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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

NorCo Council Fails To Invite Controller to Meeting About ... the Controller

Yesterday, Northampton County Council's Governance Committee, spearheaded by lameduck Mat (not Matt) Benol, released an agenda for a meeting today. One item is a proposed change to the Home Rule Charter that will limit the Executive to two terms in office. This discussion was scheduled at the last Council meeting. While they're at it, Benol has decided to address Council's term limits, too, even though Council term-limited itself several years ago. As if these two items are not enough, Benol has also decided to schedule a discussion on both "special qualifications" and "special prohibitions" for the County Controller. But he hasn't bothered to inform the person who has occupied that office for nearly a decade.

I contacted Controller Steve Barron yesterday, who was unaware of a meeting scheduled to talk about him behind his back. "I fail to understand why Council would schedule a meeting concerning my office and fail to invite the person who has occupied it for nearly ten years," he noted.

I know why. They want to clip his wings. He asks too many questions.

Since the mainstream press has more or less fallen flat on its face in covering county government, the sole watchdogs left are bottom-feeding bloggers like me and the County Controller. But as was recently pointed out in Governing, this is an increasingly troublesome problem for independent auditors.
When performance auditors rile mayors and department heads with negative audits, retaliation can come in the form of budget cuts, slow action on personnel requests or even suggestions that auditor functions be eliminated. David Jones, Seattle city auditor and chair of ALGA’s advocacy committee, says, “We frequently find that local government auditors are under attack.”
This is precisely what is going on here. In April, Barron infuriated County administrators and Benol with a detailed memo outlining county waste and abuse. He was concerned that Human Resources Director Amy Trap had increased staff development training from $5,749.35 to a staggering $56,758.15 in the course of just one year. He was bothered that her staff had taken trips to Las Vegas and New Orleans and had stayed at exotic places like the Mirage Hotel, with absolutely no effort made to get a government rate. He noted that her department was charging meals beyond what is permitted. He also warned that this was only the tip of the iceberg, and that a county credit card audit was being performed, which would certainly show that she spent $800 for a popcorn machine and bought meals at the courthouse, to which her staff had no right.

Barron suggested stronger internal controls were needed, and they are.

Though County Council is supposed to be a check and balance on administrative overreach. They instead went after Barron.

Benol accused Barron of playing "political football," adding, "I plan on taking some action on the Controller because the Controller is a financial position, it's not a political position. To me, it's a bean counter position."

Benol was upset that Barron had failed to provide his report to both sides,and that would be a valid complaint if it were true. Barron did make sure that the administration received a copy of his memo.

Under Northampton County's Home Rule Charter, the Controller is the person responsible for the internal control of the fiscal transactions of the county. This includes trips to Las Vegas and New Orleans. It includes department heads who exceed their spending budgets. It includes spending more money than permitted for meals. It includes the purchase of $800 popcorn machines and the abuse of the county purse to purchase gift cards that violate county credit card policy. As an independently elected official, the Controller has the power, at any time and on his own initiative, to review the fiscal transactions of any county agency without first seeking permission from John Brown or Mat Benol. That's what the Controller did, and that is his job. He has in the past found that the Executive himself was abusing his expense reports, and money had to be paid back to the County.

Benol clearly is planning on retaliation against Barron for doing his job.

Or Benol and his Ten Commandments may be trying to scare Barron off. His audit of the county credit cards (called P-cards) is coming out very soon.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

This term reduction has never been a problem for the county, except maybe with their own Peg Ferraro. Why do these guys go out o their way to fix non-existent problems? Why don't they send a resolution to Washington and Harrisburg where the real problem exists.

Benol is just the point man for the Brown and republican county council agenda. Since Benol is not running for re-election he can birddog all the things the other people want but can't say because they want to get re-elected.

