BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure delivered his final State of the County address in Bethlehem on Wednesday, capping two terms in the office.
The speech usually gives the county’s top elected official a chance to take a victory lap and lay out plans for the coming year.
With less than nine months left in his tenure as executive, McClure spent most of his speech recapping his administration’s proudest accomplishments.
“I have pretty religiously stuck to throughout my time speaking about issues that affect our little corner of the world... We can't any longer ignore these larger topics, because they are now directly affecting what we can do here.”Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
In a speech to a Hotel Bethlehem ballroom packed with local politicians and nonprofit leaders, McClure highlighted accomplishments from the length of his tenure in office.
With only months left in McClure’s final term, he eschewed the agenda-setting that typically has defined State of the County addresses past.
Compared with years past, his speech Wednesday also spent more time than usual criticizing budget cuts and other recent actions by the federal government.
“I have pretty religiously stuck to throughout my time speaking about issues that affect our little corner of the world," McClure said.
"I am finding that more and more difficult each day to do. We can't any longer ignore these larger topics, because they are now directly affecting what we can do here.”
McClure’s final State of the County amounted a farewell to county government, which also set the stage for McClure to tackle federal issues.
McClure is currently running to represent the Lehigh Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Looking back
Most of McClure’s speech served as a vehicle to recap many of his administration’s proudest accomplishments since taking office in 2018.
Chief among them, he said, is a 1-mill tax cut instituted in the 2022 county budget, emblematic of a push to shrink county government “without cutting core county services.”
Most of McClure’s address, though, trumpeted his administration’s use of county funds for new programs supporting residents.
McClure highlighted some of his administration’s lasting additions to county government’s infrastructure.
Those include a new $11 million forensics center to house the county coroner, a new $2.2 million barn near Louise Moore Park for maintenance workers, and a $21 million parking garage planned for the county government center in Easton.
The executive recapped much of the county’s work to shepherd residents through the coronavirus pandemic, including by distributing $25 million for small businesses.
McClure also touted new initiatives aiding Northampton County Prison inmates better transition to life after incarceration, including drug treatment and job training programs that he said reduced the prison’s population.
He extolled his administration’s work to support affordable housing initiatives, including a planned development in Forks Township, built in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, and $6.3 million in forgivable loans awarded to first-time homebuyers.
Open space preservation, a favorite topic in McClure’s previous state of the county addresses, again got attention this year: Since 2018, the county has preserved 622 acres, he said.
'Better than when I found it'
Compared with McClure’s previous State of the County addresses, Wednesday’s dealt more with national issues.
McClure criticized the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending; he said that if it had remained in effect, a freeze on federal grants, instituted and quickly reversed this year, would have crippled county operations.
“The County of Northampton, a county that's been around since 1752, will be just fine after I'm gone. But I hope I have left it a little better than when I found it.”Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
Without the county’s $238.8 million share of federal funds, about a third of the county’s workforce would have been immediately furloughed — including 74% of its human services staff, McClure said.
He said Northampton County officials are largely unable to respond to federal policy changes. As an example of his work to push back, McClure recapped $100,000 in new grants awarded to food banks last month.
“We're going to need to find resources in order to fill in the gaps, because this isn't going to stop," he said. "It's not going to stop.
"The cuts will continue to come in various forms and in different ways, and local governments are just going to have to find a way to respond."
McClure finished his final State of the County on a reflective note, as his time as Northampton County’s top elected official draws to a close.
“The County of Northampton, a county that's been around since 1752, will be just fine after I'm gone,” he said. “But I hope I have left it a little better than when I found it.”
