Lower Nazareth and Hanover Tp Are in a No-Tax Hike Tie

Hanover Township is expected to adopt its 8th consecutive no-tax hike budget next week. Hard as this might be to believe, it is in a tie with Lower Nazareth, which last night approved its 8th no-tax hike budget in a row.

Both townships have no long-term debt. Both also use a regional police department. Both have fiscally conservative Township Managers.

Lower Nazareth Decides To Keep Colonial Regional

(Top row, from Left to Right: Robert "Pappy" Kucsan; James Pennington; and crowd shot in which a developer hides his face. 
Middle row, from Left to Right: Solicitor Gary Asteak; Manager Timm Tenges; and Chair Eric "Rick" Nagle.
Bottom row:  Gerald Green; Martin Boucher; and "Back to the '80s" sign).

After seven months of uncertainty, Lower Nazareth Supervisors last night ended their threatened breakaway from the Colonial Regional Police Department. This decision came during a meeting at Lower Nazareth Elementary School, before an audience of about 170. Supervisors sat below two signs. One of them read, "Welcome to the Wonderful World of Lower Nazareth." The other, prepared by the third grade, read, "Back to the '80s."

Despite the signs, the Wonderful World of Lower Nazareth has decided not to go back to the '80s.

The Colonial Regional Police Force, first formed in 1995 as one of the area's first regional police departments, currently serves Hanover and Lower Nazareth Townships, as well as Bath Borough. But last year, Lower Nazareth rejected this year's $3.39 million proposed police budget. This operated as a notice of intent to withdraw in a year if the problems remain unresolved. If unable to come to terms by July 1, Lower Nazareth would have no choice but to go it alone, starting in January.

It looked like a long night was ahead. But before hearing from anyone in the audience, Supervisor James Pennington moved to rescind the notice of intent to withdraw and accept this year's police budget. Pennington had previously backed Nagle's stated desire to go it alone, if necessary, but had a change of heart.

Why?

After the meeting, he explained. Opening a folder, he showed sheet after sheet of pros and cons he was ticking off, both with respect to the regional force and a go-it-alone department. He said he kept going back and forth, but what really changed his mind is walking his dog, believe it or not, although it is not his dog who convinced him.

Pennington walks his dog twice a day, and during these jaunts, he speaks to a lot of residents. They were concerned about losing Colonial Regional. One of the neighbors he spoke to is former Northampton County Sheriff Jeff Hawbecker, who is also a former state trooper. Hawbecker started the process that led to Northampton County's Sheriff's department being one of just two departments statewide that are accredited..

To his credit, Pennington listened to what he was told, and took it to heart.

Pennington's motion was quickly seconded by Supervisor Martin Boucher, who has supported Colonial Regional from the start.

All this appeared to take Supervisor Robert "Pappy" Kuscan by surprise, and when he realized what was going on, he exploded.

"Do you realize we're going to have to raise taxes?" he exclaimed in a voice that needed no microphone. He went on to discuss the costs and then, referring to the audience, said, "These people don't know what's happening?"

"I think they do know what's going on," disagreed Boucher. "That's why they're here."

Kuscan continued to blow oil, discussing the merits of a police department with a station right by the municipal building.

"A station right next to the baseball field?" asked Boucher, referring to the large number of athletic fields next to the municipal building at which children play baseball, soccer and football.

"Absolutely!" thundered Kuscan.

"What, are you cRraZy?" asked Boucher.

At this point, Chairman Eric Nagle ended the exchange. It was getting argumentative, and worse, Kucsan was losing.  

Nagle then repeated the arguments he's been making all along. He acknowledged that he's on record as calling Colonial Regional a "great department" (he's actually on record as calling it the "best in the state"), but said the funding formula for the regional force is disadvantageous to Lower Nazareth residents, who pay more for police protection than their counterparts in Hanover and Bath.

He acknowledged that the budget increases are small, in the area of just 5%, but "that could be a 9 or 10% increase on us."

He concluded that for $250,000 less than what it is paying now, Lower Nazareth could have its own force.

