At a hastily called "special" meeting of Northampton County Council last night, members voted 6-3 to override the veto of an ordinance that intrudes upon incoming Executive Tara Zrinski's ability to get things done, i.e. administer. It appears to be a last-minute effort to hamstring her by a lame duck Council. She is being punished for Lamont McClure's sins. In addition to being substantively flawed, the ordinance that was vetoed by outgoing Exec Lamont McClure was adopted in violation of both the Sunshine Act and Robert's Rules, as I explained in a post on Wednesday.
Voting to override were Council members Lori Vargo Heffner, Tom Giovanni, John Brown, John Goffredo, Jeff Corpora and Ron Heckman. Four of these members will be off County Council at the end of this month. Voting against the override were Council members Ken Kraft, Jeff Warren and Kelly Keegan.
Before the vote, McClure outlined the reasons for his veto, including his argument that the ordinance was adopted in violation of recent changes to the Sunshine Act. The ordinance in question had been tabled for four months. Under Robert's Rules an indefinitely table matter dies unless it is removed from the table at the next meeting. In fact, when this matter was first brought up, County Council Solicitor Chris Spadoni said it had to be readvertised but quickly shut up when Vargo Heffner complained it had already been advertised once.
Last night, Spadoni was no better. After McClure explained precisely why the ordinance was adopted in violation of the Sunshine Act, Spadoni's sole legal response was "I disagree."
Last night was Spadoni's last as Council's solicitor.
When a new Council convenes in January, I suspect the very first item of business will be the repeal of this substantively and procedurally flawed ordinance.
If County Council wants to administer the county, then they should seek a Home Rule Charter study and revert back to the Commissioner form of ogvernment. Then they can micromanage to their heart's content.
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