The Montco Board of Commissioners is about to look different and lead differently

Montgomery County is getting a fresh set of county commissioners who are younger and more diverse than in the past, and even their plan for sharing power looks different.

One of the region’s largest and bluest counties, Montgomery voted in Jamila Winder, 45, the first Black woman to serve on the governing board and Neil Makhija, the first Asian American county commissioner in all of Pennsylvania and one of the county’s youngest ever commissioners at 37.

In a move away from tradition, the two have opted to alternate as chair annually, instead of electing one chair for the full four-year term. The arrangement — which will begin with Winder as chair — will change the dynamic on the board by leveling the playing field between the two majority members.

“Neil and I have committed to a shared agenda,” Winder said, adding that senior staff will help them work out disagreements. “Because to get things done, you need two votes.”

The new energy comes as the nation is eyeing the suburban county just outside Philadelphia because of its influence in a key battleground state for the 2024 presidential election. The board, which will manage a budget of more than $1 billion, oversees elections and handles various county government matters.

Even the process of landing in their roles was unprecedented for the Montgomery Democrats after a shake-up in party politics-as-usual led to just a single endorsement of Winder in the primary, atypically leaving the second seat up for grabs.

Winder was appointed to the board early in 2023 in what was also a messy ordeal after Valerie Arkoosh, an ally of Gov. Josh Shapiro who served on the board with him, was appointed to his cabinet. Kenneth Lawrence Jr., the first Black member of the board elected in 2017, who served alongside Arkoosh, decided not to run for reelection, opening up a second majority party seat and opening an opportunity for brand-new leadership.

Their departures left an opportunity for the biggest change on the board since Democrats took control for the first time ever — when Shapiro and Leslie Richards were elected in 2011.

The board, which reserves one seat for a minority party, will also see a change in its Republican leadership, with Tom DiBello, 61, a businessman with a background in technology, replacing Joe Gale, who was unpopular among both parties.

DiBello’s public service goes back two decades, including leading the Limerick Township Board of Supervisors in the early 2000s, serving as president and vice president on the Spring-Ford School District Board, and working as the Limerick Township auditor.

Winder’s public service is also rooted in education. She served on the Norristown Area School Board, chaired the East Norriton Board of Supervisors, and is a former executive for an online education program.

Makhija is stepping back from actively practicing law, teaching law at University of Pennsylvania, and serving as executive director of the civic nonprofit Indian American Impact to serve on the board.

While Winder and Makhija weren’t running mates in the primary, they joined forces for the general election and formed a transition task force together. How DiBello will fit into their plan has yet to be seen, but Winder indicated she is optimistic.

“Tom has said over and over, ‘I’m no Joe Gale,’ so I have to take his word at that,” said Winder, who briefly served alongside DiBello on the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit board as school directors. Though she didn’t know him well, she saw his ability “to just get the work done” regardless of political party, she said.

Commissioners are paid $98,200 a year, and the chair makes $101,800.

Both parents of young children, Winder and Makhija want Montco to be the county of choice to work for by offering better benefits, like longer paid parental leave and childcare for the county’s 2,800 employees.

DiBello, who agrees the county should be a more competitive employer in order to fill open positions, has raised concerns about the county’s spending and wants to avoid notable tax increases.

As for how the county will tackle the costs of social programs, Makhija said they will assess inefficiencies in county government in hopes of finding wasteful spending that can be cut. Winder and Makhija both see this as a way DiBello can contribute with his experience in technology; he said he cut costs for his school district through technological updates.

Winder and Makhija also campaigned on promises to prioritize affordable housing and address homelessness in the county, which has become an increasingly visible issue. But while all three new commissioners agree that addressing the county’s growing population of people living there without a permanent address is a priority, there is no consensus on how to solve the issues.

“There is affordable housing in Montgomery County,” DiBello said. “I said [to the other commissioners-elect] the problem is that it might not be where some people want to live.”

DiBello is open to converting vacant warehouses and office buildings into affordable housing, he said, but noted that some municipalities don’t want to be a “dumping ground.”

Something the commissioners-elect all agree on is the value of collaborating amicably.

“Housing is an issue you can tackle through many different means,” Makhija said. “There are certain means that may be more amenable to Tom, there are certain means that Jamila and I may be more focused on. But if we can all agree housing affordability is a significant crisis and the county has a responsibility to tackle both affordability and homelessness, then I’m certain we will find a number of ways to move forward for the sake of all of our residents of Montgomery County.”

Other points of contention could include criminal justice and bail reform, and climate change.

“I’m willing to listen,” Winder said. “But we are the majority commissioners, so I’m not going to create inefficiencies in terms of stuff getting done by debating everything … . There are going to be those moments where we’re going to have to agree to disagree, and vote.”

The three commissioners plan to have breakfast Sunday in one of their last chances to talk privately due to open meeting laws.

Makhija campaigned in part on his expertise in election law and will chair the Board of Elections for the full term, while DiBello cites election integrity as a priority. But election administration is a heated partisan issue across the country and Montgomery County is no exception.

In 2021, nearly 16,000 Montco voters received misprinted mail-in ballots that had to be replaced, causing delays that county Republicans said yielded mistrust. And in the 2020 primaries, nearly 2,000 county voters initially received the wrong mail-in ballot.

DiBello said he wants to review and understand all the processes, and look for both “areas of question” — as well as misconceptions — so he can feel confident when it comes time to certify the results.

“People are losing faith in the system,” DiBello said.

Winder and Makhija are more confident in the process, but emphasized debunking fabrications about it.

“We have to refute the falsehoods that have been spread, which is that there were any widespread issues in our election process,” Makhija said. “I want to build a process that is transparent, and where we show voters exactly how delightfully boring the process of counting hundreds of thousands of votes is and should be.”

Winder acknowledged that the politics of election administration in 2024 could get “tricky,” but said DiBello will be equipped with the facts.

“It’s important that we debunk mistruths about what’s happening in any of our county operations,” she said.