Voters choose incumbents to serve another four years as Lebanon County commissioners

All three incumbent Lebanon County commissioners are poised to serve another four years after gaining a majority of the votes in Tuesday's general election in unofficial results.

With all 60 precincts reporting and mail-in votes counted, Democratic Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz received a total of 11,029 votes Tuesday night. This is Litz' sixth consecutive time running for a four-year term. Her first term was from 1996 to 1999, then she held office from 2004 until the present.

Litz told the Lebanon Daily News Tuesday that she felt her prayers had been answered and that this one of the most difficult races she has won.

"I didn't know how it would turn out," she said. "I'm just so thankful to everyone who voted in the election. And for those who voted for me and helped me to get one more term, I greatly appreciate it."

Litz added that some of her goals for her next term would be to complete the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail and update the county's comprehensive plan. She would also like to be able to continue work preserving local farmland by applying for federal funds.

"I think that my term will look like closing out unfinished business that will benefit everyone who lives here now and future generations of children," she said. "That to me is just the best thing that can happen if you are a commissioner and a public servant."

Litz's other Democratic opponent, former full-time Lebanon Valley College teacher and activist Michael Schroeder, received 8,501 total votes. In a phone interview, Schroeder said he congratulated Litz and the other commissioners on their victories.

"I just had a very cordial conversation with Jo Ellen. I congratulated her on her victory," he said. "I look forward to working with her as a commissioner and me now as an ordinary citizen, working to keep my government accountable."

Schroeder said he still plans continue his volunteer work with the Lebanon County community and thanked the volunteers and campaign team for their work on his campaign.

"I think we ran a campaign of integrity, and I'm just very proud of what we've done," he said.

Litz's incumbent Republican collogues, Michael Kuhn and Robert Phillips, also won another term as commissioners. Kuhn received 19,158 total votes, and Phillips received 14,330 votes Tuesday evening.

Phillips said that his fourth term will be his last term. He was first elected in 2011.

"I'm very grateful that the voters have put me in that position," he said. "There was a lot of support with volunteers and with my family, especially my wife Brenda. But it took the voters to put those votes into action and get me into the new term, and I've very grateful."

Phillips said his original plan was to mentor a younger candidate to run for county commissioner. He originally ran a joint campaign in the primary with local businessman Bill Bering Jr., owner of the Bering Real Estate Company, who lost his race in May.

"That wasn't in the cards this time around," Phillips said. "That will be someone else's role to bring in the next generation, and that will be fine."

For his final term, Phillips said he would like to maintain the fiscal strength of the county while addressing the quality of life and public safety needs of the residents. The next four years will consist of big projects like the development of the county comprehensive plan and potential completion of the rail trail, but Phillips said he would also like to balance the recruitment and retention needs of the county while maintaining a fiscally responsible budget.

"I think that evidence of my last three terms is that I'm very much engaged and I work very diligently on every issue that comes up," he said. "That's just been my practice, and that's what I'll continue to do for the next four years."

Kuhn said when he was chosen to fill the commissioner position, it was very humbling. Kuhn was appointed in February 2022 to serve the remainder of Commissioner Bill Ames' term after he died in December 2021.

"Seeing the results come in tonight, I feel that same sense of honor that my neighbors, friends and voters of Lebanon County supported me and given me a chance to serve an additional four years," he said.

Kuhn served on the Lebanon School Board for 28 years and worked is an employee at WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital for 37 years.

Like his fellow commissioners, Kuhn has said he wants to update the county comprehensive plan. But it's still in the early stages, and there's still a lot of work to do.

"The key component of that is getting buy in cooperation from the local municipalities, 'cause they control zoning and we need to work together to make sure we are promoting the right kind of growth for Lebanon County," he said.

Kuhn added that the county faces a lot of challenges, and a lot of those challenges are related to "cost of doing business with county government."

"We are not exempt from the challenge any business faces right now," he said. "Many business industries from small restaurants to large manufacturing companies, the cost of labor, fuel and everything is going up. And we are not immune... and scWe have to respond to that call, and we have to do it efficiently."

Residents looking for the unofficial results of Tuesday's municipal and school board elections can visit the Lebanon County Voter Registration Office website at http://www.lebcounty.org/depts/Voter_Registration.

Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Incumbents to serve another four years as Lebanon County commissioners