At their very first meeting in January, Northampton County Council will decide on a new President, VP, and Council Solicitor for 2026. I expect that just as County Council has changed, so will its leadership. Lori Vargo Heffner has presided over County Council for the past two years. She deserves credit as a fierce advocate of Council oversight. That has been missing in all levels of government for decades. But she also deserves criticism for micromanaging purely administrative functions and for a complete inability to establish some sort of rapport with the Executive. I know it takes two to tango (or in this case, not tango) but this poor relationship is contrary to the best interests of county government. Moreover, she has a frosty relationship (if any0 with incoming Exec Tara Zrinski . For that reason, I doubt that five members of County Council will want her leading them this year. That's just as well for her, too. She took a lot of heat for her stances opposed to Lamont McClure, and things got ugly for her at times. So who will be President, if not her?
The logical choice would be Ken Kraft, who would work with Zrinski and keep a tight leash on the craziness that might come with Nadeem Qayuum. But my guess is that he'll defer to Jeff Warren. Since it takes Warren three hours just to say "Good Morning!," that means meetings will go on much longer as Warren pontificates on everything. He's a terrible choice, but is running for State Rep., and apparently thinks that his campaign literature will look bettewr if he identifies himself as Council President,
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