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Friday, January 23, 2026

CPA Selected as NorCo's New Controller

For the first time since the inception of Home Rule, Northampton County's Controller is a certified public accountant. Timothy A Brezinski, who resides in Hanover Tp and is the Controller of Comprehensive Pain Center in Allentown, was chosen in the first round of voting for four applicants. Voting for him were Council President Ken Kraft and Council members Jeff Warren, Kelly Keegan, Jason Boulette and Theresa Fadem. Brezinski fills the vacancy created when Tara Zrinski resigned from that office to assume her new role as county executive. The vote was conducted after public interviews of all four candidates.

The salary for this position is $85,0000. 

Of the remaining three candidates, former NorCo Council member John Cusick, who lost the Controller election to Zrinski, received votes from Lori Vargo Heffner, Dave Dolland and Tom Giovanni. During his tenure on County Council, Cusick displayed a deep understanding of both the Home Rule Charter and county finance. But he's a Republican and would be filling an elected position previously held by a Democrat. Though the Home Rule Charter is silent on this point, several Council members in the past, notably Kraft, have maintained that vacancies should be filled by a person who belongs to the same party as the person who resigned. 

A third candidate, Leo Atkinson, is heavily involved in the Lehigh Valley Democratic Socialists of America, He received one vote from Nadeem Qayyum, who also is involved in that organization. Atkinson was Executive Zrinski's campaign treasurer. 

A fourth applicant, controls engineer and farmer Thomas Frumpkin, received no votes. 

Brezinsky is a 1983 graduate of St. Bonaventure University. He has extensive experience with audits in both the public and private sector. For some strange reason, he is passionate about accounting. He complimented the staff in the Controller's office as "very professional," and told Council he has reviewed the audits they post online. He added that they came through a peer review with "glowing colors" just last year. 

He said he especially likes to do sewage authority audits, so he's perfect for Northampton County. 

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16 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 2:58 AM

    Bernie will you write about Trump's Economy Vs Biden's economy not a chance because you are deranged unfair blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 6:26 AM

    Party sheep. Baaa.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 6:53 AM

    A fine addition to NORCO

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 7:08 AM

    "Cusick displayed a deep understanding of both the Home Rule Charter and county finance"
    He tried to sell Gracedale and apparently he had no understanding that 75% of Northampton County opposed his idea. Thank you McClure for prolonging Cusick's idea and getting the Gracedale referendum question on the ballet. Good riddance Cusick.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 8:32 AM

    Cusick may have been better choice, under the circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bernie O'HareJanuary 23, 2026 at 9:11 AM

      Cusick was an excellent member on Council, was well-versed in both the Charter and Admin Code and was the only council member who actually read the financial statements. He would have been an excellent controller. But he's not a CPA has no audit experience. His background is math, but he's not an accountant.

      Brezinski, a CPA with decades of auditing experience, is hands down the best choice for the position. I think even Cusick would have voted for him. You could tell from the interview that he did his homework, too. He knew about the staff, reviewed the audits they have done, explained the work he has done in the private and public sector and actually made accounting sound interesting. This was a no-brainer to me, and council should be commended for choosing him.

      Delete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 9:32 AM

    So Tara was a poor choice for controller?

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 12:51 PM

    John Cusick would have been awesome because of his knowledge also of the county. Of course they didn’t want him because he’d be honest and we’d know exactly how bad things are financially for Norco. What people want for Gracedale and what is possible are two different things. Tara wants reduced dependence upon agency staffing. That would be great if it wasn’t so impossible. McClure did that. Present administrator (whoever that is) doesn’t care. since she’ll just go somewhere else. No Republicans allowed.

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  8. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2026 at 2:41 PM

    BOH 9:11 - Was TZ qualified for Controller? Was she a CPA? I don't think she had a lick of experience, yet Cusick is not a good choice? TZ only succeeded because she kept the underlings who carried her in that role. Let's see who she keeps to carry her on her new journey (until the next job).

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2026 at 12:14 AM

    They could have at least nominated me as a courtesy.

    I can install programs on a computer.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2026 at 12:16 AM

    How did they get my name wrong too?

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2026 at 7:55 AM

    Bernie this man may be a certified public accountant but writing that he too like a scientist will in most cases come up with the statistical answer his payers want hin too! This like many of the local calculators have proven there foked statistics to be false and there are too many to list on your blog today.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thomas FrumkinJanuary 24, 2026 at 9:05 PM

    What I should have done was tell them I'm also experienced working sewage plants doing control systems, and that I'm also a musician.
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3pIFaLHlUJc

    ReplyDelete

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