Thursday, December 20, 2012
Macungie Police Chief Edward Harry and Fire Chief Mike Natysyn gather cards, patches for Nathan Norman.
Toward the beginning of every Macungie Council meeting there is time built in for council members to praise or comment on any topic. And during "Council Compliments, Complaints, Petitions and Appeals" at the Dec. 17 meeting, Council Member Debra Cope called council's attention to a recent Patch story about Nathan Norman, a six-year-old boy from Rustburg, Va., who has brain cancer. The future does not look bright for the tyke, he takes great pleasure in anything related to police, firefighters or EMTs. Cope was touched by the story and passed it along to Macungie Police and Fire officials to see if they wanted to help. "Macungie Police Chief Ed Harry sent cards and patches from the Macungie Police Department, the Hazleton Police Department …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Council passes budget but not before a surprise reversal from Mayor Hoffman and a pointed exchange of words between the mayor and a council member.
Macungie Council on Monday passed the borough's 2013 budget that provides for no tax hike and the hiring of a fifth police officer to work 32 hours per week. Christopher Becker, Gregory Hutchison, David Boyko, Joseph Sikorski and Debra Cope voted in favor. Council President Jean Nagle and Linn Walker voted against the $2.2 million budget mainly due to the police issue. As the discussion before the vote developed, Becker asked Mayor Rick Hoffman if he would still allow only 25 police shifts to be scheduled per week. At the Dec. 3 meeting, Becker reported that months of budget discussions and workshops revolved around the fact that members of the Macungie Police Department will have surgery in 2013, and shifts will need to be filled. Through…
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Macungie Institute
510 E Main St, Macungie, PA
/articles/macungie-council-provides-for-fifth-police-officer-in-2013-budget
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Contentious discussion regarding adding a police officer -- even though it would mean no tax increase -- precedes the vote.
Any budget discussion in which the term "Pandora's Box" is mentioned is not going to be smooth. But, in this classic display of the good, the bad and the ugly, the term was absolutely used -- and meant -- in the course of the rollout of Macungie's preliminary budget at its Dec. 3 meeting. Council Member Chris Becker who, of all seven members of council, spent the most time during 2012 counting the borough's beans, was the one to portend rough times. But not without heated discussion. In the end, the preliminary budget was passed and will be advertised and on display for 10 days. The good news is there will essentially be no increase in real estate taxes. Due to Lehigh County's tax restructuring which says taxes will be based on 100 …
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Macungie Institute
510 E Main St, Macungie, PA
/articles/macungie-borough-passes-2013-preliminary-budget-in-split-vote
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/locations/8294603
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Council members agree the Streetscape Plan could be what might set the borough apart for the next 50 years.
The five Macungie Council members present at Monday's meeting unanimously agreed to take a second look at a plan that was put together in 2009 to beautify Main Street while calming traffic and making the streets safer for people to walk. Jean Nagle, council president, and Gregory Hutchison, council vice president, were absent. Ron Beitler, owner of Bar None Weddings, petitioned for council to take another look at the plan that has been researched, engineered and is ready for implementation with available grant money. The plan includes median strips at selected spots in the center of Main Street, bump-outs to reduce the distance across the street, street trees and new sidewalks, curbs and crosswalks. The purpose of the improvements is to …
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Macungie Institute
510 E Main St, Macungie, PA
/articles/macungie-council-may-revive-streetscape-plan
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Linn Walker apologizes at hearing Monday in Lehigh County Court.
Macungie Borough Council member Linn Walker apologized Monday in Lehigh County Court as he pleaded guilty for an incident that occurred in early August. According to a story in The Morning Call, Walker vowed never again to urinate publicly. He also agreed to pay a fine of $150, it said. A charge of open lewdness was dropped through a plea agreement with the Lehigh County District Attorney's office, and an additional charge of public drunkenness also was dropped, it said. Macungie Police were called to Walker's Walnut Street home in early August after neighbors claimed he repeatedly urinated outdoors and in front of young children. Walker said he would resign from Macungie Council, but recanted after he said he was told by other council …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Devine School may open as early as August 2013, officials say.
