Above is a screenshot of Northampton County Council's meeting agendas. The image was captured at 6:48 pm last night. It fails to include either the agenda or any supporting documents to be considered at the meeting scheduled for tonight. It was finally posted, but not until about 10 pm. This failure to provide 24 hours of advance public notice of what it intends to do is a violation of the state Sunshine Act. What this means is that County Council will be unable to take any official action this evening.
Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act states the following: "(i) If the agency has a publicly accessible Internet website, the agency shall post the agenda, which includes a listing of each matter of agency business that will be or may be the subject of deliberation or official action at the meeting, on the website no later than 24 hours in advance of the time of the convening of the meeting." See Sunshine Act, Section 709 (c.1)(1) (i). The purpose of this 24-hour rule is to promote transparency and expand access to public records. It was adopted unanimously by both houses.
Northampton County Council is an "agency" as that term is defined in the Sunshine Act. Section 703. Northampton County Council has a publicly assessible Internet website for agendas, located here. It failed to comply with the Sunshine Act requirement that the agenda be posted, and on the website, no later than 24 hours in advance of the meeting. It was eventually posted, but without the time for review required by law.
As a result of this failure to comply with state law, Northampton County Council "may not take official action on a matter of agency business at a meeting if the matter was not included in the notification required under section 709(c.1) (relating to public notice). "See Section 712.1(a).
I am sending a copy of this blog entry to all members of Northampton County Council as well as their Solicitor. This way they will be unable to claim they had no idea they were violating the law. "Any member of any agency who participates in a meeting with the intent and purpose by that member of violating this chapter commits a summary offense." Section 714(a).
One could argue this lapse is a de minimis violation since the public did eventually get notice. I'd disagree. The word "shall" is mandatory, not precatory. The public is entitled to 24 hours advance notice of what its government is doing.
25 comments:
Okay. So they start the meeting at 7 o'clock and don't do any business until 10 o'clock. Myers is the President. Good job MYERS.
I accidentally deleted a comment stating the meeting could start at 6;30 and Council could just delay taking action until 10 pm. That presents another set of problems for members of the public who expect the meeting, which was advertised, to start at 6:30. In addition, I doubt a quorum of Council can sit around until 10 pm. Best to convene, adjourn and then take action at the next meeting.
I have made inquiries, and Council has complete control of posting the agenda on the Internet. It only has itself to blame.
So, don't they have staff whose job it is to get this stuff done on time? Or do you have reason to believe it was a deliberate obfuscation by one or more council members?
Frank never woulda let this happen.
Why don't you give the County Council Clerk more money! What a joke. They all think they are special.
This is not Kerry’s fault. Alene Shaftsicky did this. She should be termed.
The Clerk is the highest paid employee in the County. This is inexcusable.
What is Mr. Spamoni doing ??? He should be advising Kerry on how to get stuff done proper.
Linda Z should do less napping on that couch in her office and more work. Didn’t her and Alene get a step this year on top of what everyone else’s got. They are overpaid secretaries.
Kerry Meyers Council is either incompetent or sneaky. Watching his racist, incompetent shitshow is going to be hilarious.
Kerry Myers should be furious at the staff. I think Eileen Shatnisky is undermining him at the direction of Mrs. Vargo-Heffner.
I am not sure the current council leader is aware or even cares about such matters. And the rest, who knows? I can see Heckman just filling time with his blathering. But folks keep pushing the same name if you do make it to the polls or fill in the right "D" or "R" from your cozy living room and it will just continue. Do you ever think u are "tilting at windmills," Bernie? Thank you.
No, the person to blame is the 100,000+ a year clerk who seems to sleep more than she works
YOUR AN ASS...BERNIE..NEED I REMIND YOU THAT YOU ARE THE POSITION YOUR IN BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT FOLLOW RULES EITHER!!
So it seems there are possibly 2 people that are responsible. Shouldn't the clerk have prompted Myers about the deadline? If she did, then did he not have it ready to be published?
"The Clerk is the highest paid employee in the County. This is inexcusable."
I agree that this is inexcusable. I do not know if it has happened before. This is the first time I checked. The Council President may have waited too long to get the agenda to the clerk, in which case he is at fault. The Clerk may have waited too long to post it, in which case she is at fault. I'd say this is primarily on the Clerk. If the council Pres delays with the agenda, she needs to put it out with what she knows. She knows there was an ordinance, an appointment and a step increase. It needed to be out there.
"YOUR AN ASS...BERNIE..NEED I REMIND YOU THAT YOU ARE THE POSITION YOUR IN BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT FOLLOW RULES EITHER!!"
What do my transgressions have to do with Council's inability to comply with the Sunshine Act? Incidentally, I could have waited until tonight's meeting started if I just wanted to lob a grenade. I had the courtesy to notify ALL council members, their lawyer and the clerk. They lacked the courtesy to respond.
$100K? You had one job ..... This individual should be fired.
Calm down, lower your caps, and slowly place an apostrophe between the letters “U” and “R”…
"Anonymous Hockie Joe’s Better Looking Dutch Uncle"
Hokie Joe just wants you all to know that no one is better looking than he.
"Frank never woulda let this happen."
Agreed. nor would the Clerks in LC or Mike Hanlon.
Frank never woulda let this happen."
Clerks are at-will, and can be fired at any time for any reason, including a bad reason. But I do not favor firing people for honest mistakes. Stealing? Yes. Lying? Yes. Screwing up? We all screw up. I do think council clerks need to drop their sense of superiority with everyone. I do think Council has been far too generous in compensating these people. I would just freeze wage increases in that office to give other county employees who work hard a chance to catch up.
bring back ken kraft he will know what do......spadoni can advise but these asscracks do whatever they want...they must be taking lessons from willie reynolds..
"bring back ken kraft he will know what do."
Right. He is part of the McClure approved ticket. Along with Warren, and Keegan they are McClure rubber stamps. They may ensure O'Hare gets his one man rule he loves in county government. O'Hare constantly attacks Mr. Trump and the so-called MAGA people. Yet McClure is the trump of Northampton County, and you can't get anymore MAGA than O'Hare. He is totally in the bag for everything McClure. Why do you think he hates council people who are not bobbleheads. Ther amount of hate and vitriol pushed by O'Hare is even extreme for his crazy mind. Attack and destroy is the game plan. Only question is which McClure insider made sure he got this latest hit piece.
This post is about NorCo Council's failure to follow the Sunshine Act, not Kraft or McClure. I've already made clear in several posts that I do not support Kraft precisely bc he is a McClure rubber stamp. I do not support Myers bc he is vulgar, a bully and lazy.
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