LEHIGH TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS  September 6, 2024  I.  CALLTO ORDER. The Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors held a special meeting on Friday, September 6, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. for the purpose of conducting interviews with candidates for tax collector who would not be able to attend the September 10, 2024, meeting. The meeting was. held at 1069 Municipal Road, Walnutport Pa. 18088. Chairman Mike Jones called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll  call.  Present:  Janet Sheats Jerry Pritchard Mike Jones David Hess Alice Rehrig  II. TAX COLLECTOR INTERVIEW Interview with Thyler Hantz  Mr. Hantz has his BA in Accounting and an. Associates in Business Management. He has been employed for the past nine years in a local accounting firm. He started as an intern and over the years he worked up to Senior Accountant and nowi is partner of the firm. He has been tasked with doing business financials, income taxes, property/rent tax rebates, It seems as though you are al busy person, if chosen, how would youjuggle being a tax collector ofLehigh Township? Mr. Hantz does have multiple things going on, but is slowly starting to get out of some stuff sol he will have plenty of free time to attend to the Ifsomeone wins an election, it is mandatory for them to take a class. Are you willing to take that class since you are being appointed rather than elected? Mr. Hantzi indicated he The tax collector is an independent contractor. Do you realize you are responsible for the Ifappointed, will you be able to set up an office to accommodate the community? Yes. Are you working full time now? Yes. Will you be able tol hold office hours for at least three days during each of the last two weeks of discount as required? Mr. Hantz commented he is done working at 3:00 p.m. He can be available from that time until  basically a well detailed financial background.  position and make sure it gets done on1 time.  isv willing to do whatever is required oft the position.  items needed to perform the job? Mr. Hantz noted he was aware.    Supervisor Minutes Special Meeting September 6, 2024  10:00 p.m. What happens if someone works middle shift and cannot make it during those hours? Mr. Hantz commented his hours at work are: flexible and he is only five minutes from home. Ifsomeone contacts him, he can make arrangements for them. Do you believe you will be able to work with the outgoing tax collector to get things up and running? Mr. Hantz commented hel has no problems working with the outgoing tax collector as long as shei is willing to work with the person who takes over and provide the What do you think is a reasonable time to record payments and make deposit funds? Mr. How long do you think it would take you to get your office up and running ifa appointed? Mr. Hantz commented he already has a home office SO he would pretty much be able to The outgoing tax collector will be bringing you: some backdated records, not just records you would need to collect taxes from. You may need to go back and bring things up to date or troubleshooting. You will most likely be provided the entire property list, but the Ifappointed, do you plan on running in the election next year. Mr. Hantz commented he does at long as everything goes smoothly and there are: no issues. His fear is any surprises that may be out there. He knows there has been issues with the current collector and feels the blame ofincorrect records will come back on whomever is appointed to the position. Janet Sheats commented that is to be expected; it comes with the territory. Mr. Hantz commented he understands that, but it will make seeking an election difficult. Jerry Pritchard commented unfortunately you sometimes inherit a bad situation when you take office. Mike Jones commented he would think that by the time the election comes around in March, everything should be straightened out. Mr. Hantz Have you ever been audited in the past by the IRS or otherwise? Mr. Hantz commented Have you ever: run for office? Mr. Hantz ran in the last tax collector election, 2 % years There are approximately 4,600 real estate bills and 8,000 per capita bills. The majority of the taxes are paid during the discount period ofFebruary 1 through April 1. In addition,  information.  Hantz commented he would think it would be in a day or two.  go.  books may not be up to date, soi it may not be ai turnkey operation.  commented at this time hel has no intentions not to run.  he has not been. ago.    Supervisor Minutes Special Meeting September 6, 2024  the mortgage companies are paying taxes in the last two weeks of discount. You will also need to stuff the envelopes prior to them being sent out. Mr. Hantz commented he Do you see yourself as an organized person? Mr. Hantz commented he does. He can't Had Mary Trexler still held the job, would you have thought about running next year? Mr. Hantz commented he more than likely would have. The position brings a lot of money to the Township and tol him, its should be held by someone with a financial background and understands the importance ofit. One ofhis goals would be to get some type of electronic payment set up. Janet Sheats questioned how he would plan on doing that. Mr. Hantz commented he wasn'tcertain. He would need to explore further what options are available. Janet Sheats questioned ifh he would want to have everything done electronically because older people like toj pay in person. Mr. Hantz commented hei is looking more at those who can'tmake it during office hours and the younger generation Can you think of any reason why you wouldn't be able to post a bond or pass a background check? Mr. Hantz doesn't believe there would be an issue. Jerry Pritchard commented he does believe that the Township Building could be made available to collect taxes in addition to al home office. Janet Sheats and Mike Jones Thyler Hantz questioned ift there are specific hours beyond the three days during the last two weeks of discount that are required. Hel has no problem with having office hours, but he ran into a collector in another area and they told him they didn't hold hours. They have a drop box and mail. Walnutport only has two hours once a week. The Board Thyler Hantz questioned ift there was a reporting system that the Tax Collector was currently using. Janet Sheats commented that she does have a system, but believes it would be beneficial for someone to develop their own system because it may be al little outdated. Itmay be best to start new. Mr. Hantz commented that was his plan, but he was curious. Alice Rehrig commented shel believes the system that is currently being Mike Jones questioned ift the electronic payments would be something that could be put on our website. Alice Rehrig commented iti is something that the Township has been looking into and has looked at a few companies. Mike Jones questioned who would pay  doesn't tsee any issues. stand clutter messes.  