A Council Quickie – and a Serious Question

The May 19, 2021, Lower Saucon Township Council meeting was even shorter than the one on May 5. The meeting was gaveled in at 6:30 and adjourned at 7:10 PM. It amounted to a passel of resolutions to thank Saucon Valley area high school students for being junior council members, the approval of a “blessing boxes” program in two parks, approval of summer hours for the administrative staff, the hiring of a cleaning service and the submission of a grant application. That was it except for the usual housekeeping of approving minutes and financial reports.

A brief word about the blessing boxes. The program was approved but there is currently no timeline for their installation at Town Hall Park and Steel City Park. I’m sure when that’s nailed down there will be more information coming about this volunteer opportunity for township residents to help their neighbors who are in need. More details will be provided when there is an implementation date.

Since we have some extra time in this issue, let’s make a trip back to the 2021 budget that was proposed in October and adopted in December. Specifically, it might be interesting to find out what’s happening with those footnotes that were added to the budget relative to the funding of the fire department.

To refresh your memory, Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci seemed almost apoplectic back at the October 7 meeting that the fire companies were not moving fast enough on their merger in spite of the ongoing pandemic and the fact that both businesses and governments were still essentially shut down. To “incentivize” completion of the merger, Mr. Carocci proposed three footnotes to be added to the 2021 budget that would supposedly make the merger happen faster. The footnotes were approved as part of the budget approval on December 16, 2020, over the objections of Mrs. deLeon and Mrs. Stauffer.

The footnotes were as follows:

“Motion for the Township staff to prepare a proposed 2021 budget that will allocate $150,000 to Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue and $50,000 to Steel City Fire Company to assist in the funding of their operations which payments will placed on the June __, 2021 agenda for approval. If the April 1st deadline is met, then payment may be authorized at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting. These amounts maintain the 2020 Township funding levels. However, none of the allocated funds in the 2021 budget will be payable unless the following condition is met:

“Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue and Steel City Fire completely merge their operations and become one legally merged fire company to the satisfaction of Township Council and under Pennsylvania and Federal Law by April 1, 2021.

“If by April 2, 2021, Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue and Steel City Fire have failed to completely merge their operations and become one legally merged fire company to the satisfaction of Township Council and under Pennsylvania and Federal Law the allocated funds will be reduced by 50% at that time. Meaning – Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue would only be eligible for $75,000 and Steel City Fire $25,000 in Township funding in fiscal 2021.

“If by May 1, 2021, Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue and Steel City Fire still have not completely merged their operations and become one legally merged fire company to the satisfaction of Township Council and under Pennsylvania and Federal Law the remain [sic] allocated funds in [sic] will be reduced by an additional 50% at that time. Meaning as of May 1, 2021 – Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue would only be eligible for $37,500 and Steel City Fire $12,500 in Township funding in fiscal 2021.

“If by June 1, 2021, Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue and Steel City Fire have failed to completely merge their operations and become on [sic] legally merged fire company to the satisfaction of Township Council and under Pennsylvania and Federal Law. Lower Saucon Fire & Rescue and Steel City will not be eligible for any of the aforementioned Township funds during fiscal year 2021.“

2021 Lower Saucon Township Budget – http://www.lowersaucontownship.org/pdf/2021final.pdf

In case you haven’t noticed, we have now passed both the April 2 and the May 1 deadlines and will have passed the June 1 deadline before the next scheduled Council meeting on June 16. Back at the April 7 Council meeting, Mrs. Stauffer raised the question of what was happening with the merger and had it been completed by the April 1 deadline. The reply was, in a roundabout answer from Solicitor Treadwell, “no” and she was “tut-tut”-ed by Mr. Carocci that it really wasn’t necessary to discuss that at the time. Nevertheless, Mrs. Stauffer made a motion to void the footnotes to the 2021 budget since they were clearly not going to be enforced as they had been passed. Her motion failed 2-3 with only Mrs. deLeon joining her to vote in favor.

