NorCo Personnel Appeals Board Loses Member, Lawyer

Northampton County's Personnel Appeals Board, which handles disputes between the County and non-union workers, is down once again to just four members. To make matter's worse, its long-time solicitor has submitted his resignation.

Ralph Stampone, who had served on the Board for ten years, finally had enough of meetings that are scheduled and then re-scheduled ad infinitum. The final star for him came late last year when he arrived tat the courthouse to hear a case that the County decided to settle about thirty minutes prior to the hearing.

I really enjoyed doing it, but I had this feeling we were just spinning our wheels," said Stampone, who owns Ralph's Radiator and Repair Shop in Stocketown. He began to get the feeling that "the County was going to do what it was going to do anyway. Last minute deals with people? Why do you have an Appeals Board?"

He also sensed that the County is being unfair to nonunion workers. "They don't want anyone in there they can't control."

Ralph Stampone, who had served on the Board for ten years, finally had enough of meetings that are scheduled and then re-scheduled ad infinitum. The final star for him came late last year when he arrived tat the courthouse to hear a case that the County decided to settle about thirty minutes prior to the hearing.

I really enjoyed doing it, but I had this feeling we were just spinning our wheels," said Stampone, who owns Ralph's Radiator and Repair Shop in Stocketown. He began to get the feeling that "the County was going to do what it was going to do anyway. Last minute deals with people? Why do you have an Appeals Board?"

He also sensed that the County is being unfair to nonunion workers. "They don't want anyone in there they can't control."

In addition to Stampone, Bethlehem Attorney Christian Perrucci recently submitted his resignation as the Board's Solicitor. It's a position he held for over 12 years. He said he had "worked with great board members who were extremely dedicated to reaching an equitable decision to each case. It was truly a pleasure working with Dave Sanders, John Dally, Bill Alexander and Mr. Stampone."

According to Perrucci, "This was completely a voluntary decision on my part to resign as solicitor as I knew I could not dedicate the appropriate time to serve as solicitor given my very busy private practice." He denied that partisan politics were at play.

The remaining four members are are Bill Alexander, himself a retired corrections officer; Dave "Lump" Sanders, owner of Bethlehem's revered Table of Knowledge at Lump's Deli; Pen Argyl's John Dally, who also sits on the Gaming Board; and Pat Siemiontkowski, who retired recently as Northampton County's own HR Director.

They are the capstone of a merit personnel system designed to ensure that nonunion employees are rewarded and paid on the basis of what they know, as opposed to who. There have been some amazing success stories. At Gracedale, for example, a lowly nurse's aid was able to work herself up through the ranks, go to school and become either the Director or Assistant Director of Nursing. But there have been failures, too, as evidenced by 11 different unions representing most of the workers. One of the biggest reasons for this failure is the Personnel Appeals Board, which has been criticized for years over infrequent meetings.

One nonunion worker recently reported that she filed two appeals last year. One was completely ignored and Human Resources never scheduled a hearing for her second appeal.

Individually, Board members themselves have complained about the length of time between hearings.

For this reason, Council member Ken Kraft has urged that there be regular monthly meetings of the Personnel Appeals Board. If there is no business, they simply don't meet.