Easton Ready to Choose New City Councilman

Easton City Council could vote Wednesday to fill a vacant seat on council.

On Tuesday, council heard from West Ward residents Stephen K. White and Jim Edinger, who want to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Michael Fleck, who stepped down earlier this month.

Initially, Fleck had planned to serve the rest of his term, allowing the winner of this November's council election to take over the seat in January 2014.

But his early departure means council has to appoint a replacement to fill out the rest of his term.

Edinger has been the chairman of Easton's Zoning Hearing Board for 19 years. White owns Delaware River Books on Second Street, and is the former editor of the West Word newspaper.

Edinger is already running for the seat, having won the Democratic nomination in May. He'll face Republican Kim Yedlosky in November.

Both Edigner and White spoke of the need to improve their neighborhood, and the steps it's already taken.

"I’ve seen it go downhill, so to speak," Edinger said. "For the first time now, I see programs in place…I’ve been there 28 years, now I’m starting to see something grow with that. My point of view, we’ve really turned the corner."

White said people in the West Ward "care about their neighborhood as much as anybody," but said people there sometimes feel neglected.

He said he agreed with much of what Edinger said.

I’m not here in any way in competition with Jim," White said. "If he and I were running, I think I might vote for him."

At the same time, he said appointing him would keep Easton from looking like “a machine town."

“I don’t think anybody has anything bad to say about me, because I don’t think anybody has anything to say about me at all," he added.