Lehigh County Commissioners began the July 23 meeting by addressing their response to the many grievances about local ICE activity expressed in the July 9 meeting.

During the preliminary citizens’ input portion of the meeting, multiple residents once again brought up questions about ICE in the Lehigh County Courthouse. Commissioner Geoff Brace and Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi explained their plans to meet with the Lehigh County Sheriff, the president judge, the district attorney and the county executive to discuss how ICE’s access to the court is managed.

Brace emphasized access to the county courthouse is under the control of the president judge, not the board of commissioners.

“What we’re trying to do is flesh out how access is granted so that it can be made clear to the citizenry of the county how that happens,” Brace said. “[This board] has limited power on this subject.”

During the policy section of the evening, a group of three bills, sponsored by Commissioners Jeffrey Dutt and Cole-Borghi, moved to grant funds from multiple grant programs to seven organizations focused on homelessness prevention, youth violence prevention and returning citizens reentry programs.

In total, the three bills allocate $394,000 between all the organizations to help assist their goals. Ashley Dallas, the director of prevention services at Valley Youth House, one of the organizations being granted funds, said this money, in part, helps Valley Youth House keep its services accessible.

“Valley House has expanded its current school-based model to include a violence prevention component,” Dallas said. “This allows all of the students in identified schools to access these critical counseling services outside of insurance systems. So there’s no cost to the families.”

Brace said the funds for these bills were approved over several budget cycles, and the board focused the funds on targeting systems that help reduce crime.

“We [want] to help ensure people have an opportunity to escape any cycles that trap them in the criminal justice system,” Brace said. “So we’re investing in organizations that are focused on effective outcomes that provide good, meaningful services in the community and that have strong reputations that we can be proud to support.”

All three bills passed first read and will move to second read at the commissioners’ next meeting Aug. 13.

A bill granting funds to ECB Property Holdings, LLC to start up a home for opioid rehabilitation support for women and children was deferred at the request of the administration. The request was made due to outstanding financial information from the involved nonprofit that still needed to be addressed.

The bill was deferred with no opposition.

A motion to approve the necessary expenses for Commissioner Antonio Pineda and Commissioner Sheila Alvarado to attend the 2025 County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania’s annual conference and trade show was approved with two abstentions from both Pineda and Alvarado.

The meeting adjourned with the rest of the agenda items passing with no opposition.

Editor’s Note: In our report from the July 9 Lehigh County Commissioners meeting, it was noted Commissioners Antonio Pineda and Jeffrey Dutt opposed a resolution to support state transit funding to assist Lehigh County and its residents. The concern from the commissioners was the resolution was put on the agenda a day before the meeting and they didn’t know enough about the bill to vote. Commissioner Ron Beitler also voted no on the resolution. We apologize for the error.