Macungie Council on Monday unanimously approved an earth moving agreement that will prepare the way for construction of the Devine School on Lumber Street. The school, which currently occupies a new building in Lower Macungie, also occupies a Salisbury Township location at 1255 S. Cedar Crest Blvd. near Lehigh Valley Hospital on which its lease will soon be up, said Macungie Borough Manager Chris Boehm. The hope is that construction will move along at a pace that will allow the school in the borough to open in August 2013, she said. Plans have taken several forms over the past months. Changes have been made to walkways, parking spaces, configuration of Lumber Street and remaining oddly shaped parcels of land. Final plans seem to be within …
40.56509
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1255 S Cedar Crest Blvd, Allentown, PA
Devine School
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/locations/8014335
40.56795
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The Devine School
740 N Brookside Rd, Allentown, PA
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1801461
/locations/8014336
40.51466
-75.55342
E Main St & Lumber St, Macungie, PA
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/locations/8014334
Friday, October 12, 2012
Macungie Council Member Linn Walker is expected to plead guilty on Oct. 29.
Macungie Councilman Linn Walker was arraigned Tuesday in Lehigh County Court on charges of open lewdness, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. An arraignment is a formal reading of charges at which the defendant sometimes pleads guilty or not guilty. Walker, however, will do that on Oct. 29 when court documents say he is expected back in Lehigh County Court. Neighbors called police to the W. Chestnut Street neighborhood on Aug. 3 after he Walker was seen urinating on shrubs next to his home. The elected official who has been repeatedly asked to resign from council -- which he said he would do after he was arrested Aug. 3 -- remains firmly seated at every meeting and has told friends that other council members have told him not to …
40.5104
-75.5567
45 W Chestnut St, Macungie, PA
Walker's home
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman has ordered that two police officers be on duty on the nights of council's regular meetings.
Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman has ordered that two police officers be on duty in the borough every time Macungie Council meets. The mayor has been adamant that the Macungie Police Department will provide 24/7 coverage to the citizens of the borough with 25 eight-hour shifts a week. Twenty-five shifts -- instead of the 30 provided for in the borough's 2012 budget -- means no more than one officer is on duty at any time, and if an officer is ill or there's a scheduling emergency, Hoffman has said it is acceptable for there to be unfilled police shifts. And if there are two calls and only one officer on duty, someone is just going to wait, Hoffman has said. Until now. In an email dated Sept. 26, 2012 to Macungie Police Chief Edward Harry Jr., …
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Macungie Institute
510 E Main St, Macungie, PA
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Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Council's split vote means taxpayers will again be able to comment at the beginning of Macungie Council meetings though Council President Jean Nagle wanted to keep it at the end at least through the end of the year as a "trial."
With all members present, Macungie Council voted Monday to restore the public comment segment of its semimonthly meetings. The vote was split 4-3 with Debra Cope, Joseph Sikorski, David Boyko and Christopher Becker in favor. Nay votes were cast by President Jean Nagle, Vice President Greg Hutchison and Linn Walker. The restoration will begin with the Oct. 15 meeting. In typical fashion, the discussion was neither easy nor short. Public comment for the meeting never began until 11:45 p.m. Nagle said no fewer than five times that she wanted to keep public comment at the end of the meeting at least until the end of the year on a trial basis. Cope said that when she voted to approved the meeting guidelines in January, and then to amend them in…
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Macungie Institute
510 E Main St, Macungie, PA
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Monday, October 1, 2012
Some council members would like to see the public comment part of the meeting restored to the beginning of the meeting.
One issue on Macungie Council's agenda tonight will be the restoration of the public comment segment to the beginning of the session. At the last meeting on Sept. 17, council members Debra Cope and Christopher Becker wanted to vote to move public comment back to the start of the meeting when there are more people. Towards the end of the sometimes hours-long meetings, the crowd dwindles. Two weeks ago, council decided to take a vote on the issue, but since Joseph Sikorski was missing, the vote was pushed off to tonight when -- the hope is -- all seven members of council will be in attendance. Tonight's agenda also includes discussion of the borough's emergency management plan, Facebook policy and the Macungie Youth Association. The meeting …
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-75.54783
Macungie Institute
510 E Main St, Macungie, PA
/articles/public-comment-still-last-on-council-agenda-could-change-tonight
1827864
/locations/7939530
Carl W
10:22 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2013
All that will hopefully help bring up that internal psychological & biological good that changes the direction to "he's getting better." Thanks to all involved, & maybe the rest of us could push some prayers. Believe in it or not, it's worth it if any chance it reverses this boy's cancer. more ›