Kucsan continued to blow oil, now claiming that Hanover and Bath get together and outvote them. "We have less township people and we're paying a lot more money than they are. ... That's not fair."

But Boucher countered that, if anything, Lower Nazareth is ahead of the others. Lower Nazareth pays 35% of the budget, but receives 37% of the service. He added that a solo police department would actually end up being more expensive.

Supervisor Gerald Green voted to join Pennington and Boucher in rescinding the notice of intent to withdraw and accepting this year's budget. Kucsan and Nagle voted No.

The room burst into applause, erasing any doubt about where they stood on this issue.

Though he voted against Nagle, Green defended him to the audience, arguing that Nagle is motivated by the "best interests of the township" and "did his homework."

Very classy. Maybe Lower Nazareth really is a wonderful world.

Colonial Chief Roy Seiple was obviously happy, and addressed the Board and the audience. "Some of you maybe I've arrested. Sorry for that," he joked. He thanked Supervisors for looking at the police study objectively and making the "correct" decision.

Hanover Township Manager Jay Finnigan was there, and after the meeting, had this comment: "I believe the Board of Supervisors in Lower Nazareth Township took the appropriate action in supporting one of the strongest police forces in the Lehigh Valley. The officers provide all municipalities outstanding service committed to the residents in each municipality."

Lower Nazareth To Discuss a New Police Department on Wednesday

Lower Nazareth Township's Board of Supervisors is about to decide on forming its own police department. A meeting has been advertised for thus Wednesday, 6;30 pm, at Lower Nazareth Elementary School, which is located at 4422 Newburg Road. According to the notice, "A component of the meeting will be discussion of police services."

Currently, Lower Nazareth is served by Colonial Regional Police Department, which also covers Hanover Township and Bath. Formed in 1995 as one of the Lehigh Valley's first regional police departments, it's a 24-officer force. Unlike many smaller departments, it has investigative capacities.

Last year, Lower Nazareth Supervisors rejected a $3.39 million police budget proposed for next year. This operates as a notice of intent to withdraw in a year if the problems remain unresolved. If they are unable to come to terms by July 1, Lower Nazareth will have no choice but to go it alone, starting in January.

Their sticking point has been the $1,122,450 contribution from Lower Nazareth, which is $44,481 more than last year. "We're not going to increase taxes to pay for police services," complained Lower Nazareth Chair Eric Nagle last December. He also objects to Chief Roy Seiple's plan to expand the force gradually to 30 police officers.

So Nagle is worked up over what amounts to a four per cent increase.

Here's what kills me. At a meeting in March, he called Colonial Regional Police "the best in the state as far as I'm concerned."

So he is proposing to replace the best with something less than that over a measly four per cent.

First, he had Township manager Timm Tenges do some kind of analysis, then had it reviewed by some muckety muck from Kutztown. A copy of the "Police cost Analysis" has been released. It proposes replacing a 24-officer force with a 7-man police department (1 Chief, 1 Sergeant and 5 patrolmen) Nazareth Borough, which is smaller and has far fewer road miles, has a 13-man force.


The township apparently plans to use part-time officers to complement a bare-bones department that will leave just one officer on duty most of the time.

It's really a recommendation to cut current services.

The cost analysis may be flawed in other respects as well, and may not have the correct salaries for comparison or include the cost of part-time officers.

Why would Eric Nagle want to replace "the best" with a 7-man force that might be enough to cover the Wal Mart and other stores at Northampton Crossings?

This is penny wise and pound foolish. I know Eric is trying to be frugal, but this exercise will cost him much more down the road. What's worse, he fails the citizens he has sworn to serve.

Gas Station, Car Wash Coming to Lower Nazareth

Plans for both a gas station and carwash were unanimously approved last night by Lower Nazareth Supervisors, with no objections from the public.

The gas station will be located at Sam's Club, located at Northampton Crossings. The plans approved called for an extension at the north end of the property for a one-way only fuel station, limited to members of Sam's Club.

The carwash, along with a detailer, will be actually be located off Corriere Road in Palmer Township, but because access is located in Lower Nazareth, both Townships have to approve plans.

