LEWISBURG – The Union County commissioners took a first step toward restoring public confidence in the county housing authority. At their meeting Tuesday, commissioners appointed W. Gale Reish to serve a 4-year term on the Union County Housing Authority.
Reish has served on the board of directors for Evangelical Community Hospital and the Green Dragon Foundation. He takes over the seat that was occupied by Sam Wood.
Commissioners still have one vacancy remaining on the housing authority board. Gerald Torre was erroneously appointed by the authority in January and removed in October when it was discovered the appointment should have been made by county commissioners. Preston Boop, commissioner chairman says Torre is one of two individuals being considered for the seat and they expect to make the appointment at their next meeting.
When asked about the East Buffalo Township supervisors’ decision to rescind their support of the housing authority’s Penn Commons development, commissioners said they had not been made aware of the vote and had no comment. Boop, who has been critical of the development in the past questioned the use of taxpayer dollars for the project, “To build living units at twice or more the cost that a normal, ordinary builder in Union County would be is absurd. It’s unconscionable that we can take tax dollars and squander it just because we can.”
The authority’s next meeting is Wednesday at 12:30.
