At their meeting last night, Northampton County Council members Jason Boulette and Jeff Warren agreed to introduce an ordinance (you can see it here) that establishes a county civil rights commission. Typically, Council members wait to discuss the merits of proposed ordinances until there is a public hearing. That will occur on March 19.
The purpose of the ordinance, as stated in the bill itself, is to "declare [the county's intent] to promote the rights and opportunities of all persons to participate in the social, cultural, recreational, and economic life of the County and to assure equal opportunity for all persons concerning employment, housing, education, health care, and use of public accommodations without regard to actual or perceived race, ethnicity, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical marital status, familial status, GED rather than high school diploma, or mental disability, relationship or association with a disabled person, source of income, age, height, weight, veteran status, use of guide or support animals and/or mechanical aids, or domestic or sexual violence victim status."
The Commission envisaged by this ordinance consists of seven members appointed by the Executive, which County Council can confirm or reject. Members will reflect the diversity of protected classes. If the commission finds that a complaint of discrimination is substantiated, it can fine the offender up to $600.
Although Council members themselves will make their arguments two weeks from now, the proposed ordinance had support from several members of the public, including Lehigh Valley Justice Initiative's Joe Welsh. In a previous life, Joe Welsh litigated numerous civil rights discrimination lawsuits. He encouraged the creation of a human relations commission, noting that federal and state agencies that oversee discrimination complaints are completely overwhelmed and can take over a year to investigate and resolve complaints.
Welsh stated that earlier that evening, "I stood here ... and saw every single member of council, put your hand over your heart, and pledge allegiance to the principle of liberty and justice for all. And that is a fundamental goal and cherished aspiration of the United States of America. And this piece of legislation, you can consider the enabling legislation for that lofty goal."
In other business, Northampton County Council voted 5-3, with one abstention, to support a resolution opposing ICE warehouses in Northampton County. The measure was supported by Council members Ken Kraft, Kelly Keegan, Jeff Warren, Nadeem Qayyum and Jason Boulette. It was opposed by Council members Lori Vargo Heffner, Tom Giovanni and Dave Holland, with Theresa Fadem abstaining.
Warren, who is running for State Representative, said that he and Boulette worked on this resolution for several weeks. He noted that Bucks County recently approved a similar resolution and took umbrage with a claim by Upper Mount Bethel's Charles Baltic that the resolution is unconstitutional.
Council Solicitor Matt Deschler assured County Council that the resolution passes constitutional muster.
Baltic made that claim during courtesy of the floor and wondered why County Council is getting involved in a federal matter when they should be paying closer attention to county finances.
Why did Fadem abstain? She is a code enforcement officer in Hellertown. "My role in code enforcement requires that I apply ordinances and applicable state and federal laws fairly, consistently. And without bias. Property owners have established rights under the law. And if a proposed use is permitted under zoning ordinance, and the applicant follows all the required procedures, meets all the safety in building and land development standards, and satisfies all their legal requirements. We don't have the authority to oppose that use based on our personal or our political viewpoints. To do so would be inconsistent with the rule of law and the oath that, at least, I have taken."
Vargo Heffner's problem with the resolution was a passage echoing Executive Tara Zrinski's call "for industry and real estate leaders to decline to sell or lease industrial warehouse facilities to the federal government for the purposes of mass detention." Vargo Heffner added, "We don't have the right to say what people can or cannot sell." Holland shared Vargo Heffner's concern and suggested removing that portion of the resolution, but no one made such a motion.
Kraft supported the resolution because an ICE purchase of a warehouse would remove the property from the tax rolls. In addition, he complained that most warehouses are "tilt ups" set up in a way that may be large, but has little actual living space in terms of restrooms, showers, etc.
Giovanni opposed the resolution. "We're trying to be a zoning body and we're not," he said succinctly.
During this meeting, Executive Tara Zrinski provided yet again an exhaustive report of what is going on in the county, department-by-department. I'll share what she had to say on Monday.
17 comments:
Ignore the Gracedale debacle and waste time on silly woke things that don't matter. It's as expected as it is ridiculously stupid. What a special flock of idiots.
Fadem is correct. I was pleasantly surprised with her statement. The law is the law regardless of how you feel about ICE. They wasted a lot of time on feel good nonsense that’s basically meaningless between this and the civil rights/social justice baloney. We have big fiscal problems do your job!
How silly. Do these clowns even understand what their job is?
Tara should stop with her long winded reports, how long did this one last Bernie, 30 minutes or is she getting better?
Bernie O’Hare to 7:24, it’s called transparency. I like them, find them informative and believe that is what we need. It is not sexy, but it is news. Remember news?
What a clown show, wasting time on nonsense. Boulette & Warren make quite the team!
Ice resolution is a distraction for the real problems the county is facing. They are at odds with the majority of the populace. The red herrings of water and sewer issues are plain stupid. Truck water in as needed and haul sewerage out for treatment. These county simps and Shaprio should be working on the real problems instead of the DEI bs.
Haven't heard any of Tara's reports but can only imagine they are full of preening and narrative shaping buzz?
We deserve better!
News, do we even have meetings covered by News?
They're created by AI. Tara has the intellect of a fourth grader. She has the maturity of a third grader and should be put in timeout.
Is this council and administration playing outside of their defined duties? They all are facing a time line to save licensing for Gracedale
So has anyone reported on visiting nearby successful homes or spoken with professional nursing home management firms?
I agree that warehousing needs to be monitored, but taking time away from pressing deadlines that are under the ownership of the county should be a priority. County council should review their boundaries of responsibility.
What a true display of the difference in thinking in this country and county; namely, Joe Welsh clearly suffering from TDS and Charles Baltic with his calm, eloquent, and intelligent presentation about what the citizens of Northampton County really need; namely, a council focused on how to make the county financially stable. Perhaps Mr. Warren could learn a few things (we don’t want to be Bucks County) and Mr. Boulette could learn that time spent on this nonsense is truly a waste. And back to Human Services, it’s clear that instead of a facility cat we will now have robotic cats and dogs at Gracedale. Imagine the burden that takes away from the Therapeutic Recreation staff who now have just one intervention with a dementia resident (giving he or she a robotic cat or dog) as opposed to actually doing something therapeutic with them. The difference in thinking is so blatantly apparent. There must be numerous robotic animals at Gracedale since that’s the donation request every year for that facility. Maybe we can now decrease the number of staff in TR.
They can't find a fiscal affairs person in the county because they need to find one who is willing to hide the trash. Fudge the numbers and do it behind the public and council eyes.
Was Kenny so worried about the tax base when he got his quarry to go diving for a dollar from Lamont??
Typical pathetic Dem response- protect the illegals before U.S. citizens.
They say No King for Trump, yet they want to be Kings and Queens and dictate what landowner can do with their properties. How ironic and stupid democrats present themselves. Oh, let Warren keep speaking, he’ll be the reason he loses his race.
Koo Koo Keagan doesn’t say liberty and justice for all, she says for some and leaves out Under God. Even if you don’t believe in God, it’s the Pledge of Allegiance for America. You hate America, GTFO. Don’t give me the “free speech, free country” crap. It’s the Pledge of Allegiance that gives you that right.
Right. Agree plenty of other issues to work on but here we are. As bad as Lehigh County. Sort of sounds like Fascism forcing their views and rules etc. on others. JMHO.
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