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AUGUST 17-23, 2017
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Lehigh Township in Talks with county Over booking center By JUSTIN SWEITZER As Northampton County Council works toward passing an ordinance to set collection fees for the funding of county central booking centers, supervisors in Lehigh Township are seeking to make sure the county holds up their side of the booking process and properly collects the fees set for each booking. At the township’s August 8 board of supervisors meeting, Supervisor Cynthia Miller said that in meetings with Lehigh Township officials, Northampton County Council has asked that Lehigh Township forms an agreement with any of the municipalities or organizations that utilize the township’s booking center. The booking center, formally known as the Lehigh Township Central Processing Center, offers a location for law enforcement officers of nearby municipalities to book criminal defendants after an offense. The proposed county ordinance, which was tabled at Northampton County Council’s July 20 meeting, would set a $300 fee for defendants who meet certain criteria set forth in the ordinance. The collection fees would pay for the operation and maintenance of each booking center. According to the Miller, the township needs about $12,000 to $14,000 annually to run the booking center. Under the proposed county ordinance, if that amount is not reached within a given year, the specific central booking center, in this case Lehigh Township, would have pay
the difference to cover the annual costs of operation. If the fees, which are collected by the county, exceed the needed amount, the county would keep the excess funds. Miller said that the suggested agreements with municipalities that use the township booking center would allow the township to save costs if they don’t meet the $12,000 to $14,000 needed in collection fees to operate the booking center. The agreements would require all municipalities that use the booking center to “chip in” to cover the remaining costs. “Should there be an ‘under’ amount collected, they would like us to have an agreement with these different municipalities, including Lehigh Township, that we would all chip together and we would pay the difference for the amount that is not covered for the expenses from the collections of the bookings,” Miller said. “If there’s overage, what’s being proposed is, ours of course would be paid, but any overage remains with the county.” After listening to what the county was proposing, Supervisors Chairman Darryl Snover had some concerns over how effectively the county will carry out its collection responsibilities, an issue that Miller also touched on. “So we’re going to be responsible for the county not collecting?” Snover asked. Miller said she has continually stressed to the county that they have a “collection problem” when Continued on page 9
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Carol A Step Inside the byBearBath Museum Heckman
Maps of Bath The Bath Museum has some very early maps of the borough. One is a very large 1860 map of Northampton County, which has an insert of Bath in the lower left corner. It shows little squares along the streets for each of the houses that existed at that time, along with the property owner’s name. Great for researching the age of your house. It also has a Business Directory listing with names of businesses in 1860. When Stephen Schonk (Schunk) purchased a property on Washington Street in 1937 this map was hanging on the wall of the living room. It was donated by Marie (Shunk) and Ernest Yeager. Another Bath map on display at the museum dates to 1874 and is from the Northampton County Atlas. It also has sketches of houses with property owners names. A third large map was found in the
borough hall. It has no date or maker's name, just streets. Looking at it we know that it is fairly early because Walnut Street ends at Northampton Street. Back then, if you wanted to go north, you had to take Chestnut Street. There is one map that the museum is still on the hunt for - the 1816 map of town lots in Bath drawn by James Ralston. When tracing the deeds back at the courthouse, all of the early deeds along Main and Chestnut Streets refer to this map of town lots. If you have any information about this map, please contact the museum. Correction to last week's article - it was Frank Wunderler that contributed the names of additional police officers in Bath. You'll find the most fascinating things at the Bath Museum. Continued on page 7
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