Attorney Mickey Thompson approached the Mayor and council seeking to alter the agreement of the 100 bed West Easton DUI Center into a 120 bed facility.
Citing information he has been given that Northampton County Executive John Brown wants the facility filled to capacity, with the number of residents increased, to optimize savings to the county.
Thompson also asked consideration be given to include “low-level non-violent offenders.” They would be those who are eligible for work release, in addition to DUI and Non-paying child support residents that currently reside there.
The implication was a possibility existed that Executive Brown may not renew a contract for the facility if the changes weren’t approved. though he wasn’t asking for an approval vote at this particular meeting.
The Public Comments section of the meeting became interesting.
A resident with a leaning tree threatening her home. Her tree, or the borough’s tree?
Councilman Tom Nodoline, accused his brother, council candidate Henry Nodoline, of lying at the last council meeting about an alleged statement made by a borough employee. Tom gave a written copy of the employee’s disagreement with Henry Nodoline’s remarks to our borough solicitor for an undisclosed reason.
Mayor Gross, in answering a question from a resident, made reference to this website and something he was told was written regarding egg on his face. That became a brief exchange between myself and the Mayor in which I explained the reference was made regarding Councilman Tom Nodoline campaigning at the last public meeting for his appointee Vernon Moore, who failed to file for the primaries.
An act that I discovered is unethical (use of public resources for campaign purposes) and for which I could have filed a complaint, but only expected an apology to all the candidates. His campaigning came at the conclusion of a meeting in which Mayor Gross stated to candidate Henry Nodoline that council meetings are not a political forum (whom I initially misstated as “Tom” in the video, before correcting myself later).
What I wrote can be found here.
That exchange begins at approximately 1:39:15 of the video and it’s disappointing that Mayor Gross doesn’t read for himself what I publish. He would find that I do post full and complete videos, including the last one in which he explained the budget.
He would also find that I do not delete my own missteps.
Rather than trying to speak over Councilman Nodoline, who was intent on interrupting my response to the Mayor, I should have waited until he concluded and taken my 3 minutes of public comment to point out that Councilman Tom Nodoline was the cause of his assumption and my blog taken out of context. I should have taken the time to point out that Tom Nodoline, in attempting to re-seat his pocket vote, by splintering the ticket with a write-in candidate, did a disservice to the rest of the council that maintained ethical standards during an election year.
Sour grapes from primary election results was on the menu and Mr. Nodoline was trying his best to serve them up.
Councilman Vernon Moore, by the way, was missing again at last nights’ council meeting. I truly hope he didn’t have another relative pass away.
Councilman Ron Nixon took the opportunity to leave the meeting early. I was jealous. I also get up near 3 am, but I somehow feel obligated to remain for the full meeting.
Surprisingly, Council President Kelly Gross, who lost the primary, was composed and maintained good control of the meeting, opting to use a clicker of some sort (which you will hear) and only occasionally using her gavel.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
