Northampton County Controller Steve Barron and blogger Bernie O'Hare were on opposite sides of Northampton County's proposed residency requirement.

At county council's Feb. 21 meeting, a requirement for future sheriffs, coroners, recorder of deeds and register of wills to be county residents failed to pass by a 3-6 vote.

Council members Bruce Gilbert, Scott Parsons, Barbara Thierry, John Cusick, Tom Dietrich and Peg Ferraro decided a residency requirement was not good law.

Barron supported a residency requirement, saying these offices make public policy and that the requirement should extend to the executive's cabinet members as well.

O'Hare, who is also a freelance writer for this paper, said a residency requirement is discriminatory and would stifle 30 percent of the workforce who would have no incentive to excel to these positions.

Council members opposed to the requirement to be a county resident found it to be impractical and limiting.

Gilbert, one of the co-sponsors of the ordinance, said he retracted his support because he never wanted to place limits on the quality of a candidate.

Thierry agreed, citing her experience in running a business. Requiring residency would be missing good workers, she said.

When Parsons suggested amending the ordinance to allow a prospective appointee 90 to 120 days to move into the county, Ferraro said that would be impractical to sell a home and move a family considering the salary attached to these positions.

But Councilman Ken Kraft, who introduced the residency requirement, persisted in his opinion: "We have over 300,000 people who live in Northampton County. I cannot believe that we have no residents that are qualified to do these jobs," he said in explaining that the county's governing charter originally had these as elected and not appointed positions.

Council's next regular meeting is at 6:30 p.m., March 7 on the third floor of Northampton County Courthouse at 669 Washington St., Easton.