwork to run, and was not discouraged.
"I'm not annoyed or upset, just more because I was excited, I wanted to be able to represent for the residents, really," he said. "But no, it was a learning experience and it's a good start."
Other candidates
The other candidates were:
Sarah Dagnall, a social worker who was vocally outraged over the tax hike and other borough matters. Dagnall said she grew up on a farm in New Jersey, and moved to Emmaus two years ago.
During her interview, Dagnall criticized Pepe's salary.
“I have some questions about the money that’s being spent,” she said.
“The borough president’s salary, to me, that's a ridiculous salary that should be more in the 60-grand range, not the 90-grand range. That's the first complaint that I have.”
Pepe’s salary is more than $130,000 a year, but in 2024 the Borough paid 59 percent of it, which is just over $85,000.
Spencer Steele, a Lutheran Pastor from California, who shared his vision for a more connected and neighborly and affordable Emmaus.
“I love my neighbors, and I want to make sure that people aren't pushed down by cost or by lack of service, or any of these issues,” Steele said.
Steele pitched fundraising ideas, such as selling bags for fall leaves at the borough level, and said his biggest reason for applying for the empty seat was because of his children.
“Emmaus is the place where I raised my children and built a family and a life," he said. "I want to see succeed. I want to see the people of the city succeed.”
David Hickey, a paramedic with the borough who holds holds two bachelor’s degrees, an associate’s degree and a master’s degree.
"I've always had a sense of wanting to get into the political world, get into the council world, and move up from there," Hickey said.
Hickey pitched different frameworks for managing money in the borough, as well as general cost-cutting.
“See how we’re doing the same service we're doing here, and doing kind of something similar here, where maybe we can actually combine the two save a little bit of money,” he said.
“Things like that.”