Supervisors also heard a litany of questions from the Lower Nazareth Baseball Ass'n, as three members of that group talked over each other for nearly an hour over matters that could have been resolved with Township staff. Had they not been stopped, the season would be over before anything was resolved.

There's a Crook on Lower Nazareth's Planning Commission!

That's right. Everyone knows about it, and has for years. Nobody will do anything about it either, not even the papers. If you ask this Crook, she'll blatantly admit it, too.

Except she's mot that kind of crook. It's her name. Linda Crook. She's the Chair of the Lower Nazareth Planning Commission. She is one of five planning commissioners who said NO to zoning changes for another Lou Pektor special during a meeting on January 20.

Pektor is the front man for some outfit that wants to sink a 498-unit apartment complex between Country Club and Hecktown Roads. But planners recommended against changing zoning from the current office park to some kind of residential mix.

Planners raised the following concerns: traffic; impact on an already overcrowded elementary school; adverse impact on the nearby Louise Moore Park; and the need for additional police protection at a time when Township Supervisors are considering a divorce from a regional police department.

I was unable to attend because I was on Bethlehem Township that evening, but zoning opponent Bob Hoyer filled me in on the details.

Hoyer, a former Supervisor himself, is the owner of Buza's Greenhouse, located at the corner of Newburg and Country Club Road. He tells me that he, and about fifteen other opponents, were at the Planning Commission meeting. I know, because I tried stopping there briefly and was unable to find parking in the small municipal lot.

The Planning Commission recommendation is nonbinding. Supervisors are free to accept or reject it.

Given the relationship between Manager Timm Tenges and Pektor, as demonstrated in the above photo, my guess is he'll try his damned best to help out his fishin' buddy. I'm sure there's nothing at all wrong about a developer taking a Bethlehem Mayor and Bethlehem Township Manager on a fishin' trip to Maryland.

Or ... Maybe there really is a crook in Lower Nazareth.

Maybe Executive John Brown will hire Tenges next.

Something Fishy About Timm Tenges, Too!

On Friday, I posted this picture from a 2005 fishing trip including developer Lou Pektor and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan. I've filed a Right-to-Know request to see if Callahan reported the trip as a gift, and should get an answer sometime in the next five years.

The big fellow in red is Lower Nazareth Township Manager Timm (that's mm, damn it) Tenges. In 2008, he once consumed most of a supervisors' meeting lambasting a blogger. Posing as "FULibs", he continued his tirade at NewsOverCoffee. He detests bottom-feeding bloggers. Who can blame him?

But he loves developers. In fact, he just finished helping Lou Pektor ram through some pesky zoning changes that would allow for 180 townhouses and 140 single homes at Trio Farms. This development started out as an age qualified development back in 2004 and wound up getting approved last week for market rate housing. I'm sure the school district will love all the extra kiddies.

I smell another fishin' trip!

Gifts in excess of $250 must be reported on annual disclosures, but Timm's reports for 2005 and 2006 report no gifts at all.

Who knows, maybe he paid for Pektor. I've asked Tenges to explain the 2005 fishing trip, and will post any response I receive from "FULibs" here.

2005 & 2006 Ethics Statements, Timm Tenges, Lower Nazareth Township Manager

Updated 8:50 AM: Tenges Claims He Paid His Own Way. - From Tenges: "Mr. O’Hare, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I covered my own expenses."

Nazareth's Action Karate Wants Your Blood

Action Karate in Lower Nazareth Township will be sponsoring a blood drive in conjunction with Miller-Keystone Blood Center at their school on Saturday, February 26th, 2011. The blood drive is open to anyone in the community and donors may register ahead of the date on the school’s website.

Seth and Dawn Bittner, owners and operators of Action Karate in Nazareth, organized the blood drive to help increase local blood supplies and raise awareness for Kell, a substance in human blood that can causes severe hemolytic disease in newborn babies. A mother that tests positive for Kell may develop antibodies against the red blood cells of her fetus, destroying those cells and fetal bone marrow while also causing fetal anemia. The only hope for the baby’s survival involves blood transfusions through the umbilical cord and then again, in the first month after birth.

