Montgomery County makes history and inaugurates several diverse leaders
BLUE BELL, Pa. (CBS) – Montgomery County celebrated several firsts Wednesday at the Montgomery County Community College Blue Bell Campus when the county inaugurated newly-elected leaders to government seats.
"I mean, she is thrilled," Neil Makhija said. "She sent me her blessings."
He was talking about his grandmother.
"My grandparents on the other side of the world settled in an empty military barracks outside of Mumbai as refugees of India's Partition," Makhija said.
Wednesday, their grandson Makhija became the first person of Asian descent to be elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.
"It's just such an honor to be able to show her what my family has been able to accomplish in just one generation of being refugees to now being able to serve and lead in one of the highest offices here in our Commonwealth [of Pennsylvania]," he said.
Makhija shared the day with another history-maker who thanked her family.
"And I would not be here today," Jamila Winder said from the podium in front of hundreds of neighbors. "If it were not for my grandmother the Rev. Dr. Mary B. Duff. Tomorrow is actually her birthday. She is 104 years young, alive, and doing well."
Winder was appointed to the board last year. In Nov. 2023, she became the first Black woman elected to the board and will serve as chair.
"It's a changing of the tide, right?" she said after the ceremony. "It's truly now showing that county government is representing all Montgomery residents."
Sonya Sanders, Senior Operations Manager for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said she was overwhelmed by the diversity on the stage.
"It just brightens me and gives me a lift of hope for the future generation," she said. "Today is an amazing, historical day."
The historic first meeting of this diverse board is Thursday, Jan. 11.