Whitehall Township officials have expressed concern about not being notified by the Lehigh County Tax Claims Bureau of properties sold at county sheriff sales and auctions.

The sales allow the township to recoup money owed for delinquent taxes and other outstanding services.

"The deputy mayor [Jack Meyers] and solicitor [attorney Charles Fonzone] are working diligently to recover lien costs from properties being sold at sheriff sales," Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. said in a report to the board of commissioners last Monday. "Presently, the tax claims bureau of the county is selling off these properties without providing the township the opportunity to present claims for liens, unpaid garbage and other delinquencies."

Fonzone sent a letter to the county tax claims bureau director in hopes of remedying the issue, according to Hozza.

In a related matter, Hozza said the township has been put on notice of a number of properties offered for sale at a September "upset sale" in Lehigh County.

Meyers filed a claim to recover the value of 19 liens which are being held against some of the properties. The payoff figure is approximately $27,000, most of which would come from garbage fee liens.

In other business, negotiations are progressing, the commissioners were informed, between the administration and the police on terms and conditions of a new collective bargaining agreement. Both parties are hopeful, according to Hozza, that a negotiated settlement will be reached.

Progress in the technology area continues to be made.

Much of the transition work has been accomplished in the transfer of data from the township's old system to two new improved computer servers with much more memory.