who doesn'treally write checks anymore.  agreed.  commented there was nothing specific required.  used is a custom made program through Access.    Supervisor Minutes Special Meeting September 6, 2024  for that? Would it be the Township or aj joint venture between the Township and the Tax Collector. Alice Rehrig commented when she previously looked into the on-line payment, there was no fees for set up; they receive fees through users of the on-line payment. She was looking for a company who either didn't charge for the. ACH payments or the cost would be very minimal. For credit cards, there usually is a1 three percent charge that could be added into the user's bill. David Hess question ifs something is added to the website, will it put more of a strain on the people in the office. Alice Rehrig commented it wouldn't. The company usually provides a link that can be placed on the website that will take people to their site. The company would also need tol be willing to create ai field where the individual can enter a tax bill number because there are circumstances where the individual paying the bill is not necessarily the name that is on Thyler Hantz questioned ifthe Township sets up the bank account. Alice Rehrig commented there currently is an account set up with Neffs Bank where the tax payments are deposited. The Township would then have access to the account to withdraw the Monica Brown commented it is her understanding that a tax collector is an independent contractor. That being said, she doesn'tthink the Township would be involved with an 0- line account. It should be up tot the tax collector to set it up and collect the funds. David Hess commented once it is on our website, we are: involved. Mike. Jones commented we could check what other Townships do with on-line payments. The money would need to go into the tax account. Monica Brown commented the tax collector could set up their own website. Thyler Hantz commented in Lehighton, the tax collector sends out the utility bills. He can go onto the Borough website and pay the utility bill. Alice Rehrig commented with an on-line payment, the Township wouldn't be collecting the fees. The link would open up a site to a third party secured site and ifs someone is paying their tax Aresident questioned who would be responsible in the event of a cyber attack. Alice Rick Hildebrand questioned if there is continuity in government for backups. He would hope that someone would set up a backup for their data sO they could restore or pick up from an event. Mike Jones commented the Township does have backups. Rick Hildebrand commented he would hope the tax collector would be responsible enough to have al backup. Thyler Hantz commented most programs are 0- line.  the bill.  funds.  bill, it would generate ai report that would go to the tax collector.  Rehrig commented it would be the third party.    Supervisor Minutes Special Meeting September 6, 2024  Monica Brown commented it is her understanding that the new tax collector is only responsible for taxes from the day they take office forward. The old tax collector is responsible for what was done int the past. Janet Sheats commented technically that is correct. Jerry Pritchard commented that with where we are now, there would be cooperation between the two. Janet Sheats noted that until a newi person is appointed and takes office, payments are still going to the old collector and she is responsible for them. Once the new person takes the oath, they are responsible for payments going forward. In this situation, there will have to be a uniformed effort for the benefit oft the Township asa whole. Monica Brown commented she pays by check and uses her canceled check as her receipt. With checks not being cashed, there is no proof of when the payment was made. You could have written the check in discount, but ift the check is not cashed, you could end up paying the penalty. Hopefully the new person can try tol help get this resolved. Rick Hildebrand questioned if the current tax collector rate is in line with things sO that the tax collector can keep up with things as far as home office and computer systems. With bringing a new person, he hopes things are in line. Jerry Pritchard commenteditis no different than anyone else who is getting aj paycheck. Itisjust less income for them. Alice Rehrig commented the rate was increased two years go. The rate cannot be  adjusted until a new term ofoffice.  Ai resident commented that the person coming ini now will have to work triple time if they are working full time now-there job, cleaning up the old records, and starting with the new. Why would you want to do this. Thyler Hantz commented he wants to help the Township to get things organized and get out oft the mess we currently are in. He believes the tax collector position is a big issue and with his financial background he believes he can help expedite the process of getting it organized and keep it organized going forward. To him, iti is crazy for the only requirement for a tax collector to be a resident ofthe Township for one year. They should be required to have a financial David Hess requested an Executive Session with the Board. No action would be needed. III. ADJOURN. Janet Sheats made ai motion to adjourn. David Hess seconded the motion.  background.  All voted aye. Motion carried.