It’s not often that one of our governing bodies will pass a vote of “no confidence” aimed at its own mayor, but that is precisely what happened last month in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County.

The township board of commissioners voted “no confidence” in Mayor Michael Harakal Jr. by a 4-1 vote with another council member voting “present” after they settled a $140,000 harassment suit against Harakal brought by three female township employees.

This was quite a departure in the relationship between Harakal and the commissioners, who unanimously appointed him mayor in 2018 to complete the unexpired term of Ed Hozza, who resigned to become Lehigh County’s Director of Administration. Harakal ran for re-election in 2019 and won his current four-year term.

The three women filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission after they said their complaints to township officials did not lead to corrective actions. The women accused Harakal of inappropriate behavior that included invasion of their personal space, touching them without permission, asking them highly personal questions, making sexually explicit comments and taking female employees for drives in his personal vehicle to isolated locations.

Harakal, 72, has denied any wrongdoing, saying that he has done nothing that he would not have done in front of his own mother. He said he does not plan to resign. Harakal formerly served as township executive from 1984 until 1992.

At Hozza’s urging, Whitehall’s voters changed the title of the top township officer from “executive” to “mayor” in a referendum in 2017. Hozza said “mayor” gave the office “more clout” with statewide officials.

With a population of nearly 27,000, Whitehall is the third largest municipality in Lehigh County, behind Allentown and Lower Macungie Township, and is home to the gigantic Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall Mall and a large number of small and larger businesses along MacArthur Road (Route 145).

Because of its population, Whitehall is a first-class township whose voters decided to make it a home rule charter municipality in 1974. “Home rule” transfers authority over municipal matters from state law to the local charter, which is drafted, adopted and amended by the municipality’s voters.

The “no confidence” vote has no force of law against Harakal. The commissioners cannot remove him from office, so, in the end, it is more of a symbolic action, but still it raises questions about Harakal’s ability to govern for the remainder of 2023.

In its findings the Human Relations Commission has directed the township to institute training sessions for Harakal and other township employees to prevent harassment incidents. The Commission also put constraints on the interactions that Harakal can have with female employees, and this could impact the effectiveness of his governance.

Seven years ago, there was a unanimous vote of “no confidence” taken by Allentown City Council against then Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who was caught up in a pay-to-play scandal that ultimately brought down his administration.

Despite being charged in a 54-count indictment by the feds, Allentown voters elected him to a third term in 2017, but he was forced to resign in 2018 after being convicted on 47 of the charges and is now serving a 15-year term in federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Several attempts by his attorney to overturn the convictions were unsuccessful.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com