Lehigh Valley bi-county health board's future remains undetermined

With new members on both boards, Northampton County Council and Lehigh County Commissioners will hear further presentations about the proposal before making a decision.

The long- uncertain possibility of a bi-county health department for the Lehigh Valley will remain uncertain for at least another few months.

Six months after voting 9-8 against creating the department, the Lehigh Valley Health Commission met Monday night to discuss the proposal, the possible establishment of which has still not been formally ruled out.

The commission is comprised of 18 combined members of Northampton County Council and Lehigh County Commissioners, which now has seven new members and one vacancy between them after November's election.

Given that, the commission asked the Lehigh Valley Board of Health make an additional presentation to each board and bring the new members up to speed before a final decision is rendered.

Ilene Prokup, the board of health chairwoman, agreed to those presentations, but said the board needs direction soon on the future of a bi-county effort.

"We feel as if we're in limbo until you decide that we will be established or not be established," Prokup said.

Much of Monday night's discussion involved whether local hospitals could be asked to help fund the bi-county health department, a question that has also been raised in previous discussions.

Prokup said the board of health had decided against seeking such funding because those hospitals already provide in-kind services to both the Allentown and Bethlehem health departments.

She also said it could create a conflict of interest since the bi-county health commission might have to inspect hospitals for health violations.

But health commission members urged Prokup to ask the hospitals to reconsider or at least send representatives to future meetings to discuss the matter.

Northampton County Executive John Stoffa urged the commission to push for a contribution from the hospitals. Although a hospital donation would not count toward matching state contributions, Stoffa said the hospitals could give the money to the counties, which could then reinvest it into the bi-county health board.

Allentown Health Director Vicky Kistler said of the 10 county or municipal health departments in Pennsylvania, none has hospitals that contribute to the funding.

All nine Northampton County Council members attended Monday night's health commission meeting, but only four of the nine Lehigh County commissioners attended: Percy Dougherty, Daniel McCarthy, Vic Mazziotti and Scott Ott.

Dougherty encouraged the health commission to make a decision about the bi-county health board this year -- or put it out to voters as a referendum question -- and said to do otherwise would be unfair to those who have worked on the proposal.

"We have volunteers who are doing fantastic work and people are going to start losing that momentum soon if we don't make a decision one way or the other," he said.

Dougherty said both county boards would have to approve the referendum question or citizens of the county could circulate a petition and gather 1 percent of the electorate received by the highest vote-getter in the last general election.

For example, in Lehigh County, the highest vote-getter was District Attorney Jim Martin, who got 28,308 votes. So a petition with 283 signatures would be enough to place the question before voters, Dougherty said.

"If we don't have a decision by July, I'd highly recommend the various citizens groups start circulating petitions to get it on the ballot," he said.

The first full year of a bi-county health commission would have a budget of $9.6 million, said Robert Black, Lehigh Valley Board of Health vice president. In the past, the two counties were asked to contribute $450,000 each.

Prokup said there was a great need for a bi-county commission, and that 70 percent of the residents in both counties have no access to a local health department because they live outside Allentown or Bethlehem.

If a bi-county commission were established, the Allentown and Bethlehem health bureaus would be absorbed into it and additional offices would be set up in Easton, Bangor and Slatington, she said.

"The bottom line is this: there is strong evidence that effective public health programs reduce sickness and preventable deaths and that they create healthier populations in our communities," Prokup said.

She also said the commission would inject $8 million into the Lehigh Valley economy and create 85 jobs.