As it promised to do last week, Hellertown Borough Council released a letter to the community Monday in which its decision to reject an offer from Lower Saucon Township officials was explained.
The offer to provide two years’ worth of funding for the Hellertown Area Library in exchange for proportional representation on the library board, purchase the borough-owned compost center located in the township and, ostensibly, try to mend the municipalities’ fractured relationship was called “political” by several councilors, who dismissed it as such at their Oct. 2 meeting.
That decision was reinforced by the language used in Monday’s community letter, which placed blame for the ongoing dispute on township council’s leadership and encouraged Lower Saucon residents to consider supporting candidates who are challenging those individuals in the November election.
“It is our hope that Lower Saucon residents see through this political ploy and realize that new leadership is needed if the two communities are going to work together in the future,” it said.
Referring to what Lower Saucon Township presented as a “global settlement offer,” Hellertown council members said it would not have been in the borough’s interests to have accepted it.
“It was a one-sided proposal that would have put Lower Saucon in charge of both the library (which they abandoned) and the compost center,” the letter said. “We strongly believe that the only reason any offer was made was so Lower Saucon Council members that have initiated the problems of the past two years can say that they are trying to work with Hellertown.”
“This was not an attempt to resolve anything,” the letter went on to say. “It was a political stunt designed solely to try to win favor with undecided voters, nothing more and nothing less.”
The full statement was shared on the borough’s Facebook page Monday, where several people had commented on it by Wednesday.
“Lower Saucon needs to be rational and agree to a partnership with Hellertown,” wrote Maria Theresa. “It’s a win win situation!”
The letter from borough council also noted that even if council members felt the terms included in Lower Saucon’s offer were favorable ones, they could not have accepted it on the library’s behalf.
“Even if the Borough agreed with the terms–which is most certainly does not–it could not accept this offer even if it wanted to, as the areas regarding the library would need to be agreed to by the library’s board, not the Borough Council,” it said. “This just reinforces the belief that this was a political stunt and nothing more.”
The public dispute between Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township began nearly two years ago, after township council declined to adopt a new five-year agreement with the Hellertown Area Library, instead offering a one-time donation of $50,000 that was later rejected by HAL trustees. The borough later severed multimunicipal agreements it had with Lower Saucon Township that allowed its residents to use the Springtown Hill Road compost center and pay resident rates at the borough swimming pool. Hellertown borough also later sued the township for compost center funds it says it is owed by the township. The township, for its part, has attempted to enforce zoning ordinances that would limit or prevent the borough from using the facility, which remains open.
Hellertown Borough Council’s next meeting will be held Monday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall. Meetings are held in-person and livestreamed on Zoom and the borough Facebook page.
Lower Saucon Township Council’s next meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at Lower Saucon Town Hall. Meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube.
In addition to the Lower Saucon Council race, in which six candidates are vying for three seats, there is also a competitive race among four candidates for three Hellertown Borough Council seats.
The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 7 election in Pennsylvania is Monday, Oct. 23. For more information, visit Vote.pa.gov.
