Who are Northampton County Council's workhorses, show horses and no-showhorses in 2014? What is their attendance, including committee participation, where most of the real work is done? How about the four brand new members of council, finishing their rookie year?

This is their annual report card.

Northampton County Council met 30 times last year, including four budget hearings.

In addition, its committees met 30 times. Each council member is encouraged to attend those meetings, regardless of whether he or she is a voting member. The committees that do meet are an indication of what issues concern council members.

As might be expected, Finance and Personnel head that list. They each met nine times last year. Human Services was a hot committee, too, meeting six times. Other committees doing a lot of heavy lifting were Economic Development (7), Open Space (4) and Capital Projects (3).

But some committees never got rolling. Despite the need to address regionalization and shared services like 911, Peg Ferraro failed to call a single Intergovernmental Committee Hearing this year. Also, though it is more than clear that both the Administrative Code and Home Rule Charter are in dire need of an overhaul, Mat Benol only conducted one meeting for what is now being called the Courts and Corrections Committee.

Below is a table showing attendance at 60 committee meetings, regular meetings and budget hearings during 2014. As was the case last year, Scott Parsons is Northampton County Council's Workhorse of the Year.

Scott is a bue collar worker who initially worried he might be late or miss committee meetings. But in his years on council, he has set the pace. He was at an amazing 58 meetings last year, giving him an attendance percentage of 97 percent.

There's a bipartisan tie for the no. 2 spot. Democrat Bob Werner and Republican Glenn Geissinger both attended 54 of 59 meetings, giving them both a 92 percent attendance.

Parsons, Werner and Geissinger are the heavy lifters.

The middle of the pack is reserved for Ken Kraft and Peg Ferraro. They both have good attendance, but will have to work harder if they want to win the coveted Workhorse award.

D students include Mat Benol and Seth Vaughn. Vaughn regularly misses Planning Commission meetings, and Benol conducted only a single Courts and Corrections Committee hearing.

Receiving an F for his 67 percent attendance record is Hayden Phillips. His record on council is good and his Capital Projects Committee is innovative. But in one year, he has demonstrated a complete lack of interest in some important aspects of county government. He failed to attend a single meeting of Human Services, Open Space or Economic Development in 2014. Phillips is a forceful advocate for limited government and personal responsibility. He has several times stated his opposition to Open Space. But he is missing an opportunity to make his views known at meetings where those projects are presented.

The final F goes to Lamont McClure, who has failed to break 50 percent attendance since 2011. In his defense, he did attend all but one of the budget hearings this year. He also attended two committee meetings. McClure is opposed to Executive John Brown's consultant contracts and is furious over county staffing gaps and Brown's unilateral decision to decrease medical benefits offered to the worker. But he's unable to make a difference when he is a no-show.