Two men who have been actively involved in Yardley Borough affairs and events will now help govern the town.
David Appelbaum and Don Carlson were recently appointed to borough council to replace David Bria and Chris Campellone, who both resigned because they are moving out of the borough.
Appelbaum and Carlson are scheduled to be sworn in at the Sept. 20 council meeting. They were chosen by council members to join the group from among several other applicants for the vacancies.
Bria had served on council for more than four years but Campellone for only about eight months after being elected in November 2021 and taking his seat in January.
Carlson, chairman of the borough planning commission, has an engineering, management and financial background. Appelbaum’s work experience is in information technology, cybersecurity and related matters and he was recently hired to teach UX Design at Drexel University’s College of Computing and Informatics. He is an active volunteer and organizes or helps to organize several cultural events in the borough every year.
“In my new role on borough council I hope to be able to leverage the planning commission experience and my 37 years of manufacturing management work at a Fortune 500 company to help Yardley Borough continue to thrive,” Carlson said.
He and Appelbaum w 2023 by virtue of the appointments but would have to run and win in next year’s municipal election to retain the seats beyond that. Democrat Appelbaum and Carlson, a Republican, will join a majority Democrat council. President Caroline Thompson said she believes both men will be strong assets.
“Don is an analytical and technical thinker,” she said. “He has shown on planning commission an attention to detail and a desire to know matters completely before forming an opinion on them.”
On Appelbaum, like Carlson a frequent attendee at council meetings, Thompson added the council was “missing someone with a strong community outreach focus, like David has.
“It should be mentioned that the board heavily considered Susan Taylor’s candidacy for the vacancy. She is a lifelong community and public servant.”
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