Local Government TV

Monday, November 09, 2009

Northampton County Council: How to Keep the Public Away

If you ever visit the judges' new palace in Easton, be prepared for a rude awakening. You'll circle the campus, searching in vain for a place to park. Eventually, you'll just run out of gas and abandon your car. That's when the real problem starts. You see, this modern fortress is perched atop a steep. forbidding hill strewn with the remains of those unlucky souls who have fallen along the way. Every now and then, you'll see the remains of some dead litigant or a lawyer who simply collapsed, still clutching his brief case. You can always tell the lawyers. Their bodies are better preserved than most because the buzzards leave them alone.

Professional courtesy.

Before climbing this Mount Everest, your best bet is to hire an Easton Sherpa, whose base camp is somewhere along the Delaware. They can get you up the hill and keep you safe from the Hoover Crips. They can also get you inside the building. Without them, you'll never find the secret entrance. You'll walk all over the place, trying thousands of locked doors, until you give up or eventually die of exposure after being battered by all those winds.

This secret entrance, as you may have guessed, is located at the inconvenient place possible, the rotunda, at the farthest distance possible from the parking lots. You see, the judges don't want you tracking in mud on their fancy new floors. Once you step inside this Taj Mahal to put out the fire in your lungs, you'll be funneled into a search center. There, as many as eight deputies have the thankless task of looking through your belongings to make sure you haven't come to kill anyone.

Now let's say you'd like to attend a County Council meeting, scheduled at 6:30 PM, long after a judge's usual noon quitting time. Guess what? County officials lock down the usual secret rotunda entrance, and now you have to scurry in to the employee's entrance, located in the bowels of this judicial tomb.

Assuming you can find your way in, the first thing you'll see when you get inside is a pair of deputy sheriffs. Some of them will just wave you ahead, while others insist on a complete search. It seems to depend on their mood.

Now last time I checked, this building is the property of the people, not deputy sheriffs or judges in black robes. While I can understand the need for security while court is actually in session, these intrusive searches and building lockdowns have a chilling effect on a citizen's interest in participating in his own government.

In the last year, I've wandered into public meetings in Nazareth, Bethlehem, Allentown, Bethlehem Township, and Lehigh County. No matter how controversial the issue on a given agenda, no one is searched. Frankly, Northampton County Council members have more to fear from each other than they do from the general public. Yet, they think nothing of subjecting the public to searches, with no legal authority.

Around two years ago, then President Judge Freedberg issued an edict, a court order, regulating how the building would be entered. It was thumb tacked to a few bulletin boards. No public hearing. Our judges are terrified of the commoners. They have reserved parking with a private entrance, closed dining room and their very own judicial potties. Their "chambers" (a classy word for office) are located on a locked floor, guarded by vicious wolves. (OK, I made up the part about wolves). They're isolated and out of touch, a paranoid bunch. Still, I wouldn't call Freedberg's manifesto illegal. They have a right to regulate security in and around their courtrooms.

But judges have no Godlike authority right to determine unilaterally how people enter the building for a County Council meeting. According to the Commonwealth Court, who outrank Northampton County jurists, that should come from Council. "[T]he County Code allows county commissioners to adopt ordinances regulating the affairs of a county. ... [T]he County Code allows county commissioners to prescribe fines and penalties for violations of a 'public safety' ordinance."

In Northampton County, this means county council. They are the body that adopts ordinances, but only after hearing from the public. They are also the residual power in the county and public access to their own meetings should be regulated by them. They are the only body with authority to impose penalties (in an ordinance) for persons who ignore requests to be searched.

Last Thursday, I complained about this denial of public access to County Council. Prez Ann McHale, still bitter over her loss to John Stoffa, responded with a slap aimed at him. "Why don't you take this up with our new Acting Sheriff?"

McHale, who dragged her feet for years about webcasting while simultaneously insisting she was working very hard on it, refuses to understand that Council has the obligation to regulate security at its own meetings. Council security was actually initiated by former Exec Glenn Reibman during controversial bond hearings. The Sheriff did it himself, but over time, it has gone to two deputies. It's a meal ticket for them. The only security they are interested in is job security.

In reality, violence during municipal meetings is rather rare. I think this security is overkill. But council members who disagree should at least conduct a hearing to determine if there is a rational basis for this privacy invasion. If persuaded that there is legitimate reason for concern, they can adopt an ordinance regulating how the people's building is accessed. Until that happens, usual entrances should remain open and no one should be humiliated by a search.

19 comments:

  1. Think of the poor deputies that have to do your cavity search. They deserve hazardous duty pay.

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  2. Hey Ohare how about the State telling Angle he can't hold two Offices. No comment on that yet?

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  3. You are OT and I will write about this later.

    The state Dept of Education official is clearly wrong. He is most wrong when he argues that the school board would have no validity.

    Very briefly, let's review. The HRC provision banning Angle from serving on a school board is unconstitutional. Zito made that determination, ruling that a Hellertown school board prez could sit on council. In doing so, Zito was following a state supreme court decision construing a similar HRC provision in Hazleton. After appointing a Hellertown school board member, council itself appointed a Bangor mayor. Council has already set a precedent on a council member serving in other offices. Thus, council is estopped from enforcing the HRC against Angle. It cannot arbitrary enforce this against him and no one else.

