A $5,000 grant to the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center failed last week when one of the sponsors of it, Amy Zanelli, abstained from voting for the bill; however, she then watched the votes split between the remaining eight commissioners, 4–4. With Zanelli’s vote, the bill would have passed. She said she abstained because, “I volunteer for, contribute to, and benefit from” the Bradbury-Sullivan Community Center, “I will abstain.”

Zanelli listed some of the benefits of the LGBT community center and described the Pride Festival as a “community growth event” that provides services to the LGBT community.

One commissioner’s rationale for voting against the Bradbury grant drew criticism from Zannelli.

“If you think this a one-time value, a throw-away, you’re wrong. To speak about it in such trivial terms is insulting and shows ignorance on your part.”

The bill failed because, according to Solicitor Catherine Roseberry, at least five votes are required for a bill to pass.

When asked the next day if he planned to ask the county commissioners to put the matter back on the agenda for a future vote, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center Executive Director Adrian Shanker declined to comment. He said the organization is “planning a really excellent festival this year.” He said this will be the 25th year for the Pride event. It will be held this year at Cedar Beach Park on Aug. 19.

A second “quality of life” grant that was on the agenda, a grant of $5,000 for the Pennsylvania Music Preservation Society, never came to a vote as county administrators withdrew the motion prior to the vote. Director of Community and Economic Development Frank Kane said the administration wanted to review the grant policy that requires past financial information. He said PMPS is a new organization that does not have prior financial information to submit. Kane said the administration may resubmit the grant request with an appropriate request for a waiver for a history of financial information for PMPS.

Based on approval at a first reading, the name of the Cedarbrook Nursing Homes will be changed to Cedarbrook Senior Care and Rehabilitation. The bill is sponsored by Commissioners Dan Hartzell, Percy Dougherty, Marc Grammes and Amy Zanelli.

A bill at its first reading (if passed) will advance to a final vote at the next regular meeting of the commissioners for final approval.

In other business, Lehigh Commissioners appointed two of their own – Brad Osborne and Geoff Brace – to work with the CEO of the Lehigh County Authority. The two commissioners, referred to as a “working team,” will help with ensuring communications between the County Board of Commissioners and the LCA. It is charged with monitoring and reporting back to the Board on such matters as the sustainability of LCA’s financial plans, whether an independent financial study is needed and to recommend ways to improve communications.

According to Brace, a goal of the working team is to make a recommendation on the need to extend LCA’s charter. LCA getting its charter extended was an effort defeated by commissioners a couple of months ago amid concerns about the financial information provided to the commissioners by LCA officers.

The “working team” commissioners will not be voting members of the LCA board.

In other business, resident Bob Elbich expressed concern that the County’s “pay to play” law is full of unclear language, saying, it’s “terrible; I could drive a Mack truck through parts of it.” Elbich was protesting the recent decision by Lehigh County legal officials to consider the withdrawn contribution to Commissioner Marty Nothstein’s campaign for Congress as being “cured,” or resolved with no further legal action contemplated.

Such actions by politicians, according to Elbich, lead to a “lack of trust in public officials.”

Commissioner Marc Grammes responded to Elbich, saying, “I have to rely on our solicitor’s advice.”

Elbich’s frustration did gain some traction with Commissioner Amy Zanelli, who put forward a motion that the commissioners “remove (Nothstein) as president of the Board of Commissioners;” however, Zanelli’s motion received only silence from the the other commissioners. Since no second was offered to support Zanelli’s motion, no action was taken.