Bethlehem does not have a process by which a disgruntled employee or whistleblower can, without fear of reprisal, report what he or she may consider a crime or inappropriate act. At least if they do, the Mayor’s Office has declined to discuss the matter with the Press. When one or more City employees wanted to make a complaint earlier this year, they apparently took it to City Councilman Bryan Callahan.

Callahan on Monday, Nov. 25 held a public press conference during which he defended his recent accusations against the City’s Director of Community and Economic Development Alicia Miller Karner. According to Callahan, he brought these matters to the public only after failing to get a satisfactory and timely response from the City administration.

Callahan also criticized the actions of Mayor Robert Donchez and his staff for not responding soon enough to his request that the Mayor investigate his allegations.

Previously, Callahan had charged that Karner had done two separate acts that, in Callahan’s opinion, deserved to be addressed by the Mayor’s office.

One of these was, according to Callahan who cited three unnamed present and past employees as the sources of his information, was that Karner urged subordinate staff to slow down permit approval in an effort to later justify adding staff to her department.

The second problem that Callahan described concerning Karner, according to Callahan, was that she had called some members of the Bethlehem Parking Authority (BPA) Board of Directors in an effort to influence the RFP (Request For Proposal) and bidding process for work in connection to selling to a developer Bethlehem Parking Authority (BPA)-owned property at East 2nd Street and East 3rd Street across from its planned parking garage on Polk Street.

The BPA on August 28 selected Peron Development and J. G. Petrucci Co. to build a $6.4 million, 8,000 square foot, five-story building that will have retail space on the first floor and up-scale residential units on the upper floors.

Former Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, brother of Councilman Bryan Callahan, is also the Director of Business Development for Peron Development.

Councilman Bryan Callahan concentrated his attention at his press conference on the first of these alleged actions, the slow-down of the permitting process. He said he did not want to discuss the RFP-bidding issue.

Callahan said he had consulted with two Council persons on the first issue, the alleged slow-down of permits, in June of 2019. But then, in “late September or early October,” he spoke to Mayor Donchez about his “concerns.”

Then on October 17 he sent the Mayor a memo via email. In that memo to Mayor Donchez, Councilman Callahan asked that “Mr. Leeson [the City Solicitor] and Mr. Evans [Eric Evans the City Business Administrator] interview the current members of the department along with former employee Suzanne Borzak to determine if Ms. Karner did instruct her department to slow, delay and stall the permitting process…”

(Callahan had in a previous meeting asked Karner and the Mayor to explain why Borzak, a zoning officer, had been terminated. He was rebuffed in that meeting and did not get a public answer.) Suzanne Borzak declined to comment for this story in response to a question from the Press.

Callahan said in his Nov. 25 press conference, “…had Mr. Evans and Mr. Leeson concluded they had found nothing out of line or unethical, I would have considered the matter closed and would have never brought up the subject again.”

Then on Nov. 18 Mayor Donchez did make a confidential response to Callahan’s accusations and demands for investigation: “Your memo of October 21 does not provide sufficient cause to conduct the investigation requested.”

In spite of the Mayors request that Callahan “maintain confidentiality” because it is a “personnel matter” Councilman Callahan immediately released the Mayor’s memo to the Press and other reporters present.

The Mayor went on to say that if Callahan would provide documents and the names of his sources, then he would reconsider Callahan’s request for investigation.

Also, on the same day, Nov. 25, Mayor Donchez sent another letter to Bethlehem City Council President Adam Waldron in which he addressed the RFP-bidding concerns brought forward by Callahan, but did not talk about the “slow down” of the permitting process issue.

Donchez clarified the RFP and bidding process for the purchase and development of the property.

In his letter to Council President Waldron, “I consider it inappropriate,” said Donchez in his letter, “that rather than taking the time to understand the process, Mr. Callahan chose to make such accusations in a public forum.”

Donchez explained that the Bethlehem Parking Authority had received two bids for the project-one from the firm Peron-Petrucci and second from Nova Development.

“Given that it was an RFP (not a bid),” said Donchez, “Ms. Karner, or any member of the committee, would be absolutely within their rights to offer their opinion on the proposals to members of the board. It was not unethical; it was their role.”

Among those on the selection committee were Council President Adam Waldron who was replaced by Councilwoman Dr. Paige Van Wirt, Director of Community and Economic Development Alicia Miller Karner, Director of Planning and Zoning Darlene Heller, and City of Bethlehem Business Administrator Eric Evans.

Donchez also explained that while he had originally been on the RFP selection committee, he had recused himself because his son-in-law is a member of the law firm Florio-Perrucci Steinhardt & Cappelli LLC. Donchez, at his request, was replaced on the committee by City Business Administrator Eric Evans.

The day after Callahan’s press conference, Mayor Donchez responded with a “public statement.” On Nov. 26, Donchez said, “While I take Mr. Callahan’s concerns seriously, there are serious problems with how he has approached this matter and his refusal of my requests for his information.”

In the “public comment” letter Donchez reviewed the ways in which he thought Callahan had mishandled the allegations while justifying his administration’s actions. “… it is important that Mr. Callahan provide the requested information and meet with Mr. Evans and Attorney Leeson. We need to know who the sources are and the information they provided.”

Donchez said that launching an “unconstrained inquiry solely upon his personal request, absent preliminary screening of the source information, unnecessarily risks perpetuating rumors and inducing the spread of more.”

“It is rarely too late to do the right thing,” said Donchez. He asked that Callahan provide the documentation requested, meet with Evans and Leeson and answer questions, show regard for confidentiality and respect for the employee’s privacy. He also wants Callahan to “announce his intention to fully cooperate with the City Administration in furtherance of the best interests if the city.”

Callahan also took time Nov. 25 to address the price that children pay for a bucket of golf balls at the driving range of the Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course.

“…the driving range is the only recreational facility [in Bethlehem] that does not have a youth rate vs. an adult rate,” said Callahan.