Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure's State of the County address, delivered Monday at PBS-39, was hosted by Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC) and the Workforce Board. You can view his short address at LVEDC's Facebook page.
McClure first discussed his administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has afflicted 79,000 people in NorCo over the past two years. The county, which has no health department, set up a drive-thru testing clinic in Bethlehem Tp. When vaccines became available, they were offered as well. It also closed both nursing home and jail to visitors and volunteers.
He complimented the staff at Gracedale and the jail for following state and CDC guidelines. He glossed over the vaccine hesitancy at both places, which led to numerous terminations at the nursing home. He indicated that both facilities are slowly resuming visitations and treatment programs.
Along with COVID, McClure noted there's been a sure in drug overdoses. He said there's been a 4.54% increase in opioid deaths across the state over the past year, He indicated that much of this is the result of the introduction of fentanyl, which he claimed is 80-100 times more powerful than heroin. This is often mixed in with other drugs, which has led to a dramatic increase in overdose deaths, In the county, overdose deaths have increased from 33 in 2014 to 84 last year,
He noted that NorCo has received $11 million in a settlement of litigation against pharmaceutical companies. That money will be earmarked to raise awareness of opioid addiction and increase services to those in recovery. This includes $300,000 in scholarship funds for newly sober individuals.
McClure indicated the County is also considering the establishment of a health bureau. He noted that these departments do far more than battle COVID, There are other infectious diseases, like HIV and tuberculosis. They also educate the public on health issues like heart disease and diabetes.
He indicated that a health department would serve rural communities just as much as it does the inner cities, He failed to state how.
After introducing a possible health department, McClure note that the county provided $2.8 million to 63 first responder organizations over the past year to help them keep the public safe. This was part of the money the county received from the federal government.
Despite the ravages of inflation, McClure insists that the county is attracting business. Over the past five years, $1.6 billion has been invested in 75 projects. This has led to 9,000 jobs created or retained.
This business expansion has resulted in farmland disappearance, along with increased traffic and home prices.. McClure said that the county, combined with state and municipal contributions, has invested $51 million in open space projects since 1993. The county is on the cusp of preserving its 250th farm and is nearing 20,000 acres preserved.
Since 2018, the county has purchased three new parks and has purchased land to link trails.
McClure also discussed the importance of small businesses, which was hit hard by Governor Tom Wolf's lockdown. The county has this far provided $25 million in grants from federal relief funds to nearly 1,900 small business.
This year, the County plans to spend $15 million in federal relief funds at Gracedale, where there has been an employee drain thanks to low salaries. He indicated the biggest problem there is finding employees.
12 comments:
Well, we all know that McClure is your boy, but this is actually funny. He publicly attacks the county council for a workforce pay study and a Gracedale review study as a waste of money, all the while proposing a new bureaucracy that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year. The county is in need of many things especially at Gracedale but this is his goal? Everyone knows the guy's greatest fan is himself (besides you) but what a stupid idea. He will fund a study of a department that no one other than the political and business elite want (for jobs and money) all th while ignoring the real needs of the county.
He wants to be Governor or senator one day but first he may want to figure out how to clean up his own county mess. Once the millions of free federal monies he has thrown around is gone the county taxpayers will be saddled with his ego project.
Hopefully county council can hold this off until a new county executive with less ego and more skill can come in and fix things. Or better yet, get rid of the county executive post like most other counties since it is just an unaccountable and unnecessary authoritarian position anyway.
So McClure makes note that a health department would serve rural communities as much as it does the inner cities, and he mentions “open space” projects and ‘farmland preservation’.
Could McClure be looking to protect our farmland preservation program from the ill-effects of sludge spreading from our cities and towns? Protect the soil and the health of the rural communities that are negatively impacted by these towns (Nazareth) plans to spread sludge next to rural homes and township parks (Plainfield Township)?
Hopefully, Mr. McClure gets a health department going that will take the warnings of non-sludge industry paid experts like Prof. Murray McBride (Cornell), Prof. Jordan Peccia (Yale), Dr. Sierra Rayne, Lidia Epp (William & Mary), Dr. Caroline Snyder (Scientist Magazine), Dr. David Lewis (EPA), Dr. Richard Honour, etc. Stop the destruction of our preserved Northampton County Farmlands, preserved with our Tax Money(!) from the toxic chemicals found in Sewage Sludge!
There's a reason they stopped dumping this sludge in the ocean. Let's not repeat the mistake on our land any longer!
We’re looking at you Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority.
He total lost on his campaign promise for Gracedale. Now he is trying to make himself a big man with a health department. He needs to leave! He is hated by all along with his clowns.
We came through a global pandemic without the costly and inefficient bureaucracy of a health department. Taking Gracedale out of the equation and blaming it on everybody but McClure and the County, as you have done consistently and forcefully for two years, NorCo didn't perform any better or worse than any other county. A health department is wasteful and unnecessary. It's just more patronage with zero benefit to county citizens. If you lump in Gracedale, we're the deadliest county in the world and no amount of bureaucracy will overcome the poor excuse-making leadership voters selected and must live with and like it.
The county government did such a rotten job over the last two years, its solution is .... wait for it .... more government! Bernie didn't recover from alcoholism by people buying him more drinks. Our addict-government will never recover if we continue to enable it with more and more money. Let's not pretend a single thing improves with the establishment of a health department.
The guy's motto is, "I'm smarter than you". Anybody but Lynch would have beat this guy. Keep him from doing any more damage though the rest of his term.
9:03
What are you smoking? A health department is wasteful and unnecessary? Who is going to take care of your old decrepit ass, when nobody wants to or willing to care for you? Gracedale will
All we need is more government-whatever the government gets int they screw it up.
So screw the workers seems to be a common theme of this administration. He is going to dump gracedale and continue to run almost all departments short,meanwhile he brags about all the money the county has. Maybe when the covid money runs out he will introduce a tax increase like a typical politician to screw everyone before leaving office.
$15 million or more will not fix the problems at Gracedale. Please sell or close it and send those deserving residents to another capable facility. Lamont should be ashamed but as to my knowledge, he is blaming everyone else for the Gracedale issues.
It must have been a good state of the county or LVEDC would have never hosted it. LVEDC runs from any and all negative PR. They are the first to take credit for any company coming to the region but disappear "NON COMMENT" as soon a someone leaves. That's what happens when an organization is run by a politician.
"What are you smoking? A health department is wasteful and unnecessary? Who is going to take care of your old decrepit ass, when nobody wants to or willing to care for you? Gracedale will"
Imagine a world where Gracedale has some of the lowest ratings in the state, was the most deadly during the pandemic, is considered the LTCF of last resort, and is avoided by all who have properly planned for their elder care in private facilities. Also, I don't smoke, and unlike you, I don't expect others to care for me because I failed to prepare.
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