The Walnutport Borough council aired its frustrations about playing the role of middle man between Northampton and Lehigh counties' emergency centers during the June board meeting.

For the 911 emergency system service, the borough is billed by Lehigh County. Walnutport is supposed to then receive reimbursement for the fees from Northampton County."They are the middle man," said Rich Molchany, Lehigh County Director of General Services. "The breakdown is with Walnutport and Northampton. I wouldn't mind billing Northampton directly. It's been a couple of years since we've gotten paid," he said."We want to make sure Walnutport gets caught up and fully understands the Northampton County contract."All 67 counties in Pennsylvania are short on 911 coverage, Molchany said.The charges for the service appear on both landline and cellphone bills. The fee collected is sent directly to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, then disbursed to the counties to pay for the emergency dispatch.According to Walnutport solicitor Michael Corriere, both counties have requested a meeting to resolve the issue."The two directors of the emergency centers don't talk to each other," borough President Matthew Newhard said."Of all the things that shouldn't be political this is one of them," borough engineer Jason Newhard said."I called Northampton and haven't heard back from them yet," Corriere said."It all comes down to dispatch and cellphone fees," Newhard said. "There is a dispatch fee we are charged and it's not uniform. (The centers) charge whatever they want."Molchany said, "What Walnutport is concerned about is the bill. We have not been paid and we'd like to have the account brought back to square. Last I heard the borough was trying to set up a meeting with Northampton. If they're frustrated it should be with Northampton."Molchany said, the dispatch fee was created when Lehigh County became the emergency provider for the borough 16 years ago even though Walnutport is a part of Northampton County. Lehigh charges a subsidy to the borough to cover the costs Lehigh incurs from serving as the provider to a municipality outside its district."We have outstanding bills for the borough that they are concerned about. But I'm being patient," Molchany said."It's more convenient for Walnutport to remain under Lehigh, but we have to make sure we are not providing a benefit for less money to people who don't live in the municipality," he said.The board agreed that county officials should be contacted for a sit-down to sort out the invoice confusion."Back in the day they contracted us because Northampton put a tax on its constituency. That's why Walnutport gets reimbursed from Northampton. It's odd between Northampton and Walnutport. I agreed to work directly with Northampton."I'm open to do whatever is needed to make the borough more comfortable," Molchany said. "We'll make sure we serve them. We will not let them down. We want to work with them to figure it out."