SUSAN WILD OK'D CEDAR BEACH POOL CONTRACT
CORRUPT DEAL COST ALLENTOWN MILLIONS
Susan Wild has consistently claimed that the corrupt practices of the Pawlowski administration occurred before she was solicitor. This is far from the truth, several questionable deals were engaged in during her tenure. One was the restoration of the Cedar Beach Pool.
Susan Wild was confirmed as Allentown's solicitor in January 2015. the Cedar Beach pool was closed in 2015 due to leaks. A committee led by Christy Alvord, the city's recreation and events coordinator, was assigned to review the pool design proposals. The committee initially ranked MKSD architects first, followed by Integrated Aquatics and then Spillman Farmer Architects in that order.
Alvord while under oath testified that managing director Fran Dougherty, asked how the review was going and instructed her to take a closer look at Spillman Farmer.The committee had finally decided to go with Integrated Aquatics because of their experience with pools and excellent references. The references for Spillman Farmer were not positive.
Richard Holtzman, the city's parks superintendent testified that the committee had decided to go with Integrated Aquatics. He also testified that Dougherty had told the committee to take another look at Spillman Farmer. Holtzman also testified that Dougherty came up with better references for Spillman.
The FBI had tapes of converstions between the mayors office and Joe Biondo, head of Spillman Farmer instructing him to get new references, and telling him," I am looking out for you guys"
Joe Biondo testified that he had hired Fleck and Sam Ruchlewicz, Pawlowski's campaign advisers to help his firm make connections with developers in Allentown.
Eventually the contract for $1.8 million was awarded to Spillman Farmer Architects, in May 2015. This contract was approved by Susan Wild, the Solicitor for the city.
City Ordinance states,"All proposed Ordinances, Resolutions and contracts shall be submitted to the City solicitor for approval prior to adoption or execution by the City"
In July 2016, Allentown hired Keystone Consulting Engineers on an emergency basis to mediate ongoing issues with pool. It came to the conclusion that the pool shell was severely undersized.
In December 2016, Wild' s office approved a change order for $681,345.48 to repudiate structural issues with the pool.
In July 5, 2017, Wild's office approved another change order for $726,400 to correct mistakes made in the design of the pool. this was the sixth change order and drove the cost to $3.4 million.
The current engineer was questioned by a city resident, Don Ringer, if any provisions were made to guarantee that the pool would not be flooded in the future. The engineer stated that that question was never part of the proposal to fix the pool and he could not guarantee it would not be flooded in high water. note. the pool was closed in August 2018 due to flooding.
According to Assistant U.S. attorney Michelle Morgan, Spillman Farmer Architects and the disaster in renovating the Cedar Beach pool was connected to Pawlowski's pay-to play scheme.
So, Wild's assertion that no corruption occurred while she was solicitor is untrue. She was the Solicitor for the city and must have had knowledge of what was going on in these transactions, approved the contract, approved six change orders that almost doubled the cost of the pool reconstruction to $3.4 million. The pool was closed for 2 years and still has more problems that will need to be addressed.
We may never know if she just looked the other way, or was she just incompetent. But to state that there was no corruption under her watch has been proven false.
Originally published 10/27/18
Susan Wild was confirmed as Allentown's solicitor in January 2015. the Cedar Beach pool was closed in 2015 due to leaks. A committee led by Christy Alvord, the city's recreation and events coordinator, was assigned to review the pool design proposals. The committee initially ranked MKSD architects first, followed by Integrated Aquatics and then Spillman Farmer Architects in that order.
Alvord while under oath testified that managing director Fran Dougherty, asked how the review was going and instructed her to take a closer look at Spillman Farmer.The committee had finally decided to go with Integrated Aquatics because of their experience with pools and excellent references. The references for Spillman Farmer were not positive.
Richard Holtzman, the city's parks superintendent testified that the committee had decided to go with Integrated Aquatics. He also testified that Dougherty had told the committee to take another look at Spillman Farmer. Holtzman also testified that Dougherty came up with better references for Spillman.
