Politics & Government

Civil Rights Law Not Quite Adopted

City Council plans a special meeting Friday night to correct a technical flaw in its adoption vote.

The long, drawn-out process that marked the final adoption of Bethlehem’s Human Relations Ordinance is not quite at an end.

On Monday, Council President Robert Donchez announced that council will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Friday to correct a procedural error in council’s voting process at its last meeting a week ago, when the new civil rights law a.

In considering one of several amendments to the bill, council neglected to vote on a motion to reconsider the amendment before voting on the amendment itself, according to a memo written Friday by Council Solicitor Christopher Spadoni, who advised council of the necessity to re-vote.

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As it happens, that particular amendment failed. It was one offered by Councilman Eric Evans that precluded a new city Human Relations Commission from conducting investigations of alleged instances of discrimination and enforcing the provisions of the law.

“I have concluded that the integrity of City Council is of paramount importance and I am advising that City Council should "redo" this vote to assure correctness,” Spadoni wrote.

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“It is my considered opinion that the action as it presently stands is defensible. I have, however, concluded that a re-vote is necessary to assure the integrity of City Council and the validity of its vote.”

Council has already had four lengthy meetings on the issue, accepting public statements from 119 people – most of them supportive of the law – along the way.

The agenda for Friday night’s meeting includes a revote of the Evans and other amendments, as well as the entire ordinance itself.

“I can’t believe I missed it and I can’t believe Chris missed it,” said Donchez, who emphasized that he did not want to chance having the ordinance overturned in court on a technicality.

The decision to re-vote was supported by Adrian Shanker, vice president of the Pennsylvania Diversity Network, an advocacy group for gays, lesbians and transgender people.

“Civil rights laws are emotional for those who are protected, and having civil rights overturned in the courts based on a technicality is a real shame,” Shanker said in a prepared statement.

“This happened in 2008, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state's Hate Crimes law because, despite the votes in favor of the law, it was tacked onto an unrelated bill.

“It is my understanding that the intent of Council is to make sure that the vote they took last week stands, therefore it is my expectation that the result on the amendments and the final vote will remain the same.”

Correction: In the initial edition of this story, we reported that Council President Donchez announced the new meeting on Thursday. It was actually announced Monday.


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