Yesterday, I told you about Allegheny County, another Home Rule County. Its Charter was adopted in 1998, making it 20 years younger than Northampton County's 1978 model. Some provisions in Allegheny's Charter would be of immeasurable assistance to good government in Northampton County.
Home Rule Charter Changes
In Northampton County, Council is increasingly cranking out amendments. We are up to about 20 of them so far. They go out to the voters as a referendum vote. That's like a judge's retention vote. Everybody says Yes, even if they have no idea what is being proposed.
Let me give you an example. Several years ago, Northampton County Council members decided they wanted to be called Commissioner. It makes them sound more important. That required a change to the Charter. The deceptive question put to the voters was whether there should be nine commissioners, not whether to change the appellation being used. People voted Yes because they thought they were voting to establish a nine member Council. They had no idea that what they really were doing was inflating egos.
Without question, Northampton County's Home Rule Charter is in serious need of an overhaul. There are serious questions in nearly every Article. But instead of the piecemeal and sometimes frivolous approach taken by Northampton County Council, here's what Allegheny's Charter provides:
a) A County Government Review Commission shall be established five years after the effective date of this Charter and every ten years thereafter. The Commission shall study the Charter and County government, including the organization, practices and responsibilities of all County departments and agencies. The Commission shall evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of County government and this Charter. The Commission may make recommendations to the people of the County on County government and may recommend amendments to this Charter.
b) The Commission shall be composed of nine members who shall serve one-year terms. The members shall be voters of the County, five of whom shall be appointed by County Council and four of whom shall be appointed by the Chief Executive. The political party affiliation, racial, geographic, age and gender diversity of the County shall be considered in the appointment process. No County officer, employee, or member of an agency shall be a member of the Commission. The Commission shall submit a final report to the people of the County on the Commission's findings and recommendations within one year after appointment of the Commission.
Instead of piecemeal amendments that are often poorly considered, a better approach would be the establishment of a government review commission every ten years. Members, none of whom would be employed by the county, would be appointed by the Executive and Council and would have one year to recommend changes. I am aware that any recommendation requiring a change in the form of government would require the election of a home rule charter study commission. Most changes, however, would make no changes in the actual form of government. Northampton County Council could easily adopt an ordinance establishing this Commission, and could still reserve the power to recommend their own changes in case of an emergency.
Interaction With Executive Branch
Allegheny's Home Rule Charter specifically provides that County Council should refrain from micromanaging the Executive branch.
County Council and its Members shall deal with the Executive Branch exclusively through the Chief Executive or Manager except for the purpose of obtaining information and advice. Individual County Council Members shall not give orders or instructions, either publicly or privately, to employees of the Executive Branch.
Northampton County's Home Rule Charter contains no such provision. but it's good advice. County Council provides oversight but should refrain from telling county employees what to do.
23 comments:
The Imperial executive branches of the modern era have far too much power as it is. The brain dead in both party's rally around their own. These executives have the money and th podium to propagandize their partisan messages. To reward and punish, all at their personal whim. We need a President and governors, as well as Mayors for large cities but below that at local levels we really don't need some all-powerful one-person rule.
What I have been told is at the county level the executive type of government is a bust and now you want to give it more power? With no viable local press, you need the power opened up and not consolidated in one all-powerful person controlling the people and information. As for existing legislatures, they have zero power to do anything to stop it.
Guys like you love One man rule!
Hey Big Spender, Allegheny County also adds a 1% sales tax to help fund their democrat utopia in Western PA. I’m sure it would be 2% like their democrat idols in Philadelphia, if Allegheny County weren’t limited to 1% by state law. And that’s just sales tax.
Instead of trying to import their proposals to Northampton County and cause the inevitable tax hikes here, why not just export yourself to Allegheny County and YOU can fork over YOUR money to them!
You better start telling them that once a week, some think they run the county. LVH for instance
Totally agree Bernie. It’s clear from watching meetings and interactions between the Executive branch and council that these additions to the HRC would be extremely helpful.
Agree with Bernie on the commissioner vs councilman change. Kraft pushed early on for wanting to be labeled commissioner. The new label doesn’t add power or strength, it is only an ego boost, nothing more.
Agree This council could take the initiative to review, and evaluate the Home Rule Charter and its current relevance to current county conditions, but doubt they can handle the self scrutiny, or get past
their individual agendas to make it worthwhile. Agree with Bernie on good governance planning, but you need real unselfish leadership from electeds who care about the county, and not their titles and behind-the-scenes selfish power plays.
"Hey Big Spender, Allegheny County also adds a 1% sales tax to help fund their democrat utopia in Western PA. I’m sure it would be 2% like their democrat idols in Philadelphia, if Allegheny County weren’t limited to 1% by state law. And that’s just sales tax."
