GPA Chair Billed NorCo $11,950 to Check Work Done By Third Party Engineer

John Brown and Shawn Langen (right)
pose by "Bridge Closed" sign. Great
optics for the P3 Bridge repair project.   

Is the Northampton County General Purpose Authority (GPA) a runaway train, a shadow government operating behind the scenes to enable an Executive to do an end-run around Council? Though Chair Shawn Langen adamantly denies this is what is going on, it now appears that former Executive John Brown was using this authority to promote projects he knew that Council, the County's elected governing body, would question. Like a new jail at Gracedale. Or his own re-election.

The GPA has stonewalled several right-to-know requests, but has begun providing partial responses. The layers of this onion have begun to peel away. It is now clear that Brown was using the GPA as a conduit for capital projects, and without regard to the wishes of Council or the best interests of the County.

Through the GPA, he hired the same controversial PR firm that had been challenged in two lawsuits. At the suggestion of Solicitor John Lushic, the GPA authorized Chair Shawn Langen to begin billing the County, even though this highly unusual arrangement was never authorized by Council. Brown used GPA solicitor John Lushis to provide legal advice on matters having nothing to do with the GPA, like how to skirt Upper Nazareth's zoning ordinance. Through the GPA, Brown paid Lushis an obscene amount of money.

While using GPA Solicitor to advise him on matters having nothing to do with the GPA, Brown had then County Solicitor Ryan Durkin advise the GPA on the myriad of suits it could file against the County should the incoming administration decide to back out of a public-private partnership agreement for the repair or replacement of 33 bridges.

What is the GPA anyway?

It was first established by Northampton County Council on May 6, 1999, pursuant to the Municipality Authorities Act. It initially served as a conduit for former Executive Glenn Reibman's controversial $111 million multi-purpose bond. Over the years, it has been a conduit for the issuance of both taxable and tax exempt bonds to help finance public and private projects, mostly with hospitals and universities. It also administers the NorCo Loan and Development Fund and the Community Investment Partnership Program Revolving Loan Fund. But it may exercise any powers authorized by the Municipality Authorities Act. In 2016, became the lead agency involved in a plan to refurbish or replace 33 county-owned bridges at a cost of $38 million, with the work being done by Kriger Construction. The lack of transparency surrounding this project, which might actually be very beneficial to the County, is when the problems began.

Two people largely responsible. The first is Executive John Brown, who never understood that county government is much different than a corporate boardroom. The second person at fault is GPA Solicitor John Lushis, who has been funneling large bills to the county through the GPA. He is a member of the Norris McLaughlin law firm. Another member of that firm, Scott Allinson, is currently on trial in Allentown for political corruption. He was also billing the GPA through that firm.

Brown is gone, but Lushis is still giving legal advice to the GPA.

In his report to County Council on February 15, Executive Lamont McClure summed things up.

"It's my view that GPA historically was an authority that provided a wonderful service for St. Luke's, Lafayette, Lehigh, whoever needed to run large bond issues, and the GPA did that for them. I think they got a little bit away from their mission. But with that said, we've isolated what the problem is. I think we're going to over time deal with that problem. I think it's one problem, and I think it will be taken care of in the near term.

"I'll give you an example. In the P3 process [this refers to a deal to rehab or replace 33 county bridges], the Solicitor prepared documents for the contracts that were executed, and then copyrighted them. So all this stuff is paid for by public money, and the Solicitor's law firm has the copyrights.

"So I think we've gotten a little bit beyond the GPA's mission. It's a thing that will not be corrected overnight, but it will get corrected."

He started by appointing Paul Anthony and Frank Pintabone to the GPA. Peg Ferraro, herself a member of that Board, voted No to Pintabone

Today, I'm going to share the bills that Shawn Langen has  provided to the County. From what I'm told, they remain unpaid. Langen made the mistake of submitting his bills at the end of the year, as John Brown was going out the door.

When he was designated in January 2017 as the GPA person who would be checking the work done by a third party engineer that is already checking the work done on the bridge project, Langen said "It's our project," said Langen. "My fear is that if somebody is not watching the third party engineer, I don't want anything to slip through the cracks." Langen added that his costs "would be fully reimbursed by the County," and Lushis said there would be a letter agreement with the County authorizing the payment of $200 per hour.

Whether that agreement actually exists is unknown.

Northampton County Council approved no such agreement. Council member Peg Ferraro, who sits on GPA, was MIA when this appointment was made.

Though Langen has told me that the enabling legislation requires review by someone from outside the county, no one gave that as a reason for hiring him. 

This came at a fortuitous time for Langen, whose employment with Arcadia Development had ended.

Between February and December, Langen charged the County $11,950 for "P3 oversight." This oversight consisted of lengthy meeting with Lushis, review of Lushis bills and even for time spent delivering papers. He charged for letters to Lower Mount Bethel residents, something that really should come from their elected representatives or county workers.

Langen told me he's willing to donate this money to the Third Street Alliance, but only made this pledge after it was learned that he was charging the County.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you how much Lushis has charged the County over the past two years. It makes the Langen bill look like a pittance and is not even complete.

Below are links to each invoice submitted by Langen. I'm a great believer in participatory journalism, and am laying it all out there 

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807636/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Feb-March-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807796/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-April-May-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807898/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-June-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807963/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Jul-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808047/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Aug-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808154/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Sep-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808269/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Oct-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808619/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Nov-2017-part-1

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808721/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Dec-2017