Kraft first asked if any Council member was aware that one of their own took this trip. Receiving no answer, he questioned why Council never conducted a vote on this expenditure of public funds "for a plane, rental cars, valet parking, meals, hotel rooms. everything else."
Council member Ron Heckman said he knew that funds are included in Council's contingency funds for various trips, "but I'm not aware of any NACO requests."
Kraft said that Council members who go on trips out of the state should bring the matter to County Council for a vote. He added that Council never even received a report following the trip. "I think the money should be paid back," he declared, and asked Lori Vargo Heffner to explain herself.
Vargo Heffner said she received permission from the Council Clerk, who actually is supposed to work for Council. The Council Clerk of course agreed that it was an "allowable expense." She said she did tell Council she went but did not provide a full report.
"If you really want me to pay this back, I'll be happy to do so," she said. "It's in the budget," she said.
Kraft made a motion that she pay the money back, but it died for lack of a second.
"I get the sense that you did this just to slam her," Heckman said to Kraft.
"I did it because it's $3,100 of taxpayer money," Kraft retorted.
Although he declined to support Kraft's motion, Council member John Goffredo said that any Council member planning such a trip should discuss it with other members of Council, not the Clerk. "That is an exorbitant amount of money," he observed.
"Any other admonishments or public humiliations?" asked Vargo Heffner before Council adjourned.
While Kraft probably did bring this matter up to slam Vargo Heffner, that's irrelevant. Any Council member who desires to spend a large sum of county money for a trip should seek the clearance of other members of Council, in a public vote. For weeks ago and two weeks ago, Vargo Heffner refused to place a Council member's resolution on the agenda because she wanted to discuss it behind closed doors first, and she stated publicly it would not be on an agenda until her questions were answered. Her decision to spend over $3,000 on a junket to Tampa with no assent from other members of Council indicates that she has become far too imperious in her second term.
52 comments:
BernieOHare, I will be covering other council stories next week.
Pay It Back !
Lori has been the worst President in County Council history. Very little important business gets done and she is sneaky and underhanded. Angle was a better County Council President than Lori Vargo Heffner.
Vargo-Heffner should have discussed this with other council members but the $3100 is already in an approved budget so I’m not sure further approval is needed. What is most wasteful is the time council spends on something that could have been disposed of in a few minutes. This body spend so much time spinning its wheels.
She should pay it back.
So the Council president used money in the budget designated for travel to attend a national conference on County government. Umm.... what am I missing here? I recall Council members regularly traveling to Harrisburg for state workshops and conferences. I don't recall them having to get permission from Council to do so.
Ken Kraft doesn't have an actual scandal to work with so he invents one.
What's wrong with attending a conference on county government from the national organization? The McClure gang (of which double dipper Kraft is a well compensated member) must be worried she runs for County Executive next year.
Ken Kraft is a mean bastard, but he’d never waste 3K of taxpayers money on a Florida vacation.
Even Heckman who has been throughly manipulated by Lori Vargo Heffner couldn’t really defend her. He had to make some stupid stuff up about some Councilman going to Taiwan 50 years ago to try to help her. #payitback
Lori Vargo Heffner violates the Sunshine Act. She miss-uses public money. She’s terribly ineffective. She should resign.
Everybody knows Lori Vargo Heffner is bad with money. Why would you expect her to spend public money wisely ?
Not the first ridiculous spending of money Council spent. First was the Clerk to Council's salary!
Curious if she attended the session below. Sounds like a must miss on the taxpayer dime. Curious to know which sessions she attended and how it would benefit her in the future.
Equity + Governance Reception
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Lona, Marriott Water Street
The NACo Equity + Governance Task Force is pleased to host a reception for NACo members and partners. Join us for an evening of refreshments and community building. All are welcome.
FOR YEARS any member of Council that attended PSACC MEETINGS would announce at a Council Meeting that they were attending the meeting and would ask if there was anything that council would like for them to bring up at the meeting. Also I believe one of the Council members was an officer of PSACC and the County paid all of his expenses at that time. We even had a County Executive that would attend meetings in Washington at the National County Executive's Convention (meeting). This is nothing new. Sometimes these meetings resulted in good legislation being passed that benefitted the Counties. I think Heckman is right. Great opportunity for bashing Lori.
This is simply harassment, misogyny, jealousy and where is the fact check? Other council members knew Heffer was attending the conference. What about all the council members that went to other conferences that did not get a council vote? Heffner went to a national conference that PA will will be hosting next year. She is a board member of the state association. How & why did Kraft get an itemized receipt & how come that wasn't done for other council members when they attended conferences?
8:55, As I indicated, Kraft's attack may very well have been mean-spirited, but that's besides the point. Contrary to your assertion, other Council members had no idea she was using the council contingency fund for an out-of-state junket. Watch the video for the "fact check." Kraft specifically asks if they knew, and no one has an answer. She is defended by the Council Clerk, who should have kept her mouth shut. But that's no surprise bc LVH made sure she got a nice $107k job.
County Council always sets aside a ridiculous slush fund for itself in every budget. This trip is why I have never liked such huge amounts in there.
Council has no policy on member trips, and I'd suggest that the governance committee that she created establish one
Absolutely no one is worried about this. McClure is looking forward to it.
6:19, Big difference between a trip to Mechanicsburg and one to Tampa. That was Kraft's point. Council members who attend these state functions usually report back on what they learned. LVH spent $3,100 of the public's money for a trip to Florida without discussing it with Council members and without bothering to report back what she had learned. It was clearly a waste.
Lori is so ethically challenged that she should resign immediately.
I saw a picture this week on WFMZ with Tara Zrinski in it regarding lead in water fountains in the Bethlehem School District and was wondering why she was in it? Was she on vacation? If not, what does the issue have to do with the controllers office? What office is she now seeking???