The provisions I cite here concern (1) a review of the HRC every ten years and (2) a more clear delineation of the separation of the powers of the executive and legislative branches. Neither of these has any fiscal impact, so your argument about an increased sales tax, which I would oppose in any event, is nonsense.
The provision concerning a ten-year review of the charter would remove the current piecemeal approach and take out at least some of the partisan politics. The provision concerning executive interference would make more clear that Council's role is one of oversight, not micromanagement. It is important to have oversight. Our legislative branches have grown weak on the national, state and county levels. But this oversight does not mean that legislatures should interfere with day-to-day operations. There is one executive, not ten. A better understanding of the different roles of executive and council should enhance better relations, but there should always be a healthy tension.
"What I have been told is at the county level the executive type of government is a bust and now you want to give it more power? "
Not at all. I do not for one moment contemplate giving the Exec more power than he already has. Under the HRC, the County Council is the most powerful branch and should be the most powerful branch. All powers not expressly granted are reserved to Council according to the HRC. The weakness of Council stems from the fact that it consists of PT members who have FT jobs and its FT staff is very weak. I do not propose making Council members FT because they are more akin to a board of directors. Their role is one of oversight, not being a rubber stamp and not being a roadblock. They should question the Executive and what he or she wants to do, but both branches need comity.
If the PT council members took time to learn the guidelines of Northampton county, learned about the HRC and what its limitations are , or what could be done to improve its relevance, followed Civil discourse and Robert’s Rules, and individually pursued what would be good for their county and respective responsibilities……
and turning on their microphones! I might consider calling them commissioners.
We need an elected Sheriff! Amend that!
Gracedale's referendum is a good example of how tricky they are. It was worded to elicit an affirmative response. It was timed during a primary in an off year. Was democracy undermined? Probably not. Is this good governance? Probably not.
1:24, An elected Sheriff would be a change in the form of government and would require both an home rule charter study commission as well as a subsequent referendum. The government study commission could certainly consider making such a recommendation. I know that a majority of deputy sheriffs would like an elected sheriff, but that's mostly bc they would like to be sheriff themselves. A sheriff elected by the people would be more independent than an appointed sheriff. But this opens a can of worms as the elected Sheriff might create a little fiefdom for cronies as opposed to actually providing service. There are arguments both ways.
Kraft wasn’t even on County Council when the name was changed to commissioner. Pretty sure Lori Vargo Heffner was president of council when it was put on the ballot but it may have been Ron Heckman. I guess the new council motto is, just blame Kraft.
Gracedale was a costly lesson in referendums. Proponents threaded a needle and taxpayers have been getting killed ever since. It was bad government.
@ Jan 10, 11:04 am 🤣 Couldn’t agree more!
The Sheriff in Northampton County should not be elected. He provides services to the Courts, serves papers, provides security for the Government Center and Court house and his duties are almost all restrictive to those areas. The County does not want to give deputies expanded powers, ie. arrest powers, etc. because local police departments and the State Police already provide most of those services. The liabilities for expanding those powers are huge and almost cost formiddable. If you don't like the duties of being a deputy, go get a job somewhere else.
BernieOHare to 4:36, That is true, but he tried to have the name changed when he was on Council.
I applaud raising of taxes! And I appreciate the ideas being proposed.. you could move south and save some money
Heeres an idea. Bernie, please get Phil Armstrong to move to Northampton County and run for Executive. He is a nice guy that loves people and can work with them harmoniously. What a change.
Fact: Kraft was on council and did push for a title change but it failed. He also tabled an opportunity to set up a 501C3 blocking the county from allowing taxpayer to donate to Gracedale and take a tax deduction. A foundation was set up outside of the council, not part of it, to raise money to help.
@ 7:15, So what. The commissioner who were on council at that time obviously wanted to have their title changed. Why not point them out?
Sorry, you are wrong..Kraft was on council…he always wanted to be more in title, and talked about changing the council title. Heffner and Heckman were followers not leaders in this.
There are no commissioners under our current county government structure, only
Councilmen and councilwomen.
The commissioner title was changed in title only for ego purposes not function.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Fact: Kraft was on council and did push for a title change but it failed. He also tabled an opportunity to set up a 501C3 blocking the county from allowing taxpayer to donate to Gracedale and take a tax deduction. A foundation was set up outside of the council, not part of it, to raise money to help
Ok Bob Werner looks like your foundation is doing just as well as predicted
1/11 @ 4:33 Listen Bob according to this blog it was LVH and Peg Ferraro who changed the title of councilmen to commissioners in 2020. Which explains why it was not done properly. Ken was not on council. If Kraft was making the change, at least it would’ve been done properly so the group/body matched the individual titles.
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