Lawsuit against GPA by Joe DeRaymond

First Meeting of New County Council = Lawsuit Against GPA

Joe DeRaymond

1/11/2002

The first full meeting of the new Northampton County Council was held Thursday, January 10. The dynamics were muted, but the tension was evident as the Council grappled to find its way in an atmosphere of missing information, disinformation and confusion. The Reibman $111,000,000 bond which was issued by the beleaguered Reibman General Purpose Authority (GPA) is the specter sitting at their shoulder which will set the tone for their terms of service. This bond was issued over the Christmas holidays by an administration interested in the money flow, without heed to Court challenges or legal niceties. Despite a lawsuit and advance notice by Bernie O’Hare, which are aimed at the illegality of the constitution of the GPA, the administration went forward. Furthermore, they refuse to reveal what monies have been spent, or even to disclose the details of the bond closing documents. It is as if the Reibman administration is telling the Council “ we have all the power. If you don’t go along with our plan, we owe you nothing, not even the minimum cooperation.”

The first Council meeting of the new Council was therefore appropriately devoted to dealing with the problems presented by the Bond and the GPA. A committee of Council - Michael Dowd, Nick Sabatine, Ron Angle and Ann McHale had met with the administration to negotiate a settlement during the week prior to the meeting. While Nick Sabatine claimed that the discussions were “productive”, he had failed to inform other members of Council about the exact nature of the discussions. Mary Ennslin and Wayne Grube were forthright in their objections to the way these discussions were handled, as the press was given more information than Council. Sabatine wanted to play coy, and hold an executive session to inform Council. Ron Angle simply dumped this bombshell on the Council - the administration would not budge on the substance of the issue, namely, that numerous members of the GPA should resign and be reappointed.

Fortunately, District Attorney John Morganelli gave a valid legal opinion on the GPA, that it is, in all likelihood, illegally constituted. He conferred his power to litigate this matter to the Council. Hence, on the tenth, the Council was prepared to file a quo warranto action against the GPA, which would have the effect of removing illegally seated members of the authority. (According to the lawsuit filed by Bernie O’Hare, the entire GPA may have to be removed and reappointed.)

When the vote was taken on the quo warranto lawsuit, Sabatine, Merwarth, Corriere, and McHale voted against pursuing legal action against the GPA. Grube, Ferrraro, Ennslin, Dowd, and Angle voted for the lawsuit. The resolution authorizing the lawsuit also specifically called on continued openness by Council to negotiation to settle the issue. So, the voters have spoken by putting in place a Council, which will stand up to the Reibman administration. Wayne Grube stated it succinctly, “If we need to have a lawsuit to fix it, we’ll have a lawsuit.” After Council passed the resolution to pursue the lawsuit against the GPA, they passed a resolution calling for monthly accountings of the disbursements of the bond monies, and a resolution requesting the closing documents of the bond issuance. During these votes, Glenn Reibman, Jim Hickey, County Attorneys Dan Spengler and John Spirk sat in the front row, smirking and making ex officio remarks, “We can’t give them to you, we’re in litigation.” “You’ll get them in pre-trial discovery.”

The new Council is led by President Michael Dowd, who has a calm manner and a determination to be fair with maximum expedition. Ron Angle’s performance was consistent with past meetings, including some personal exchanges with Wayne Grube, Tim Merwarth and Nick Sabatine. His efforts to have Council re-address the Hotel Easton bond issue in the light of the information that there will be no Hotel Easton met with silence by the rest of Council. Nick Sabatine is very much the lawyer, much to Ron’s annoyance, and appears to very much want to find an accommodation with the administration on the GPA which would include some changes in the prison plan. Mary Ennslin took an alert and forthright approach, and was assertive in telling Sabatine that he had not adequately notified Council of the dealings with the administration. Tim Merwarth appears to be a patsy early on, as he voted with the administration on the lawsuit and had only conciliatory remarks. Peg Ferraro took a watchful approach. Ann McHale is perpetually confused, perpetually trying to make the administration somehow appear above board, against all the evidence. Michael Corriere slipped into homily with regard to the lawsuit, but hit it on the head when he remarked the County government has a credibility problem. Wayne Grube took an independent approach and voted to sue the GPA and may be able to be a better Councilman free of the fetters of the Presidency.

The Council has a rough time ahead. The Reibman administration will try to bully, and will not cooperate with them. The unauthorized $880,000 issuance cost for the bond, the illegal constitution of the GPA, and the administration of the bond will all be very difficult issues to resolve. Yet, they must be resolved for the Council responsibility of oversight is the essence of their service and all these items are simply oversight. The hydra heads of the Reibman administration can only pursue a limited, defensive agenda at this point. Council will have to take leadership of the upcoming Green Future Fund, the landfill issues (which Ron Angle addressed by calling a series of informational hearings), emergency management issues which are constantly being raised by Mike Krill and ignored by Council, and the overall direction of County Government.

The big break that the Reibman administration has made with this bond issue opens avenues of advocacy for people who want a government which will address human needs locally. Will we get a county-wide health bureau? How about a low-income housing investment pool? (If Koehler and Kheel can do it, why not the County?) How about a real look at emergency management services in the post-911 world? There is much to do, in theory, but many obstacles in the way.

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