“It’s when we don’t communicate that events like 9/11 happen, when major events occur when there’s that breakdown in communication, there are safeguards in place,” Police Chief Michelle Kott told city council June 20 inresponse to a proposal the city assist activity coordination with the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency.

“I’m very very much aware of the stigma of ICE and I do not want, nor will I allow, anything to happen to ruin our relationship with all our community members.”

Council voted 4-3 against creating a ask force officer position to work with ICE.

Before the vote, Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith asked Kott about drawbacks to the MOU.

Kott replied, “As mentioned, it’s not full-time, so our detective would not be stationed in Philadelphia or stationed down at Northampton County. It would basically require, if there’s an instance of child exploitation, human trafficking, sex trafficking occurring in the city, that detective would be the assigned detective and they would have countywide jurisdiction to actively investigate that case.”

In other news, the Bethlehem Landfill expansion provided the backdrop to concerns on the wastewater treatment plant permit, which is up for renewal.

Mayor William Reynolds assured council that top city officials have been working for months on the renewal of the permit “that the language that is being talked about, things that are being considered. How do we include that in there as far as flow is concerned, as far as testing is concerned.”

Lehigh Professors Dr. Bilal Khan and Dr. Breena Holland spoke about the leachate, highlighting both environmental impacts and that potential harm to one’s health.

Holland said, “Leachate is the runoff from the landfill and has many dangerous chemicals in it.” She called on council and the mayor to place clear conditions on the Industrial Discharge Permit.