The July 17 meeting of the Northampton County Council had been moving along smoothly. For example, there was unanimous approval of appointments and reappointments to positions on various county boards, as well as unanimous approval of a cost-of-living allowance schedule for county residual, court appointment, court-related and youth care employees in the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union.

A $156,487 contract with H&K Group Inc. for restroom replacement and trail improvements at Wy-Hit-Tuk Park passed 9-0, and a three-year, $163,625.61 contract with Interstate Gourmet Coffee Roasters Inc. to provide coffee and tea at Gracedale Nursing Home passed 8-1. Council Vice President John Goffredo cast the lone “no” vote.

But then the pace of the meeting noticeably slowed during council committee reports. After council President Lori Vargo Heffner mentioned the county Home Rule code of conduct was discussed during the July 16 governance committee meetings, Councilmember Jeff Warren raised concerns about what he characterized as election-related remarks made by Councilmember John Brown questioning county Controller Tara Zrinski’s handling of the Gracedale Nursing Home federal funds audit.

“If a code of civility is going to be implemented, I think it needs to be implemented in a way where it’s fair. If we’re going to continue going down this road during the course of this election, it’s going to be tough to get things done,” Warren said, referring to the upcoming county executive race between Zrinski and current Councilmember Thomas Giovanni.

Warren then accused Brown of an ethics violation.

“When you were county executive, you were accepting campaign contributions from folks who were doing business with the county,” Warren alleged, specifically referring to a $25,000 contribution from a trash hauler in 2016.

“I would ask that you try to consider not bringing up the upcoming election as much as possible,” Heffner said, adding remarks related to the election have been made during council meetings going back to January. “If we’re talking about the election in terms of the election committee, great. But I’m done talking about people’s campaigns.”

Councilmember Ronald Heckman argued the council has no duty to be “buddy-buddy” with county administrative leadership.

“One person’s attack is another person’s information,” Heckman said. “I have my problems with that audit. I didn’t appreciate that [Brown’s] having questions about it is somehow [interpreted as] attacking [county] staff.

“I would extend an invitation to the controller personally. If she feels she wants to address statements made, she should be allowed as much time as she needs to confront any statements, or ignore them,” Heckman added.

“If I thought something was wrong, and you said under the code of civility [I] couldn’t say that, I’ll damn well say it,” Heckman continued. “If you want to bring forth a resolution of censure against Mr. Brown, bring it forward; see if it gets any traction. But I don’t know what we could write into a specific [civility] policy. My policy would be we should ask more questions of whatever administration’s in office.”

Heffner then clarified the reason the code of civility came up in the governance committee meeting was because, she said, “I had observed and heard a very disparaging comment on our way into executive session two weeks ago from one council member to another.

“We’re here to do business. We can be kinder to each other. We don’t have to name-call. If you want to address people without addressing the topic, I feel like that’s going across the line. I don’t suggest a censure of anybody at this time, but maybe just a little tolerance and respect,” Heffner added, advising council members to review what the code of civility says.

At one point, Goffredo and Councilmember Kelly Keegan verbally sparred over whether rules governing campaign contributions exist in the county’s administrative code.