Raising awareness of Kell became a personal quest after learning that Seth Bittner’s brother, Shaughn, and niece Courtney, tested positive for the antigen. Kell was also passed along to his sister-in-law, Beth, during Courtney’s birth. This means that any future children the couple has, as well as any children Courtney has, will probably require blood transfusions to survive.

Shaughn and Beth Bittner have said, “If it were not for these blood transfusions, our child probably would not survive. Thanks to the donations of very special people, we can rest easy knowning that when needed, our child will receive the blood transfusion he needs in order to survive.”

A Not So Wile E Coyote

Excavators are tearing up all the farmland and some woodlands around the Northampton Crossings shopping megacenter, which despite the name is actually located in Lower Nazareth Township. Warehouses, a new Target and hotels will decorate the new, much wider, roads.

Naturally, this screws up all the wildlife. So some stupid coyote walks into Sears, looking for an Acme Rocket Sled or an Acme Self-Guided Aerial Bomb or something. First, he gets shot with a tranquilizer gun and is driven off in a pickup truck. Then, some Wildlife Officer figures this mutt might have rabies, so they chop off his frickin' head.

Lehigh Valley With Love says it best. "Rest in two pieces buddy."

Mean Joe Greene Gets Slammed in Lower Nazareth Township

Mean Joe Greene publishes Lower Nazareth Tp Citizens' Forum, a place "to share opinions and comments" about the warehousing district between Nazareth and Bethlehem. Like NewsOverCoffee: Nazareth News, this is a hyper-local blog. Joe actually attends meetings and provides independent reports. He loaded Lower Nazareth Township's proposed budget, not generally available, on his blog. That work alone is a public service. Naturally, township officials are very angry with him.

At a recent supervisor's meeting, Township Manager Tim Tenges spent most of the evening complaining about Mean Joe Greene. According to Tenges, Joe the Blogger engages in "conjecture and innuendo." He even "twists things."

Tenges admits plastering Greene anonymously. A township manager, posing as FULibs, posted this comment at NewsOverCoffee: "If Joe Green is doing such a good job of keeping a eye on things in Lower Nazareth, he should have enough b###s to run for Supervisor. Any half baked liberal can sit on the sidelines, write half truths on websites and spread doom and gloom from left wing intelectually [sic] dishonest scientists."

Well, Tiny Tim, imagine what a fully baked liberal can do! Maybe I should join Joe the Blogger at their next meeting. Sounds like fun. I'd love to know why Lower Nazareth Township has become the warehousing capital of the universe.

What I love most about this story is that some local potentates are perturbed by a Nazareth area blogger, and it isn't me.

Update: NewsOverCoffee has a kinder, gentler account about Timmy's temper tantrum with Joe the Blogger.

I Don't Do School Boards

If nothing else, I've made lots of enemies in two years of blogging. It's a pretty long list and includes Northampton County Council members who exalt partisanship over good government, isolated county judges who think they're frickin' architects, party bosses who think the Lehigh Valley is Tammany Hall, Nazareth residents who hate skateboarders, Allentown mayor Ed "Pay to Play" Pawlowski, LANTA, the state's biggest political consultant (Severson Scissorhands), blue bloods in the Lehigh Valley Partnership, local elections officials and Senator Lisa Boscola.

To borrow a line from another post, "They are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred."

I have little to worry about. You see, I have super powers. I recently turned another blogger into a dolphin.

But I'd rather have acid poured down my throat than write about a school board. When people ask me why, I give all kinds of phony baloney reasons. I don't own a home, for one thing. I never went to a public school. I know very little about the goofy laws that apply to them, either.

True, ignorance has never stopped me from covering other topics. But I don't do school boards. Those educational bodies and circus clowns are the two things that scare the hell out of me.

On Tuesday, Express Times editor Joe Owens just wrote a suicide note. His blog completely trashes a ten percent tax hike for Nazareth schools.

