WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — The five-week vacancy on the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners will be filled on Wednesday.
Commissioners on Monday night conducted interviews with three candidates to fill the vacant seat created when Robert Piligian resigned on Feb. 12.
The term of the seat Piligian filled expires at the end of 2025.
Anthony Cocca and Philip Ginder, two retired, long-time civil servants in Whitehall Township, and newcomer Taylor Stakes each was interviewed for 30 minutes.
The new commissioner will be appointed at a special meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the municipal building.
Anthony Cocca
Anthony Cocca, 75, is a 65-year resident of Whitehall. He is a Whitehall High School graduate and former director of the township’s recreation department.
He taught social studies in the school district for 35 years, and was a football coach at Whitehall and Nazareth Area High School. He has a bachelor's degree from Kutztown University.
“I want to be an independent voice in government,” Cocca, a registered Democrat, told the board.
“As recreation commissioner, I worked with the board of commissioners. I know how decisions are made. I’ll try to be black-and-white; there’s not a lot of gray in my life.
"I figured I’d take the opportunity here and see if it works.”
Cocca said he is interested in adding more recreation facilities in the township and also in increasing its industrial base.
“I’d like to get people working, have manufacturing and getting people a steady income,” he said.
Cocca said he is “vehemently” against any more warehouses being built in the township, he told the board.
Cocca is not on the ballot for the election primary on May 20.
“If I like it in the short run, I may run,” he said.
“I don’t know what the job is, but I have an idea,” he said. “I’ve gone through 30 years of coaching at various places before I became a head coach. There’s a learning curve.”
Taylor Stakes
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Stakes relocated to Whitehall in 2023 with his wife and three young children.
Stakes, 36, has a background in municipal government. He worked as a city council aide in San Antonio and was involved in planning and zoning.
Stakes told the board he also volunteered for his homeowners association, or HOA, in San Antonio.
“It was a 975-homes community that had a lot of similar issues that plague a city — traffic, services, lawsuits,” he said.
Stakes, a Democrat, said he hopes to bring his expertise and skills in municipal government to Whitehall.
“I have time to commit to serving the people of Whitehall,” he said. “I want to be involved in my community.”
Stakes holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a master's from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
He is employed remotely by TimelyCare, a mental health care company for higher education.
Stakes also serves as an adjunct professor in the Lehigh Carbon Community College communications department. He formerly worked in the communications department at Lehigh University.
Among the pressing issues Stakes sees in Whitehall are the safety of MacArthur Road, responsible development and ensuring the zoning codes represent the goals of the city.
Philip Ginder
Ginder, 74, has served Whitehall Township in a variety of positions.
A 49-year township resident, he was on the board of commissioners for 24 years, the planning commission for six years and the traffic advisory board for five years.
He also served on the school board relations commission.
Ginder, a Democrat, is not on the ballot for the primary election in May.
“I can do this job for eight months, because that’s what you’re looking for,” he said, of filling out the term of Piligian’s seat.
“I know the difference between an ordinance and a resolution. I did it pretty well.
“Also, between public meetings and workshops, I missed two meetings in 24 years as a commissioner.”
Ginder said he is not opposed to implementing a tax increase to meet a budget “if it’s to do what residents expect of us.”
“We have to take care of things we need, not put them on the back burner, like buying police cars, a grader or dump truck," he said. "We can’t fall behind.
"If taxes have to be raised to make the township meet the budget to do what residents want us to do, we do it.”
Ginder is a Vietnam War combat veteran, and attained the rank of Army sergeant.
He got a bachelor's degree at Eastern Kentucky University in 1975 and spent 40 years as a mechanical contractor.
