Local Government TV

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Falling Concrete Plagues NorCo Garage

Steve DeSalva
Public Works Director Steve DeSalva told Northampton County Council's Capital Projects Committee yesterday that pieces of concrete at the parking garage have been falling and hitting cars for at least the past year. He estimates the County has paid at least $5,000 in damages to people parked there. He acknowledged he's had to perform dozens of safety inspections.

This is just one of several public safety concerns raised at what Chairman Hayden Phillips called Council's first capital projects meeting in 12 years. In 2011, former Council member Ron Angle did form an ad hoc long-range planning committee to review capital projects. But this is the first formal effort in over a decade.

Northampton County's parking deck, first built in 1975, is already well beyond its projected 30-40 year lifespan.  In 2008, former Executive John Stoffa proposed a new parking facility, but scrapped that idea in favor of renovations when bids came in lower than expected. Unfortunately, in 2010, a $1.7 million project grew by $500,000 when an engineer claimed there were "unforeseen circumstances." The garage never was properly renovated, and in 2012, the County sued Cleveland-based RAM Construction over defects like cracking, misaligned joints and defective overhead patches. RAM blamed Pennoni Engineering, which designed the project, and the matter is currently being sorted out in federal court.

DeSalva told Council that, for the past year, water has been leaking onto cars, depositing a salt that is difficult to remove. He then added that pieces of concrete have been damaging cars, acknowledging that they could hit people. He said that, for the past year, an engineer has been studying the best way to secure netting to protect vehicles and people. In the intervening period, DeSalva indicated that he makes safety inspections and places traffic cones in areas he considers unsafe.

"It took a year for someone to tell us where we could put up netting to protect people?" asked an incredulous Glenn Geissinger.

Mat Benol suggested the County place "Park at your own risk" signs throughout the lot and use Lehigh and Lafayette engineering students to solve this problem. Executive John Brown distanced himself from those suggestions.

In addition to the parking deck, DeSalva told Council there's a public safety risk at points where county-owned trails cross major roads like Airport and Weaversville Roads. This is in response to a 2007 accident in which a six-year old boy was severely injured while crossing Weaversville Road along the Nor-Bath Trail. Though the County had all the signage required by PennPOT, a subsequent lawsuit revealed that additional safety precautions were necessary. "We're upgrading the crossings to make them safe," DeSalva told Council, noting that Hanover Engineering has been working on the matter for the past two years.

A final public safety risk raised by DeSalva concerns two quarries at the County-owned Gall farm in Plainfield Township, where there is a risk that people could accidentally fall in and drown. Though the County budgeted $50,000 for security-fencing three years ago, the project was only completed last year. According to DeSalva, it's still unsafe. More fencing is needed.

In addition to these public safety concerns, DeSalva updated Council on other pending capital projects.

     • A $500,000 facelift for a leaking roof, asbestos, bird and vermin-infested computer room, which is also exposed to dangerously high temperatures, is five weeks ahead of schedule. DeSalva is projecting substantial completion on May 9.

     • Because he still has to select an engineer, DeSalva does not expect even the design phase for a back-up power system at Gracedale to be ready before the end of the year. "This is not something we do that often," he explained. The county-owned nursing home had to rely on the National Guard for an emergency generator when its own generator failed during Hurricane Sandy.

     • The Gracedale boilerhouse, located near a creek that is increasingly prone to flooding, needs stormwater management. DeSalva estimates that will be completed by the end of July.

     • The jail exterior wall, which consists of large stone blocks and is subject to cracking, must still be reviewed by an engineer. DeSalva told Council it presents no danger.

Chairman Hayden Phillips pressed DeSalva to come up with a maintenance management plan for County facilities by June. "Say what you're gonna' do, do it and prove it," he put is in its simplest form.

Executive John Brown recently named Allentown's Director of Public Works, Richard Young, to succeed DeSalva. But DeSalva will remain as Young's Deputy, as the County has learned the hard way that one engineer is just not enough.

31 comments:

  1. I need a new paint job on my car, can you be more specific as to where I should park?

    Thanks anonymously.

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  2. My car was ruined with lime when I parked in the garage the last council meeting, ruined the pain on the hood and the roof and etched the glass

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  3. This problem was noted. I am in the process of writing a detailed story.

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  4. Steve is in over his head. The garage project is/was a disaster.

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  5. It was, and it remains a disaster.

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  6. The only reason why the garage was a disaster is because angel forced the lowest bid. Everybody knew that the price was too low but the republicans bit and now we are in a real mess. If they had floated abound and replaced the garage with a structure that could accommodate all the cats for county business, we would be ahead of the game and we would be cheaper than what we are at now. But alas, hind sight is 20/20

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  7. Angle had nothing to do with that bid. He would never recommend Pennoni Engineering, which was having problems in Bethlehem at that time. Angle had a lot to do with complaining about cost overruns. You don't really know what you're talking about.

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  8. So these are responsible parties for erecting that silly fence around the quarry. Was hiking near there and saw this new fence in the woods. Huge gaps. Waste of money.

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  9. anon 9:18 Steve can join his boss John Brown who is in over his head as well!

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  10. Steve DeSalva is a dedicated worker, honest to a fault, and one of the genuinely nicest persons I know. But what was asked of him was simply too much. I have heard nothing but good things about his successor, and hope the two of them can make the trains run on time.