"Public education in Pennsylvania is the closest thing to legalized theft in this fair commonwealth. Nepotism is institutional. Entitlement is the anthem. Watching out for self-interest is the mission statement.

"Apathy is the fuel."

Steamin' Joe sounds steamed. But he's right. All attempts to reduce that hike were brushed aside.

Who knows? Maybe the board can use that extra money to pay the legal fees for the assault charges against their newly-hired football coach. When he's done intimidating witnesses, perhaps coach will pay Joe a visit.

What's happening in Nazareth is unfortunately no different than what is happening everywhere. Professionals on boards like the one in Bethlehem regularly make fools of themselves. A $12 million pool in Easton is chump change. Joe's answer is that we need to pay attention. Rightyo, Joe.

But here's the problem. Citizens who pay attention to school boards are treated like wing nuts, even more so than gadflies like me.

Take Nina Malsch, for example. She's a citizen activist who is very involved in the Northampton Area School Board. Years ago, she challenged the campaign finances of school board candidates who used an IU20 school to prepare campaign posters. Because the violations found were only technical, she was ordered to pay most of the cost of an audit in a draconian decision designed to discourage citizens from taking an interest in government.

Undaunted, Malsch challenged bond proceedings when Northampton School District attempted to finance a $59 million school project. Like most citizen activists, she went down in flames again.

She persisted, and eventually, the school board members who wanted to tax and spend were ousted.

I have no opinion whether Malsch is actually right about anything. That's irrelevant to me. She's a citizen who takes her role seriously and has been willing to go toe to toe with people who think they are her betters.

Joe Owens would like Nina. He'd beg her to move to Nazareth. Bill White, however, trashed her yesterday and made this nonpolitican a member of his Hall of Fame. Bill obviously disagrees with most of her views, but she's never brought bolt-cutters to a school board meeting, or engaged in any of the histrionics I see from elected officials in Northampton County on a regular basis.

I usually agree with Bill, but can't help but feel that award was designed to let Nina know she had better learn her place. Government is far too important to let citizens have any meaningful say. Only newspaper columnists are entitled to opinions.

This condescending attitude is completely contrary to Bill's stances on most other issues. Why the inconsistency? Because it's a damn school board. They make us all a little nutz, and I'm already crazy enough.

I don't do school boards.

Jak-E Potatoe Co. Comes to Nazareth

I didn't know it was there. I've driven by several times without even noticing.

But a friend recommended the place, so I checked it out earlier this week. If you like a good panini sandwich that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg, you should try it, too.

I'm talking about The Jak-E Potatoe Company, which opened for business on December 15. It's located at 52A East Lawn Road in Upper Nazareth, close to Sicily Restaurant, where Fat Daddy used to be located before he underwent a gastric bypass. It's take-out, and the number is 610-759-0146.

Every panini is served with a bag of chips and a big chunk of garlic pickle. I tried the Classic Reuben and sweet potato fries. The Reuben is by far the best I've ever eaten, probably because it's made with Boar's Head meat. There are 25 different kinds of panini from which to choose. If you'[d rather have a burger or a steak sandwich, Jak-E does that, too.

Dave and Laura Jones are the proud owners of this establishment. While waiting for my order, I got to talking with Dave and learned that, like me, he's a frustrated politico. He's so sick he even reads my blog. He reads Joe Owens and News Over Coffee: Nazareth News, too. No wonder he's so smart! We spent about thirty minutes solving the world's problems while I waited for my order. His cute daughter, Abby, a Nazareth middle schooler, got into the act, too. She made the most sense.

If you like politics or a really good sandwich, Jak-E Potatoe is the best place to go. I hope Mike Drabenstott at Beyond Scrapple forgives me for invading his domain, but I want to spread the word about this great sandwich shop.

Lower Nazareth Township Citizens' Forum

Concerned that Lower Nazareth Township has virtually become a warehousing district, a grass roots blog is rising from the asphalt. Called the LNT Citizens Forum, this site will allow registered users to post their own blogs in the near future. This blog also has a sister site, with documents, schedules, ordinances and meeting minutes.