EASTON, Pa.- Northampton County Council voted to establish a new oversight committee for the Gracedale nursing home, over the objections of some of its members and the county executive.
The vote Thursday night was 6-3, with Commissioners David Holland, Jeff Warren, Lori Vargo Heffner, Jason Boulette, Tom Giovanni and Theresa Fadem supporting the resolution. Ken Kraft, Kelly Keegan and Nadeem Qayyum opposed it.
The committee will be made up of four members of council to be appointed by council president. It’s separate from an outside advisory board, and, according to the ordinance, will “provide transparency and oversight to ensure that all statutorily and regulatory required care is provided at an appropriate level and that deficiencies are being handled in a forthright, complete, transparent and final manner.”
The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of Gracedale, which is owned and operated by Northampton County. The facility in Upper Nazareth was assigned a provisional license from the state earlier this year following staffing and safety concerns.
In May, Northampton County Council approved the creation of a new county-level department known as Continuum of Care, with a specific focus on Gracedale. The department will be led by a new director and deputy director.
But the new committee is an example of overreach, according to the commissioners who opposed it. “I don’t understand why we need a new committee for something that’s still a human service,” said Council President Kraft. “We still have a human services committee.”
Holland, who introduced the resolution, disagreed. “We created a department that does not have a coordinating county council committee to provide any kind of oversight, because it’s no longer part of human services,” he said. “So where is it? It’s by itself.”
Earlier in the meeting, Zrinski also called the new committee a step too far: “This resolution moves beyond information sharing and into the realm of administration, that is a line the (county) charter does not permit council to cross.”
She also used her report before council to voice her opposition to a separate resolution on the agenda, one tied to the still-vacant director of fiscal affairs position.
Last month, a candidate who agreed to take the position at a salary level agreed upon by Zrinski’s administration ($125,000; step 4) withdrew her application after County Council voted to reduce that salary ($109,000; step 1).
On Thursday night, Boulette proposed a resolution that said, even though Northampton County Council “has the sole authority to set the salaries, wages, and rates of pay” for newly hired employees who are exempt from career service regulations, Zrinski would have the go-ahead to extend job offers to fiscal affair director candidates at the higher salary level.
The county has been without a fiscal chief since Stephen Barron left last October. Budget Administrator Brandon Dunstane has been filling in on an interim basis.
Zrinski said while she appreciated the ordinance’s intention to support competitive hiring, “the language again reflects a misunderstanding of the separation of powers.”
“Council’s role is to establish the pay schedule, the framework of grades and ranges, typically through the annual budget process,” Zrinski said. “The executive’s role… is to administer this system, including placing employees within that established pay structure.”
Boulette withdrew the ordinance from the agenda later in the evening.