Counties to Hear Revised Valley Health Agency Plan

Monday at 6 p.m. might be the equivalent of High Noon for the proposed Lehigh Valley Health Department.

Despite some , the Lehigh Valley Board of Health will be presenting revised plans for creating a bi-county health department Monday evening at the Northampton County Government Center in County Council chambers.

A plan to start a joint health department for Lehigh and Northampton counties was shot down in July 2010 by a majority of the Northampton County Council who voted against an agency budget that would have cost each county about $500,000 a year. County Council members, who are half of the bi-county health commission, froze funding for the Valley Board of Health in January and the idea appeared to be dead.

But the all-volunteer Board of Health continued to meet and drafted a new five-year plan on the costs of starting and running the proposed agency, which they will present at Monday’s meeting. 

Judi Maloney, director of the Bethlehem Health Bureau, said she expects a quorum of Northampton County Council members and Lehigh County commissioners to be at the meeting but said she does not know how they are expected to vote on the plan.