Lehigh County lost a considerable amount of its 911 emergency dispatch center staff following an on-duty New Year's celebration inside the county facility.
Seven workers resigned and three others were fired for what the county official in charge of the call center called "a serious-enough breach" of a longtime county policy.
Rick Molchany, Lehigh County's director of special services, confirmed the terminations and resignations, but declined to go into specifics about what caused the mass departure.
Local news outlets, however, reported that multiple sources said eggnog spiked with alcohol was drank Dec. 31.
Lehigh County Commissioner Dan Hartzell said the toast sounded innocuous to him, but he understood and respected the decision made by the administration.
“It was a clear violation of county policy,” Hartzell said, according to The Associated Press. “It was determined we cannot let this become a slippery slope.”
Molchany said the call center is budgeted for 53 staff, and outside help has been brought in to alleviate the dip in personnel while training of new employees takes place.
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"Public safety will be maintained," he said.