It’s amazing that the Lori apologists on this blog don’t see what she herself does, that the money should be paid back.
Wrong news source but here is the article on LV Live: https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/2024/09/report-calls-out-bethlehem-8-other-school-districts-over-threat-of-lead-in-drinking-water.html
There are local state PACAH meetings that cost much less and are relevant to health care
Look Lori acknowledged she was wrong. She has offer to make amends to the public by paying the money back. If she does, and they come with guidelines for their travel, they’ll be nothing to see here. Give her credit for understanding she should not have spent $3000 on a trip to Florida.
This was brought up last night just as a distraction from Lamont and the administration. If you were at the county council meeting you would have heard how the county executive violated the home rule charter in a major way. There is clear evidence and first hand witnesses accounts of the violation. And Bernie and his buddy Lamont are trying to get people to look at something else other then the crisis at the jail and violation of the home rule charter.
Please take a minute to read article 8 of the HRC on personal. And when you see that Lamont violated it by stopping employees from applying for other positions in the county it is a clear violation. And the Please read that article to the last section. Anyone found to violate that article is to be removed from office or terminated. So either Lamont is gonna throw Mary Lou on the sword like chucky did or county council needs to do their job.
Trust me Kraft was saving this card for the election next year. Why doesn't anyone talk about how Ken Kraft was never at the jail when he worked there. His buddy got him a petition. The gift that keeps on giving. Talk about wasting tax dollars. How much money is the county going to pay ken Kraft in pension funds. Gonna be a hell of a lot more then 3100 dollars.
Goffredo was shrewd last night. He called Mama Bear out on her spending. While he demonstrated good political instincts, he showed a penchant for secrecy in government by stating that the matter should have been handled in the back room and not in public.
The Point that you are missing here is council NEVER SENDS people out of state for one of these meetings, Like Kraft said at the end to Heckman, hey Ron the next trip is to Hawaii, lets go. I imagine that would have you singing a different tune wouldn't it?
#PayitBACK
Thank God for Ken Kraft, without him Lori Vargo Heffner would have zero oversight and she would run rough shot over everyone.
Ken Kraft's partisan idiocy has cost NorCo taxpayers far more than LVH's let-them-eat-cake pickpocketing. He and LVH are what's wrong with government. But I'll take the side of any creepy pol vs a simpleton rubber stamp, like Ken Krapt. Rubber stamps are the weakest of all individuals.
Just read it. Doesn’t say what you think it does. You should definitely go down that road. It’s a dead end, for you.
There’s a pattern of conduct that leads to the conclusion that Lori is not fit to serve.
The funniest line of the night was Lori offering to pay it back. Like she has that kind of money. Ha!
Obvious Kraft was fed the financial details probably by Rat Barron. McClure gang is vicious and wants to attack her at every turn. Right or Wrong, Kraft made it a public performance as opposed to asking her directly. The new McClure council is doing their job for their boss.
Spot on. McClure feeds his pets well. They are very obedient. Pathetic 3.
So you’re good with her wasting $3000 on a Florida trip with no redeeming public value ?
I don't understand the desire for a vote on something like this. It's not like Kraft, Keegan or Warren are the type of people to honor a vote by the County Commissioners they don't agree with anyway. They'd probably try to sue the morning after to stop it. Insurrectionists.
The rabid nature of the online defense of Lori ripping the taxpayers off is an indicator that the half-wits plotting Lori’s political future are smart enough to know this is fatal to their plans. 🤣
Well even if McClure or Barron fed the info to Ken does it make it any less wrong? She still did that shit!
Thank you for mentioning that. I notice Bernie left it out. Probably deliberately because he always has different standards for girls.
I'm also surprised that Bernie didn't cover all those employees from the Jail who attended the meeting to speak out about problems with the schedule, the low pay and being barred from apply for other County jobs. THAT'S the real story not Ken Kraft's hissy fit which he couldn't even get another Council member to second.
7:04 am: Don’t kid yourself. If there was diving involved, Kraft would have his flippers packed in a nanosecond. That guy will do whatever serves his interest.
Also, I thought I read in one of these blog posts earlier in the summer about this trip. When I originally read about it, I recall thinking who would want to go to Tampa in the summer.
Lori lies. The taxpayer cries.
If the pay is so low, maybe you should leave ?
Really Lori Vargo Heffner has no accomplishments. She failed to provide the leadership to get Tara’s Council seat filled. The Court predictably filled it with a total stiff. So, nothing gets done.
Ken Kraft knows multiple Steps were offered at the table by the County in 3 successive contract negotiations. Ken Kraft also knows how John Brown stiffed the COs when he was Executive That’s why the COs are mad at Ken Kraft. Because Ken Kraft knows the COs are full of bull feathers.
This wasn’t her fault. Numerous time other names were mentioned but the three rubber stamp robotic McClure puppets weren’t programmed to mention another name. Lori and the rest tried, but were hampered by the puppets. And why is he a total stiff, because he’s not a puppet. TS.
3:58 pm: in the whole scheme of things, the County wastes a heck of a lot more than $3,000. At least some knowledge may have been gained at this conference.
Lori is secretive and abhors sunshine. She wastes taxpayers money. She is losing her grip on power as her MAGA buddies are getting tired of voting Liberal agenda items. Even Ron won’t rescue her anymore.
Someone persuade Ron Angle to run; let's make Northampton County great again!
Lori Vargo Heffner needs to hold a press conference and answer questions about her taxpayer funded vacation to Florida. First question: how did Northampton County benefit from your trip to Florida in July ?
Vargo Heffner is a typical politician. She’s only in it for herself. Not We The People !
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