At an unusually brief meeting last night, Northampton County Council voted 6-2 to table a $35 million bond ordinance to finance the construction of a badly needed parking deck at the courthouse campus as well as an advanced radio system that would ensure communications among first responders throughout all four corners of the county.
Council member Jeff Corpora, who actually is a sponsor of the financing package, moved to table the ordinance because Council member Ron Heckman, who is battling a virus, was absent. Corpora's motion was seconded by Council member John Goffredo.
Once a motion to table is made and is seconded, no debate is permitted. Voting to table were Corpora and Goffredo, joined by Council members Lori Vargo Heffner, John Brown, Tom Giovanni and Jeff Warren. Voting against the motion to table were Council members Ken Kraft and Kelly Keegan.
At a committee meeting the day before, financial advisor Scott Shearer told Council that he does not believe there will be any change in the interest rates between July, when a larger bond package was proposed, and now. He said bind pricing would be known in late February or early March.
The overall price for construction of a stand-alone garage will be about the same as it was when the project was first proposed in July, according to Gary Warren of Skanska.
Executive Lamont McClure provided no report to Council.
In other business, County Council voted 8-0 to adopt an ordinance effectively granting a no-fault divorce between the county and its conservation district. It has been removed from supervision by the county administration.
32 comments:
Voting against tabling was Ken Kraft and Kelly Keegan. Jeff Warren voted in favor of tabling.
Bernie OHare to 12:03. I just went back to check. You are correct and I fixed my post accordingly. I apologize for the factual error.
Thank you for covering these meetings, Bernie. For local news, I rely on you and Jeff Ward's blog, Lehigh Valley News Briefs. Occasionally WFMZ publishes a recap but, for the most part, our local media is missing in action.
I see Silent Tom Giovanni has already violated Campaign Finance Law. The DA should investigate !
the only things these yahoos are good for is delaying and whining.
If Tom wants to be County Executive then he needs to be correct, at the very least, in his announcements and his resume. He's already made one mistake by claiming that CCAP stands for the County Council Association of Pennsylvania. Hey Tom, CCAP stands for a County Commissioners Association of PA. I guarantee you voted to change council members to commissioners so you should really know that. You're really not off to a good start.
Eye roll. Don’t post garbage like this unless you have facts to back it up.
Didn’t Giovanni get fired by the Chamber as their IT guy for incompetence ?
I see. That sounds like a horrible mistake. I hope you come up with better complaints than this one.
OMG - using a county picture that was copied. Arrest him. SMH. Petty left wing idiots. He said he wouldn’t do it again. Can you forgive him or do what the radical left does best, attack him. This is going to be fun. Guess the democrats already forgot what happened in November. President Donald J Trump, and republican House and Senate.
I see. And you overlook mistakes for those you like and are petty towards those you don't. If you want to be County Exec, you better start off on the right foot and dot all your Is and cross all your Ts. Reading aloud isn't his forte, seems proof reading isn't either.
Settle down Kelly you’ll get over it.
did he? now you have me interested.
Bernie, Interesting that the new democratic party is still pursuing the campaign of personal attacks and smear the same way They did to Trump, and we see how weel; that went. I hope you have people prove the statements on Mr. G. Warren of all people talking about campaign finance abuse. Every picture of McClure by a county paid photographer that ends up on a dem web site could be called the same. Warren is an ass with nothing to contribute much like Keegan, so this is their attack roles.
Rember, Zerinski the judicated perjurer. right? As well the jobless times and constant political activity instead of council govenrment work. With so much more to all get out. In game of character assignation Giovanni COMEs out a rose next to a turd.
Warren is a total idiot for bringing up a stupid comment about a photo… typical democrat behavior
Stop trying to find fly shit in black pepper
Exactly correct
What happened in November is that Trump was on the ballot
Will MAGA show up in an off-year election when he's not on the ballot???
Onde thing Mr. Giovanni has that his opponent lacks and that is integrity.
I think the thing we have to understand about Silent Tom is that he is very dim witted. John Brown is the smart one in the relationship. If Silent Tom were to win, employees health care benefits will be cut.
Kelly, say this with me: "Donald Trump is my president. He won Northampton County, which propelled him to victory over a half-wit Kamala Harris."
Bullshit.
Tom Giovanni is no “Quiet Man.” In the movie the character played by John Wayne was a retired professional boxer. He was a tough guy. Giovanni is real life. Flesh and blood. And, he is weak and not very bright. He’s quiet because he’s stupid and cowardly.
1:32, I am the person who gave Giovanni that name and did so bc, unlike so many politicians who are clanging empty cans, he actually listens more than he speaks. That's why others listen when he does say something. Interesting that the partisan calling him "stupid and cowardly" does so anonymously. Isn't that cowardly? Also, it's stupid. Zrinski has done a good job as Controller and Giovanni has been an exceptional steward of his district. When you anonymously bash one of them, all you are doing is driving people to his side. And guess what? Most people are not partisans like you.
Great post Bernie. Tom is a good man.
McClure’s departure from politics will expose the lack of talent and depth in the Democratic challengers. Tara, without the experienced staff around her in the controller job, will show her lack of leadership and people skills looking for her followers to bolster her to the next job.
McClure also will have issues with his personality flaws in any attempt to make a move toward a congressional run. Now would be the chance for a clear headed Republican to join the race knowing the redness that has taken hold in the county. 2025 Will not be a good year for Northampton County no matter what party controls.
Looks like the deal has been cut. Steve will be the defacto Exec and Tara gets a 20K raise when she gets elected.
@BOH you want to call people cowardly for making fun of Tom anonymously?! That's hilarious Bernie since you allow people to anonymously make fun of Tara, Kelly, Jeff, and anybody else that you don't like. You're such a hypocrite, what a bullshit blog.
“Exceptional steward of his District”, are you daft man ? What has he done for his District ? They currently have 20th century emergency communications that he refuses to upgrade because Lamont hurt Goffredo’s feelings ? This makes people less safe in his District.
I do not call people cowardly for making fun of Tom anonymously. I published the comment and am pretty tolerant of anonymous comments directed at all elected officials. If you read my comment more carefully, I called 1:32 a coward bc he/she anonymously called him a coward yet was too cowardly to say who she/he is. I supposed that id hypocrisy as well.
10:58, I believe that there was an opportunity to put together a bond that included what everyone agreed was needed, but it is Jeff Warren who insisted on a vote for everything and got nothing. The vote Thursday night was delayed bc Heckman was unavailable. If Tom G votes No then, you will have a fair point. Until then, you don't.
When the parking deck decides to crumble during the work day, the county will have a lot of cars to replace so it will cost way more... Especially the fancy cars in reserved spots. Just a thought....
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