So here we find ourselves coming up on a June 16 Council meeting, two weeks after the final June 1 deadline that said that the fire companies would receive zero-zilch-nada funding for the 2021 fiscal year. What exactly is going on? What was all the bluff and bluster back in October using the funding cudgel to force the merger by April 1 if there was no intention of actually enforcing it? The funding of the fire company hasn’t been on the agenda at all during 2021. It’s been essentially ignored.

Are Mr. Banonis and Mr. Carocci, with Mrs. Yerger playing “me too,” really planning on defunding the fire companies? Is that really in the best interests of the Township? Or was it all just empty posturing?

Regardless of the answer, is this really what anyone would call effective leadership?

Next Township Council Meeting – Wednesday, June 16, 2021, 6:30 PM

Next Township Elections – Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Short and Sweet

The short part of the May 5 Lower Saucon Township council meeting was the meeting itself. It may have set a record for brevity. In less than an hour, the Council passed 8 resolutions (most of them recognizing award winners from the Hellertown-Lower Saucon Chamber of Commerce), approved a resident’s exemption request, approved the minutes and heard only a couple of reports. Resident George Gress asked if any planning had been done yet to return meetings to in-person. The answer was “not yet” since it would require re-opening the Township building and that will take more extensive planning. Governor Wolf had only just announced the revised occupancy limits on Monday.

Probably the most time was spent on a request from resident Donna Louder for the township to request that the Health Bureau conduct a new air quality test because of some odor complaints from the landfill. Apparently the last air quality test was completed in 2016 and since then there has been a change in what the landfill is permitted to accept. After some discussion about the necessity for the request, the proper process for handling the request, and how the prior test was conducted, the Council finally agreed to send a letter to the Health Bureau requesting a new test. This was deemed appropriate because it takes some time for a test to be scheduled and conducted and the letter would get the request in the queue.

The sweet part of the meeting was the acknowledgement of the retirement of K-9 Atos from the Lower Saucon Police force. Unfortunately because of the technological limitations of Zoom, those of us watching were only able to catch glimpses of Atos when his handler, Officer Steve Kunigus, was speaking, but he’s a fine-looking fellow who has apparently served the department and the township well. Both Officer Kunigus and Chief Barndt spoke highly of his performance. I’ll admit that as a long-time German Shepherd Dog owner I’m a sucker for any of these working dog breeds so it was wonderful to see Atos appropriately honored. He will be living with Officer Kunigus and his family. I’m sure we all wish him a long and happy retirement. His successor, K-9 Titus, is already on the job and we’ll have a chance to meet him as things open up more.

And that was it. Mr. Carocci was absent so all the votes were 4-0.

Next Township Council Meeting – Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 6:30 PM

***One important note: The primary election is Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM. There isn’t much choice involved in the Township Council races. There are 3 Republicans running for nominations for the 3 open seats and 3 Democrats running for nominations for the same 3 open seats.

However, there are a large number of judicial nomination races that are competitive across the state and within the county. There are also 4 ballot questions for consideration. Remember that independent voters can vote on ballot questions, so don’t stay home because you’re an independent. Your voice counts and the two questions on how PA handles state-wide emergencies are very important. Please do your research. I urge you to vote NO on questions 1 and 2. If you’ve watched our completely dysfunctional state legislature over the past umpteen years, you know you don’t want them trying to make a decision in an emergency like Covid.

Finally, because of the bizarre situation in PA that allows candidates to cross-file for school board openings as both Rs and Ds, it’s often difficult to tell who stands where on school board issues and policies. Sadly, the Saucon Valley school board has taken some disturbingly right wing turns in the last couple of years. If you’re concerned about that, do your homework and find out which candidates’ positions really align with your beliefs. It matters.

And if you happen to vote in Lower Saucon 7, be sure to say hello. I’m the Judge of Election there.

Next Township Elections – Primary: Tuesday, May 18, 2021. General: Tuesday, November 2, 2021