Getting into qualifications and terms at the local level is bullshit by these guys. It is an old republican agenda item by the business elites whom provide soft landings for their people. Solve the real county problems and stop always playing politics like your hero the Trumpamter.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, sadly many of these people had no idea what the county did and did not do when they ran, they still don't appear to have a clue. Know you like Peg but Ferraro has always gone along to get along, especially in her capacity as a top state Party republican.

They want to use it to maneuver themselves to higher office. I am tired of it. I will only vote for people who can coherently explain their positions and not be running just to run for something else. It would be nice to have some people who know what the hell is going on at the government center. This is amateur hour.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I do like Peg. She is a decent person. She may be on the state R committee, but is the most bipartisan person on Council. I will be voting for her. i don't know why you even bring her up here.

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work, Steve and Bernie. How about checking into the "do as I say, not as I do" attitude from them? The place is run as a dictatorship for everyone else but them.

Anonymous said...

Frankly, there is nobody on council worth voting for this election. They have all shown the inability to govern. Because of partisan politics, they have virtually left their fellow republican, County Executive John "Jack Ass" Brown, do whatever he wants! For me, the crowning of the incompetent, tax cheat, Cathy Allen, to 2nd in-command in the County and the approval by the useless county council, has made up my mind who to vote for. In this rampant and corrupt state of government in NC, a watchdog like Steve Barron is needed. Benol and his cronies on council, [which includes the very political Peg Ferarro], need to be ousted. However, the apathetic voters in NC will probably retain these idiots and the beat goes on.

Anonymous said...

That's what Bethlehem Twp needs, a controller to control (point out) the wasteful internal spending by all departments within the township. Any p-card monitoring going on?

Anonymous said...

I don't necessarily like Barron's grandstanding at times, but auditing expenditures is what a diligent controller does and should do.

Regardless of the personal animus between Barron and council members, Council should encourage audits if for anything else, transparency and to raise questions about how money is spent.

It could go farther. IMO, any agency or group that gets county funding should be required to post their minutes, budgets and audits online, accessible to the public.

Anonymous said...

This is why we need RON ANGLE in there. I voted for him for any office he ran. He really would really DRAIN THE SWAMP !!!

Anonymous said...

The controller needs autonomy although the position can be easily abused especially for those with political aspirations of their own or for others in their party. Some of Barron's past grandstanding and behaviors in his zeal "to do his job" have been troubling. I would like to see any agency or group that gets county funding to have the information mentioned in 9:40 AM comment to be publically accessible. Autonomy is desired but that individual must have exceptional self discipline and integrity. Behind the smoke and mirrors I am never sure if Northampton County government exists to provide services to its citizens or to give people jobs.

Anonymous said...

Peg was probably mentioned because these folks did not worry or bother with a term limit for county council until they knew Peg was retiring after this next term. She has been there for decades. Notice how this was never mentioned until she told them its OK. Sorry, partisan politics by hypocrites will always get a raised eyebrow. Thought the same thing.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Without question, Barron's early behavior was totally off the wall. He was political and went after even me, though I have had no county contracts ever. But he has matured and grown into the job. He is a full-time controller. he works as a referee on weekends,much as Gene Hartzell did during his time as Executive. He is political, but the office is a political position. It is not like a judgeship, which is nonpartisan. I'm open to making it a nonpartisan office, but that requires a home rule study and change to the charter. Also, I'd want to hear from both Steve and John Shimmel.

Anonymous said...

Does that include Ron Angle's personal swamp?

Anonymous said...

Why did republicans wait to do council term limits until they knew Peg Ferraro was retiring after this next term? Why is this not a legitimate partisan politics issue?

Anonymous said...

John Brown is nearing the end of his term in office. He can go back to being a bangor house husband. Letting his wife bring home the bacon.

Anonymous said...

The current republican office holders are political opportunists and not real conservatives by a longshot. Tax and spend is their code. Also this smokescreen of term limits. Annon11:09 makes a very valid point!

Anonymous said...

Time to drain the Northampton County swamp of these inexperienced clowns.