The FBI had tapes of converstions between the mayors office and Joe Biondo, head of Spillman Farmer instructing him to get new references, and telling him," I am looking out for you guys"
Joe Biondo testified that he had hired Fleck and Sam Ruchlewicz, Pawlowski's campaign advisers to help his firm make connections with developers in Allentown.
Eventually the contract for $1.8 million was awarded to Spillman Farmer Architects, in May 2015. This contract was approved by Susan Wild, the Solicitor for the city.
City Ordinance states,"All proposed Ordinances, Resolutions and contracts shall be submitted to the City solicitor for approval prior to adoption or execution by the City"
In July 2016, Allentown hired Keystone Consulting Engineers on an emergency basis to mediate ongoing issues with pool. It came to the conclusion that the pool shell was severely undersized.
In December 2016, Wild' s office approved a change order for $681,345.48 to repudiate structural issues with the pool.
In July 5, 2017, Wild's office approved another change order for $726,400 to correct mistakes made in the design of the pool. this was the sixth change order and drove the cost to $3.4 million.
The current engineer was questioned by a city resident, Don Ringer, if any provisions were made to guarantee that the pool would not be flooded in the future. The engineer stated that that question was never part of the proposal to fix the pool and he could not guarantee it would not be flooded in high water. note. the pool was closed in August 2018 due to flooding.
According to Assistant U.S. attorney Michelle Morgan, Spillman Farmer Architects and the disaster in renovating the Cedar Beach pool was connected to Pawlowski's pay-to play scheme.
So, Wild's assertion that no corruption occurred while she was solicitor is untrue. She was the Solicitor for the city and must have had knowledge of what was going on in these transactions, approved the contract, approved six change orders that almost doubled the cost of the pool reconstruction to $3.4 million. The pool was closed for 2 years and still has more problems that will need to be addressed.
We may never know if she just looked the other way, or was she just incompetent. But to state that there was no corruption under her watch has been proven false.
Originally published 10/27/18
It sure appears she is not fit to represent the Lehigh Valley. We don't need another corrupt politician. Or an incompetent one either.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the only deal that she was involved with, the morning call has covered for her, spent all their time looking for dirt on Nothstein.
ReplyDeleteThe Morning Call is a leftist political weapon to bring down good conservatives! Go Marty - I hope you win your suit.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see the local press become just another biased propaganda tool.
ReplyDeleteWe don.t need another person who just want's a pension . Marty said he won;t take a pension!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Nothstein will keep his pledge to not take a federal pension just like Justin Simmons kept his pledge not to serve for more than two terms.
DeleteWild slipped out of not going down with the rest of the crooks by providing evidence in exchange for letting her off.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify in your amazing reporting here that you’ve established no personal link between Susan Wild and the individuals involved in this affair and provided no proof that she actually engaged in any activity that was criminally corrupt.
ReplyDeleteSo, good job reporting zero evidence of actual corruption from her.
She was the solicitor for the city, her responsibility included reviewing these contracts before approving them. If she was unaware of what was going on in the months leading up to her signing off,then it could be said that she failed in her duties, either by willfully overlooking it or incompetence. The deal was corrupt, She approved it.
ReplyDeleteShe has been endorsed by the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Powlowski. He said she had been "very helpful to the investigation". The FBI agent on the case had similar high praise for her. Your reporting is questionable at best.
ReplyDeleteShe may have been helpful, but does that mean that she traded evidence on her associates for her being not implicated in some corrupt dealing that she either new about or should have known about. She has stated that no corrupt contracts were entered into under her watch. That just is not so.
DeleteAnd so another politician gets crucified via unsubstantiated political advertising. I don't know if she is innocent or guilty of these accusations, but one of the most sacred principles in the American criminal justice system is that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, the prosecution must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, each essential element of the crime charged. That happens in a court of law, not in a political advertisement.
ReplyDeleteIs that now also to be thrown away? Good luck to all if that happens!!!
If she truly didn’t know, she should have.
ReplyDeleteIrresponsible & incompetent at best.
Likely complicit.
I believe she cooperated with the feds to save her own skin. Another back door deal....Corruption she is.
ReplyDeleteYea in theory but unless it is a SCOTUS who is nominated by a Republican POTUS well then guilty no matter what
ReplyDelete