On February 20, around 30 people were displaced by a fire at Hotel Hampton in downtown Easton. This was the permanent home of many of those who were victimized by the conflagration. A Wilson Borough firefighter was injured and had to be hospitalized. Northampton County Executive discussed what actions the county took to help during her presentation to county council last week.
Zrinski stated that officials were able to identify those who lost their homes and provide emergency shelter and services. She added that she was also able to get help from the state but has had difficulty obtaining a long-term housing solution. She thanked Easton City Council member Frank Pintabone for persuading Easton's Methodist Church to provide 30 days of temporary shelter. Some of those displaced lost everything, including birth certificates and social security cards. Human services agencies have worked on getting duplicates.
She also noted a pop-up block party where local businesses and residents provided food, clothing and emotional support. "It's really nice to see everybody coming together to help and support our community," she said. "We realize we have great neighbors. And if you live in Easton, you know your neighbors are pretty awesome."
Nobody lost their life in the blaze except for one cat, whose nine lives expired.
Zrinski also addressed several other topics.
Area Agency on Aging. - "We also received noticed that the area agency on aging budget will be cut by almost $400,000, requiring us to figure out how to remediate the shortfall. We're good now through June 30th, and we're making progress on a strategy that will continue to provide senior centers and meals for our seniors, but we might have some challenges ahead."
Digitalization. - The county is continuing the task of digitalizing records to obviate the need for paper. Zrinski is trying to free up as much space as she can to see if it's possible to avoid an additional building.
Corrections. - Recruitment and professional development remain high priorities. Potential corrections officers are being interviewed, and new recruits are currently shadowing veteran officers to gain hands on experience. The department is proposing a new written exam for corrections, recruitment, that will cover comprehension, language skills, math, and report writing with the goal of selecting candidates who are well prepared for the demands of the jail.
Corrections is also planning a reentry fair to support short-term inmates, those with sentences of approximately 30 to 60 days by connecting them with community resources to ease their transition back into the community, with a date in April still to be finalized.
In February 2026, Corrections placed 16 inmates directly into inpatient treatment facilities. This resulted in 209 bed days saved at the jail.The estimated daily savings of these 16 inmates is $39,613.86 daily. Zrinski observed that inpatient tratment better addresses the needs of those individuals.
So that also allows them to better address the needs of those individuals as well.
ICE DETAINERS. - Director DeeAnn Lawrence personally reviewed and attended a 7 a.m. ICE arrival to take into custody 3 released inmates with detainers in order to observe the current process and ensure it is handled appropriately and transparently.
Sheriffs. - recently conducted a physical agility test at Lafayette University. The Sheriff is currently reviewing the weapons screening process. Boomer, a black lab trained to detect explosive devices, will be retiring soon.
Public Works. - designing a parking plan for county visitors and employees to minimize inconvenience once construction of a new parking deck begins.
24 comments:
Well, at least she is communicating. An Improvement over the last trainwreck of an exec. Did council pay attention or ask questions or were they playing games on the cell phones.
Under Trump's proposed SAVE Act all of those victims of the fire in Easton would lose their right to vote. They lost critical identification documents and replacing them would require time and money.
So can you imagine the outrage if the Aging budget was cut by a Republican governor? The seniors getting the shaft again it appears. Pennsylvania appears to be in debt big time and that news needs to come out now!
Thank God, also, that we spent our county money to make sure ICE did their job and those inmates with detainers were transferred correctly.
Is the 400K a cut in state funding? If so, where are Sens. Boscola and Miller on this? Can somebody wake Reps. Freeman and Samuelson? Oh, and the Northampton County could have easily absorbed the cost if its nursing home wasn't running massive operating deficits.
Anyone can get new ID. They're going through enough without you using them in your game to freak people out for political reasons. They don't need your lies to cause them more stress
What a welcome breath of fresh air after 8 years of dictator McClure. Everything Tara is addressing is the mismanagement of the McClure Administration. Wait.........there will be gross mismanagement issues that will border on violations of County Council mandates as they pertain to the budget and existing County Laws......then we'll see what this Council is made of?????Standby.....the best is yet to come.
That's a lie, akin to saying blacks and divorced women are too lazy and stupid to get replacement ID. I recently went through the process of obtaining a new birth certificate in an effort to get Real ID and a passport. It can be accomplished online. One may also ask Bob Freeman for help. He's always glad to assist. We're long past the days of bigots like you assuming the worst of citizens. Go away and burn your hood and repent for your bigotry of low expectations.
9:24, Actually, I don't know whether this is the state or the feds and am trying to find out. I will let you know. I saw Shapiro patting himself on the back over senior funding back in November for "Investing $10 million more in services for older Pennsylvanians through local Area Agencies on Aging and an $11 million boost for food assistance programs." So I don't know what the source is. https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2025-press-releases/gov-shapiro-signs-2025-26-budget-into-law
jello
It's not so easy nor should it be. And it does take time.
Handle gracedale and excessive agency cost and they will recoup plenty more than 400000 for aging
Maybe check with the PA State Treasurer’s office
Bernie, the Kansas legislature recently invalidated the drivers licenses and birth certificates of trans people. They sent the notice out and immediately those people no longer had the right to drive or vote. Kansas requires voters to show ID at the polls. I renewed my driver's license last year. I had to pay a fee and spent 2 hours at the DMV. A victim of a fire shouldn't have to go through that to vote.
Fook the old if they can’t pull their own weight.
Is Tara the most prominent narcissist in the Valley?
No, only coming in third after Alan Jennings and Josh Siegel.
If cost is the issue, why doesn't Zrinski or Freeman offer a plan to waive costs for fire victims? Are they trying to suppress the vote? I've lived through a fire and it sucks. But recovering is not impossible. There are several entities that can - and do- help. It's 2026. Fire victims shouldn't be used as political pawns. Fires happen to Rs and Ds and everybody.
its a toss-up, but all three are incompetent!
Freeman is a walking corpse!
TDS at its finest. Minorities aren't capable of obtaining I.D.?
Bernie maybe cover the additional hiring of agency staff at Gracedale and what’s going.on with that.
Thus far, she has given speeches but there are no solid notable and significant actions taken at Gracedale or for it, to correct and right the documented problems.
Anyone living in this country should be able able to vote. PERIOD! No ID needed.
Speaking of Lamont, looks like he was one of just 4 Dems to file for Congress. No Shupe or Gonzales?
Under the Northampton County Home Rule Charter the County Executives powers include overseeing county employees, managing the budget, and leading county agencies like the jail, Gracedale Nursing home, and the 911 Center.The Executive also has the authority to appoint heads of departments and boards subject to confirmation by county council.The charter, and PA state law, grants the executive the role of Chief Executive Officer for the county’s administrative functions.
Someone REMIND this council and administration to focus on their responsibilities as defined by the Home Rule Charter and stop
chasing shiny distractions NOT designated as their concerns.
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