Oct. 1--Herb Pfeiffer first served Slatington residents when he was a teenager -- with a mop and broom.

The borough's newly hired manager worked in his parents' restaurant, Herman's, on Route 873, while growing up in the 1960s. Many people in Slatington still remember him from the years he worked there and attended Slatington High School.

"It's nice going back to your roots, where you spent 10 years of your life," he said.

Slatington Borough Council named Pfeiffer borough manager this summer. He started Sept. 15. Although Pfeiffer has never worked in government before, he has supervised departments of more than 100 employees at Agere Systems in Allentown. For the past four years, he has worked as a supervisor at Edwin Stipe Inc. in Easton.

Pfeiffer worked 18 years in Allentown for AT&T, Lucent and Agere. During that time, he earned bachelor's degrees in computer science and business administration, as well as a master's in business administration from DeSales University. He also earned a degree in human resources.

"I'm hopefully putting all that education and work experience together in one capacity," he said.

Pfeiffer said his immediate priorities are to monitor the borough's budget and oversee construction of a bridge on Main Street. It's scheduled to reopen Nov. 26.

Mayor Walter Niedermeyer said he has been impressed with Pfeiffer so far. He said Pfeiffer has been giving Borough Council memorandums updating it on his first week.

Niedermeyer said he hopes Pfeiffer will help the borough provide better services to residents.

"Things had got stagnant because there's no borough manager," he said. "You need someone to help get their act together."

andrew.martel@mcall.com

610-820-6527

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