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  11. How does this guy still have a county government job???

    Not only did he neglect normal maintenance for eight years, he screwed up all the capital projects undertaken.

    He gets to keep his job, just at a lower pay and classification. He is thee worst county public works director ever, and he stays? Must be nice to know the right people or have gone to Notre Dame.

    This is a disgrace., Stoffa claimed the deck was a public safety threat for the past eight years and it still is? How is that? We not only payed but overpaid again, to fix it.

    We also learn finally that the park crossings are dangerous and fences around quarries have gaps in them.

    Has anyone did minding the county store for the past eight years.

    A complete disgrace. The guy keeps his job and it is blamed on "too much work" . Yet every other Director could handle it. Based on the evidence this guy is the real disaster. The government answer, lets throw more money at it by creating another guy to add on to him. Wow!!

    A terrible legacy over the past eight years for DeSalva, Stoffa and Harp. Harp as the Director of Admisntration should be tossed a swell, a disaster. John Stoffa was asleep at the switch and we are only now learning how badly. No wonder the buildings were crumbling.
    Maybe that was Stoffa's plan, let the old deck rot and then you get a new one from county council. It was his MO.
    Maybe it wasn't DeSalva's mistake at all but a plan someone is responsible and you can't keep blaming everyone that was there before you.

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  12. Whatever. Let's see you weave that conspiracy theory at a Council meeting, where you have to ID yourself.

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  13. "what was asked of him was simply too much"

    Based on your own report he didn't' do any of them, so I guess he at least showed up and is a Hell of a great guy. wonderful, the taxpayer are thrilled. Why not say that about every Director and give them all another person to do their jobs. What a cop out.

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  14. Like I said, let's see you ID yourself at a Council meeting instead of crawling out from under a rock. There are numerous projects that DeSalva started and finished, many more than those that stalled, so you're full of shit. I can detail numerous projects from within the courthouse that Steve managed quite successfully. But don't let facts stop you. Bray away. Just identify yourself when you want to attack someone anonymously instead of being a coward. Don't you have any integrity at all?

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  15. Ask anyone in the City of Bethlehem, they were happy to see DiSalva leave Bethlehem and go to the County. Everything he was involved in was overkill. He just didn't cut it.
    Not everything that went amuk in the county is DiSalva's fault. When the County did away with the five year plan it was the beginning of the end. The ring leader for doing that was Ron Angle. How can you forget that. The next guy to blame is Lamount McClure and then County Council and yes, also John Stoffa. Stoffa sat on a 60 million dollar cushion that could have been used to take care of some of these problems. Later, McClueless led the charge to eliminate all the capital projects to avoid a tax increase. "PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER" is the catch phrase that Council ignored. There is enough blame to go around but DiSalva should have been screaming about these projects, instead he too ducked his head in the sand. Time foro him to leave.

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  16. "Mat Benol suggested the County place "Park at your own risk" signs throughout the lot and use Lehigh and Lafayette engineering students to solve this problem. Executive John Brown distanced himself from those suggestions."

    I can't believe Benol even opened his mouth. He needs to have a sign around his neck that says, "Open mouth and insert foot". At least JB didn't go down that path.

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  17. The sky really is falling in Northampton County in more ways than one...

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  18. being a nice guy is one thing . being capable to do a job another .dasalva was nothing more than a stoffa puppet a man he feared and stuffed plenty under the rug for stoffa...integrity ?? I think not ! he then gets a job created for him ? since when is a demotion a good thing ,if I were him i'd be embarrassed ! furthermore what about all the employees with much more time with the county ? who may want to apply for that job ? simply put he didn't earn the big bucks he was paid all these years but we are going to give him another job ? huh ? the notre dame alumni take care of their own ..

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  19. After you read this blog post you do wonder as a casual reader why repairs and projects do take so long to complete in Northampton County.

    I've never heard of backup generators taking literally years to install. By the time they are installed the storm that prompted them is long forgotten.



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  20. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  21. I have deleted a comment submitted by an impersonator.

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  22. Hard to believe that after 7 yearsof incompetence Desalva is retained at ANY level. He will still draw an $80 K plus salary as a deputy. He must have been kissing Brown's butt since his election.

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  23. Hard to believe that people who don't attend meetings and have no real idea what is going on, are so willing to scapegoat one person. Anonymously, of course.

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  24. On a side note RAM construction did renovations to the City parking deck in Easton about two summers ago.

    Hank_HILL

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  25. Doesn't look like there was a problem there.

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  26. Agreed, though I don't think they were the crew that did similar work last summer.

    Hank_Hill

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  27. It costs money to maintain capital improvements but no one wants to admit it. Take the easy way out and blame DeSalva. That's the reward he gets for trying to do the job of 2 or 3 people. But don't hire anyone because it costs money to do so. Oh, now I see, 8 years after the fact a second position is proposed notwithstanding the terrible legacy costs touted by the mini Solicitor.

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  28. Let's hire or appoint 2 more engineers so they can all hold hands at $85K in the parking deck, the prison, gracedale or anywhere in the county and sing kumbyya!
    Whatta a county!

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  29. Don't blame the engineer for not playing politics properly. Mr Desalva was just too honest of a person to survive in such a dishonest environment.

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