By a 7-2 vote, Amy Trapp was confirmed as Northampton County’s new human resources director at council’s Oct. 15 meeting. This followed a chorus of support from many Allentown employees who worked with her when she ran their department. She left Allentown in March because Mayor Edwin Pawlowski’s gubernatorial and senatorial ambitions “made me a little nervous.” She also resigned several months before federal authorities raided city hall.

A resident of Northampton, Trapp is a graduate of both Muhlenberg and Moravian colleges, where she ultimately acquired a Master’s degree in human resources management. She has held HR positions in both private and public sector, most notably in Allentown for the past 2 1/2 years.

At her confirmation hearing, five people spoke on her behalf. They included John Stribula, president of Allentown Firefighters (IAFF, Local 302). He told council he never dreamed that one day he would be asking a governing body to confirm a human resources director, but felt that Northampton County was lucky to have this extremely intelligent and very professional personnel manager.

Stribula’s words were echoed by Michael Twining, an Allentown crime analyst who represents nonunion employees. He said a big problem in any municipal government is front line supervisors who are paid less money than the union workers they supervise. Trapp took the time to address that problem in Allentown, on a case-by-case basis. She also came highly recommended by Julio Guridy, Allentown’s former city council president.

Though all nine council members agreed that Trapp is very qualified, Bob Werner and Scott Parsons complained about the $104,328 price tag. Noting she took a $53,000 pay cut when she left the private sector to be closer to her daughter and husband, Trapp countered that the mean salary for a human resources director in the Lehigh Valley is $126,000, and that she is only getting 70 percent of that sum.

Hayden Phillips said he came to the hearing inclined to vote against her over the salary issue, but “the quality of people speaking for you” and Trapp’s own responses persuaded him.

Trapp said she was very gratified by those remarks, especially coming from a union president.

Ken Kraft, who chairs the Personnel Committee made clear that he is behind her 100 percent.

Parsons and Werner were the sole negative votes and they made clear their only concern was salary.