EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County’s executive and council continued to clash at a committee meeting Wednesday over a pair of studies the council requested last year.
The council’s pursuit of two studies of the county’s operations — one examining its employees’ wages and benefits and another examining its Gracedale nursing home — has brought the body in conflict with County Executive Lamont McClure, who criticized the studies as unnecessary.
- Northampton County's executive and council clashed again Wednesday over studies of the operation of Gracedale, the county nursing home, and the county's wages and benefits
- Commissioners criticized county Executive Lamont McClure for not sharing information on bids for the studies
- The full council will consider the bids during its March 2 meeting.
Commissioner Lori Vargo Heffner criticized McClure and his administration for refusing to share information about how many bids they had received before the meeting, despite their requests, calling their refusal “ludicrous.”
“We’ve done this in good faith. It seems circumvented,” she said. “And to not even communicate with our clerks, to not communicate with our solicitor… I’m just disheartened by this.”
County Director of Fiscal Affairs Steve Barron defended the decision, saying there wasn’t an opportunity to share an update publicly until that evening, and that members of the council had the option to watch while the bids were opened.
Council solicitor Christopher Spadoni said he reached out to the administration last week to raise the issue.
“I would report that I was somewhat disappointed with the — and I’ll be charitable — the tart response,” he said.
“Everything we do seems to be a lawsuit sometimes, like, ‘I'm going to outwit you,’” said Finance Committee Chairman Ron Heckman. “It’s a game. And frankly, maybe I’m getting too old… but it’s getting tiresome.
“My opinion is this has been dragged out and parsed out because you don't really want to do it.”
Shortly after Heckman’s comments, McClure threatened to walk out and take Barron with him.
“I would report that I was somewhat disappointed with the — and I’ll be charitable — the tart response."<br/><br/>Council solicitor Christopher Spadoni
“My point of view as to whether these reviews are necessary or not, or a waste of money, is irrelevant once that ordinance is overridden,” McClure said later in the meeting.
“It is then my job to go out and procure those services. And I think we did that.”
Last year, council passed resolutions requesting proposals from contractors to compare the county's wages and benefits to other employers in the area, and to evaluate the county-run Gracedale nursing home.
Barron said a single company ultimately submitted a viable bid for the pay study: Baltimore, Maryland-based Bolton USA.
McClure invited a representative from the company to give a presentation, plus another from Affinity Health Services, a company seeking to conduct the study of Gracedale.
County council set both studies in motion last April, when it unanimously passed a resolution directing the Procurement Office to develop a process to hire a contractor for the studies.
In September, council authorized a request for proposals, the first step toward hiring a contractor to do the work.
County Executive Lamont McClure vetoed the measure, which council overrode by a vote of 6-2.
The full council will consider both bids during its March 2 meeting.
“We work together, whether we like it or not," Heckman said. "And if we're going to look at commas and periods and get snarky with each other, we're not going to get anywhere."
After the dust settled, Heckman apologized to their guests, waiting to pitch their services to the county, for what he called a “family discussion.”
