Northampton County Council rejects $63M bond for new parking garage, office
EASTON, Pa. – Northampton County Council agrees that the county needs to do something about a crumbling parking garage, and it needs more space for its employees. But it doesn't agree that fixing both is worth spending tens of millions of dollars in one fell swoop.
An ordinance to authorize a $63.5 million dollar bond that would have paid for a new parking garage and three-story office building failed 4-5 Thursday night, following a lengthy back-and-forth among several county commissioners.
Those plans called for a new, three-tier parking deck that would sit in the same footprint as the current deck on Washington Street in Easton, as well as a 31,000-square-foot office building at the southeast corner of Washington and South Union streets.
Of the total $63.5 million bond, $43.2 million would have covered estimated construction costs. In addition, $5.9 million would have gone toward a bond refinancing that the county said would save it money in the long run, and the remaining $14.4 would have been "contingency" to pay for future projects. One option discussed during the meeting was using $6 million to expand the use of Project 25, or P25, radios among the county's first responders.
Before their discussion began on the parking deck and office building, commissioners heard from two county employees who supported the proposal, which was put forth publicly by County Executive Lamont McClure in April.
Michael Emili, the county's public works director, brought a pair of props with him to the podium: two chunks of concrete that he said had fallen inside the garage.
"This one would likely kill you if it were to fall directly on you," said Emili, gesturing with the larger piece.
The current deck was built in 1975, and so it will be 50 years old next year, which Emili said makes it about 10 years past its expected lifespan. The deck has been repaired several times over the years: in 2010, 2016 and 2023.
"At this time, we've done all the low-hanging fruit we can on this parking deck to keep it in service," said Emili.
As for the office building, Emili argued that rental options were limited because the elections division, which is currently working out of four different locations, must be located within Easton, the county seat, and not in a surrounding municipality.
Susan Wandalowski, the county's director of human resources, also went before council to talk about the cramped quarters she says her staff deals with on a daily basis.
In May of 2016, the Department of Community and Economic Development was relocated to the human services building in Bethlehem Township. That required the conversion of several conference and interview rooms into office space for the DCED. The problem has only worsened over the years, Wandalowski said, with storage closets and common rooms being repurposed: "We're just constantly stealing space from other places."
Council Vice President Ron Heckman kicked off council's discussion, ultimately voicing his support for the bond, saying it was important to build for the future now. "I don't see any way around this," Heckman said. Commissioners Jeff Warren and Ken Kraft also indicated that they would be voting "yes."
But Commissioner John Goffredo signaled that he was frustrated with the "all or nothing" approach to addressing the problem, and the lack of more affordable alternate proposals. "I don't want to just say no, but right now, the way this stands at this moment, I have no other answer but no because of how we have been cut out of the process," Goffredo said.
Commissioner John Brown also said he didn't think it was necessary to build a brand-new office building. "There's thousands of square feet of office space available even right here in the city of Easton," Brown said.
Council seemed unanimous in thinking that the deteriorating parking garage should be addressed immediately. "That to me is essential and it is time-limited," said council President Lori Vargo-Heffner.
She asked the commissioners if they wanted to press ahead with the vote on the bond Thursday night, or ask the McClure administration to come up with alternatives before issuing a hard "no."
That prompted more discussion, but council opted to take a vote, and the bond ordinance failed, with Commissioners Jeffrey Corpora and Thomas Giovanni joining Vargo-Heffner, Brown and Goffredo in opposition.
