When George Gress ran for Lower Saucon Township Council a few years back and lost, he told his son, Hunter: It’s your turn to run.
“He kind of put a bug in my ear,” the younger Gress said Wednesday. “He mentioned they were looking for people. I thought about the issues in the township and what’s at stake, and made that decision on my own.”
Hunter Gress said he wasn’t of legal drinking age when he filed his first nominating petition. But in January, Gress, 21, will be sworn in on council, joining Chad G. Heimbecker, another newcomer, on what will be an all Democratic board.
Gress was the top vote-getter, with Heimbecker finishing second, according to unofficial Northampton County vote totals, defeating Republicans Donna Louder and Cheyenne Reiman.
“These results show that our township is not for sale,” Heimbecker said Wednesday, “that Hunter and I ran this campaign on a shoestring budget to the residents who live here and we represent and serve.”
Campaign files show that a political action committee run by the owner of the Bethlehem Landfill help funded the runs by Louder and Reiman, according to Heimbecker.
“The people have spoken, but I am saddened that the voice of the Republicans has been left with no representation,” Louder said in a statement. Reiman did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The two Democratic winners will succeed Republicans Jason Banonis and Thomas Carocci, both of who chose not to seek reelection. The pair led council when Republicans held a 4-1 advantage until 2023. Two Democrats, Laura Ray and Victoria Opthof-Cordaro, defeated Republicans and joined longtime Council member and fellow Democrat Priscilla deLeon on the five-person board, giving them a majority.
Since then, council meetings have been heated at times, with exchanges of insults between members and at times residents in attendance.
All four candidates vowed this year they would help reestablish civility at meetings that have been famously contentious over the last two years.
Among its tasks come the January reorganization, the new council will have to determine what happens with Bethlehem Landfill, which is seeking to expand.
It also plans to hire a township manager to replace John Finnigan, who has worked as acting manager since Mark Hudson left in March 2024 and moved to a similar role in Hanover Township, Northampton County, where Finnigan worked before he retired.
DeLeon, the township’s longtime council member, said she is not certain but believes Gress will be the youngest serving council member in the history of the township, which was incorporated in 1743.
Gress is a union welder for Norfolk Southern Corp., volunteer firefighter with Lower Saucon Fire Rescue, and an Eagle Scout. He grew up in Lower Saucon and graduated from Saucon Valley High School.
Heimbecker, 47, works in information technology and web development, operating his own consulting business since 2007. Since 2023, he has been a member of the Lower Saucon Township Environmental Advisory Committee. An Allentown native who moved to Lower Saucon Township in 2013, he also has nearly 30 years of experience in road safety and served on the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation Committee.
Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.
