Macungie Councilman's Residency Challenged

It seems no Macungie Council meeting so far this year is without a big surprise:

* At the Jan. 7 meeting, Mayor Rick Hoffman brought back the issue of installing in borough police cars GPS systems he can monitor from his home. It passed in a 4-to-1 vote.

* At the Jan. 21 meeting, Council Member Jean Nagle was voted out as president, and Councilman Christopher Becker was voted in. Again the vote was split, this time 5 to 2.

The latest volley between council's warring factions was an attempt to unseat Councilman Joseph Sikorski.

At the beginning of the Feb. 4 meeting, Nagle addressed the rest of council -- minus David Boyko who was absent -- during the "Council Compliments, Complaints, Petitions and Appeals" segment of the meeting.

"I've been hearing talk around town in the past few months that calls into question the residency of Councilman Joe Sikorski and his wife. Do they reside in the borough?" she asked.

Sikorski explained that he does live in Macungie, though his wife recently inherited property outside the borough. She has been living there, he said, "But I live in Macungie. I will be joining her there this later this year."

Both Sikorski's and Nagle's terms run out in 2013.

Nagle's reaction was open to interpretation, but she basically accepted the matter as settled by Sikorski's explanation.

"I just wanted to dispel any rumors in town," Nagle said.