    How about the school code? That prohibits a county commissioner from serving on the school board. But the school code was written before the HRC form of government existed. Moreover, at that time, county commissioners had both legislative and executive functions and appointed members to a county school board. In NC, there is no county school board, and a county council member has no executive function. Thus it does not apply to Angle. Even if it did, council could not sue. It has no standing.

    Only the school board could bring an action in quo warranto, which would have to be authorized by the AG or DA.

    While that matter is pending, and action Angle takes as a school borard member has legal validity. The law provides for this, noting that the actions of de facto board members have the same validity as de jure board members.

    Given the uncertainty in the law and a judicial desire to fulfill the will of the people, it is highly unlikely that any court would stop Angle from doing what the people have already said he should do.

    It's a winner for Angle.

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  4. Of course you are wrong since your mancrush on angle has you grabing at straws. County Council and County Commissioner are considered the same classification by the State, check it out. Established law and regulations trump your abstract legal contortions. I am sure some of your past clients would be happy to vouch for your legal expertise.

    Angle will lose but I hope he spends gobs of money in the effort.

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  5. O'Hater forgets to mention that it is him mancrush Stoffa that made the decision to use the "employees" entrace for County Council meetings. No mention of that in the post. Surprise ! Anyhoo, the Sheriffs are under the direction of Stoffa. If he doesn't want anyone searched, he can say so ! No mention of that here either.

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  6. We need the security this is always the afterthought of people. After something happens then they say why didnt we do this or that? You dont realize the issuesthatthe security in the building resolves without the public notice. As far as the parking yeah I agree its kind of backwards. Think of it as an county exercise program.

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  7. The waves of politics, I played by rules when I was Mayor of Bangor, a difficult decision to give up that seat and responsibility to become a member of Northampton County Council, but then interpretations seem to vacillate and I didn't have the support of Mr. Angle, nor would I want it, to each his own, Carol

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  8. Anna McHale bitter? NO!

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  9. Anon 7:33, Like McHale, you don't get my point. My point is that Council has the obligation of coming up w/ procedures for attending its own meetings. Deputies make people sign in, too. That is not for the benefit of the county exec but is for Sunshine Act compliance. The main entrance should be open for these meetings. It is too confusing for the people who do attand.

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  10. A new day's a comin'. Gone are dreams of backroom deals about $186,000 parking spaces and "nice" cost overruns. Republicans have been given a clear mandate to fumigate the place.

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  11. Amen, Amen, Amen... Finally Bernie, you have touched on a real issue!! The outrageous security concerns at this place of peoples' business is the reason why I many others do not participate in County Government. Parking is incovenient, the distance to walk is too far and then, being subject to a pat down search or wanding. Its amazing that this level of security is not at local meetings.. school boards and Townships where the issues are MORE controversial and have more of an effect on the ordinary residents lives as compared to County politics. I want a refund for this overzealous spending at Northampton County!!!

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  12. Last time the Republicans had a majority on County Council taxes went up over 66%.

    Lets see if the "New" Republicans can beat that record.

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  13. Bernie,

    Excellent evaluation of the sad state of affairs at the Courthouse complex. As a former architectural designer I see incompitence at every turn with this building. The only thing they did right was keep the building line hugging the street so as to maintian a somewhat urban feel for the neighborhood. I'm actually surprised that someone didn't propose pulling it back to prevent all those crazy truck bombers from driving through the lobby (although that may be a paranoia restricted to the Federal government...see new Social Security building design battle downtown of a few years back.)

    Security? My only experience in a situation where they may have been necessary was the night I went down to hear Paul Marin give his rail presentation and was subjected to the two hour-plus prelude of a clownish free-for-all prompted by some union grievance that escalated into an Angle/Dertinger screaming match. At some point the room emptied into the hall (including Ann McHale via some secret Batcave escape tunnel I guess) while various parties screamed at each other within. All the guards had conveniently disappeared a few minutes ealier. Must have needed additional help searching pissed off citizens who couldn't find the service entrance.

    DRL

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  14. Try finding free parking in Lehigh County and the entrance is easy to find unless you are a brain damaged alcholic or some cretin.

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  15. No one has any problems getting into the courthouse. this is just another pissy ohare rant.

    Can you blame a law enforcement official for searchinghim. His past alone warrents a search.

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  16. I can list a few people who had probelms getting inside during a council meeting.

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  17. They are probably the same people who push the door marked pull.

    Have Stoffa change the system, he has the power to do it. Stop making excuses for the guy. After four years he could at least try to do something that involves leadership, other than form another committee.

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  18. LET'S SEE IF YOUR BALLS ARE AS BIG AS YOUR MOUTH ERNIE. NEXT COUNCIL MEETING, IGNORE THE DIRECTIVES GIVEN TO YOU BY THE DEPUTIES AND WALK PASSED THEM AS IF THEY DON'T EXIST. IF YOU FEEL THEIR SEARCHES ARE INTRUSIVE, JUST WAIT TIL YOU GET ONE BY YOUR CELLIE AFTER THEY HOOK YOU UP AND YOU FIND YOURSELF PLAYING BUTT PIRATE WITH BUBBA.

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  19. Let's all bang our heads against the wall one more time. It's hard enough to figure out if and when Council will meet...... Downstreaming is certainly the solution to the problem of us peons not being allowed in the Castle. But who will Do Hair & Make up?

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