A motion approving support for the 2023 allocation of funds from the American Rescue Plan was approved by Lehigh County Board of Commissioners at the meeting June 28.

Chair Geoff Brace explained discussions between the board and the administration have been ongoing since December 2022.

“What comes to you this evening is not binding in the traditional sense of a plan,” Brace said. “This is more of a framework to say to the administration to go forward and help promulgate the legislation that will be brought to us to enact different parts of this. It continues to place a premium on mental health, human services and community-based activities.

“It has a couple of housing and homelessness-related services and represents two-years’ worth of framed activity by the county to continue to build services that we hope demonstrate their value and their effect in the community and can be in one shape or another incorporated into our regular operations, as they bring savings to taxpayers as a result of their implementation,” Brace added.

“This isn’t spending any money,” Commissioner Ron Beitler, the bill’s sponsor, added. “At this point, this is approving a road map that’s the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people to come together with this. Each individual item, when the time comes, will be brought before this board for a vote before any funds are expended.”

The document is available on the county’s website.

The board passed a motion to accept the 2022 Lehigh County financial statements, which had been presented to the finance committee before the meeting. They also voted in favor of extending the county’s contract with Zelenkofske Axelrod to provide auditing services for the fiscal year Jan. 1-Dec. 31.

The motion to convey the intent of the board regarding comprehensive medical, dental, mental health and related services to the inmate/patient population in the custody and control of the Lehigh County Department of Corrections led to a discussion among commissioners about the balance of fiscal responsibility while ensuring the county’s inmates receive the best medical care possible.

“The reason why I’m voting yes is because we have a responsibility,” Commissioner Antonio Pineda said. “This service contract ends at the end of next month, and that does not give us the time to fully explore further options in relation to this. It’s irresponsible for me to not approve of this because there’s no real avenue of exploring a new contract without not having the services that are required and are needed in our jails for the inmates and the people who are there.”

A subgrant to Lehigh Valley Baseball League for funds from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program passed its first reading.

“This is our stadium. This is a lot of the conversation we had when we were awarding COVID-19 money to the IronPigs,” Beitler said. “We don’t want to have an empty stadium that the county owns, so whatever we are going to do to support the IronPigs is a good thing. Our role in this is largely procedural. It’s a state program. It’s state money.”