In a close, 5-4 vote at NorCo Council's May 7 meeting, Executive Tara Zrinski's request for a completely brand new county department was granted. Supporting her were Council President Ken Kraft, joined by members Kelly Keegan, Jeff Warren, Theresa Fadem and Jason Boulette. Opposed were Lori Vargo Heffner, Dave Holland Nadeem Qayyum and Tom Giovanni. Though a two-man Continuum of Care Department was created, which will costing $250,000 a year in salaries alone, a resolution approving the two positions was tabled.
Zrinski argued that a separate department is needed to manage am 1,300-person workforce. More importantly, and in an opaque hint at her long-range plan, Zrinski said a separate department is needed "to coordinate the full continuum - nursing care, supportive living, and a future campus-based development reflecting the needs of the continuum of care across these 364 acres upon which Gracedale occupies." This suggests, at least to me, that the county is considering using some of its vast Gracedale campus to provide housing for seniors across the entire continuum of care spectrum.
This is certainly a much better idea than giving an out-of-town developer a tax break for luxury apartments. It would provide affordable housing to some of the county's most vulnerable residents. The county already owns the land but would need to borrow to build more housing. Like the county has done in the past for both open space and even keeping Gracedale, a question like this could be put to the voters.
So even though this creates a new layer of bureaucracy, I support the establishment of this new department. What I dislike about the positions, however, is that they are what the county calls "exempt" positions. This means that they are political hires who come and go with the Executive.
For the first five months of this year, Zrinski has been unable to find a Director of Fiscal Affairs, a position sorely needed in a county with financial challenges. She has attributed this to a rather low salary, although she claims to have found one. I think the real challenge is that it's hard to attract a financial professional who is willing to tie his employment to the political winds.
This department, like Emergency Management, should be completely apolitical so that it attracts people who have the right expertise and who are willing to make it a career.
27 comments:
The Northampton County Home Rule Charter and The Northampton County Administrative Code dictates what positions are exempt and what positions are career Service. It sounds like (based on your reporting) that these division heads (two personnel) should be a part of the Northampton County Area on aging or Gracedale thus they would not be exempt and under the political control of The Executive. The Home Rule Charter and The Code dictate what positions are exempt not the Executive or Commissioners. The law is the law is the law!
The hackarama is in full bloom. This is a huge opportunity for waste and corruption and favoritism. It never gets old. communist Zohrinski needs an Gracedale exorcism.
This is not a core function of county government!
TZ is making progress but agree - take the politics out of it. Politics rarely provides competence and positive results.
At least she has fresh ideas. Much better than the stale donut lamont.
When did the County Commissioners/County Council change the Administrative Code to allow the County Executive the authority or the power to hire individuals to be employed by an agency that hasn't been legally created as an agency of the COUNTY. The Agency must be created and approved by County Law? All the County Agencies are listed in the Administrative Code and the Code is approved by ORDINANCE enacted by adoption of the Commissioners. Don't you think it would be proper to first create the Agency according to the Administrative Code (by ordinance) and then create the positions? You already have The Human Services Division. Do you really need another Agency?
Wow…2 new positions possibly at $250,000, to be chosen by the exec and approved by council.. and the county has well over 1600 employees , which were managed without another layer of government picks for oversight for years. Was there a plan presented to explain how it would be instituted? Is the Executive appointing supporters, again, to these positions? Is there a new Fiscal Director anywhere in sight in the next few months?
That's what happened at the May 6 meeting. The Admin Code had to be changed. And the answer is Yes, another agency is needed for Gracedale.
If you read my story, you know she claims to have found someone for fiscal.
That is correct, and this was done correctly. The HRC provides that each department gets two exempt positions. Council now has created a continuum of care department. That is what it did on May 6 when it changed the Admin Code. My view is that these newly created positions should be career service, not political. Just because you can do it does not mean you should.
This is actually a pretty good idea from the Executive. The wait lists at many elderly high rises are sometimes 2/3 years and this housing will directly support those that need affordable housing that the private market is currently not catering to.
My only question here is what the ultimate cost will be to construct this and whether it could be done at a overall manageable rate.
You and I are right Bernie. We are obviously both quoting and saying the same thing. I did not know they already passed the ordinance on May 6th. The department head will be exempt and they may have one confidential employee.
No violation here.
Anon 8:09 said: “At least she has fresh ideas.”
Yeah, increase the bureaucracy and throw more money at the problem.
How fresh.
Absolutely! They will be political appointments, and then they'll get the ax when Zrinski leaves to greener pastures. Unfortunately, it'll all be at the expense of the taxpayers. Throw money at the problem. That's always a way to solve problems.
If Zrinski wanted to be progressive, she would get rid of Gracedale. I know it's not a popular opinion in certain circles (trust me) but overwhelmingly popular among number crunchers.
Maybe she should worry about her existing employees before creating new one's. That's great for people in the courthouse more days off. But what about the 911 center or JJC employees. Don't even get started with the jail. They don't have the numbers to run a shift. Just mandate away!!!Remember there is no extra money around to try to get people to want to become Corrections officers. Or money to try to keep the officers there but can find money for this...
They are exempt but a new executive could opt to keep them, as TZ kept many of McClure’s people and as some mayors of Bethlehem kept some department heads.
Does it make that much difference?
No, it isn't. We have a housing authority for that purpose. This is overreach.
This isn’t going to end well.
The taxpayers of Northampton County cannot afford this idea. David Holland is now seeing how quickly they have decided not to take his advice.
A continuing care community is always a good idea that has been discussed for years. Again lehigh county built independent living decades ago at cedarbrook. Assisted living is very competitive and challenging. It will be costly but worth entertaining and can give a good admission flow as residents need more care. However, Bernie a career service in northampton county is not much more secure than an appointed. McClure got rid of career service when he got in to office too. So much for job security at all when insecure politicians are involved. What mcclure did not get was most people are passionate and committed to their profession and will produce no matter who the county executive is or their party as people allegiance are to their license and their wanting to serve the citizens of the county. Politicians like McClure dont get this concept
"Guess she shouldn’t have “fired” Stephen J. Barron, Jr." Since you're not following along, Steve resigned his position as Director of Fiscal Affairs on October 3, 2025, before the current County Executive was even elected. Nice try.
Dave Holland forgets more than Zrinski would ever know.
Didn’t they county just have their q1 financial presentation in which they said the county will be broke be the end of the year? How can we justify paying 250k for two people to maybe improve gracedale. It makes a lot of sense if the county could afford these but not at these salary levels it’s insane. All these new high paid jobs do nothing other than given to somebody who knows somebody. When will the county look out for the ones who provide the most to the county the 911 workers and the jail employees are the ones who need the most help. The juvenile building is just completely mismanaged and something else needs to get done there long term, they missed the boat with the regional agreements that are happening.
If the human services director will no longer manage gracedale as part of her job, what will she do? Her deputy already supervises almost all of the employees now except child/youth and gracedale. Top heavy for sure!
Manors of the Valley and Abe Ateyih will be heavily involved through a partnership. Campaign finance reports tell you all you need to know for confirmation.
Still waiting to see the results from corrective action to improve ratings at Gracedale. Still waiting for results of how to fill the void from the 7 million dollar loan taken from the general funds. Still waiting for fresh approach to how to raise money for this county other than increasing tax.
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