‘The investigation continues’ at Allentown City Hall despite concerns over contract, hiring process

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A slew of potential legal concerns will not deter Allentown City Council’s investigation into allegations of workplace discrimination and racism, one member said Tuesday.

Mayor Matt Tuerk on Monday declared a contract for an investigation into City Hall to be “defective” and “void” — but that will have no effect on the probe, which has already started, according to City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach.

Tuerk sent Allentown City Council a three-page memo that detailed more than a dozen potential legal issues with the process members used to hire former FBI Scott Curtis and the contract they awarded him this month.

He called the contract “seriously flawed” and said he “cannot approve it.”

His concerns don’t matter because the contract is between FLEO Investigations and Allentown City Council, not the mayor’s administration, Gerlach told LehighValleyNews.com on Tuesday.

Tuerk on Monday said the contract is invalid because Council President Cynthia Mota signed and agreed to the contract on behalf of the “City of Allentown” though she does not have that authority.

“The investigation continues; The investigation proceeds,” Gerlach said, adding FLEO — run by former FBI special agent Scott Curtis — has conducted interviews since his hiring less than two weeks ago.

“Any efforts to confuse people, any efforts to mislead folks are void because the investigation continues,” Gerlach said. “The people need to know that, the community needs to know that, (and) most importantly, the employees of Allentown need to know that the investigation is still on.”

But Curtis has not yet contacted Allentown’s legal department to request any records from the city for the investigation, according to communications manager Genesis Ortega.

Court calling?

The mayor said last year he welcomes the investigation into allegations of racism and discrimination. But Gerlach questioned that Tuesday and criticized Tuerk for “putting up roadblocks.”

“This (investigation) doesn’t feel like it’s being welcomed when every single attempt that we’ve made to start this investigation, there’s been a roadblock placed by the administration,” she said.

Councilman Daryl Hendricks said Tuesday he has no concerns with the process he, Gerlach and Ed Zucal used to select Curtis.

Council, Curtis and the city could “end up in court” over Tuerk’s refusal to honor the contract approved June 5 by six of seven members, Hendricks said.

“I'm disappointed that he's challenging our ability to do the investigation,” Hendricks told LehighValleyNews.com.

Council Vice President Santo Napoli was the lone vote against hiring FLEO and Curtis to conduct the investigation.

Like the mayor, Napoli has said he supports the investigation but questions council’s hiring process.

“I'll say this loud and clear: I welcome this. I want this to happen,” he said. “I want someone to come in and take a look and make sure that our procedures and our practices at City Hall are where they should be.”

'Lack of transparency'

Though he’s raised concerns, he said he was “surprised” Monday by the number of issues highlighted by Tuerk and the city’s legal team.

“I didn't realize there were that many,” he told LehighValleyNews.com on Tuesday.

The dozen-plus concerns Tuerk listed in his memo include council hiring Curtis — who led the FBI’s probe of former Mayor Ed Pawlowski’s pay-to-play contracting practices — after he failed with a previous bid to land the job.

Council hired Curtis eight months after authorizing the investigation in October.

City employees worked with council and issued a request for proposals in mid-December. Four companies responded, but two — including Curtis’ FLEO — were rejected for not submitting valid bids.

But council allowed the bidding window to expire without selecting an investigating agency. A three-member committee — Gerlach, Hendricks and Ed Zucal — then published a “Help Wanted” ad and interviewed three companies before selecting FLEO.

The committee shared no interview questions, transcripts or scoring criteria, which Tuerk highlighted Monday in his memo.

And hourly rates for FLEO investigators are redacted in a public copy of the contract. The investigation could cost the city more than $300,000.

Napoli criticized the “hypocrisy” and “lack of transparency” throughout council’s secondary procurement process, saying it “didn’t really meet the standards that we expect from every other contract.”

He wants council to go back to the initial procurement process to hire an investigator so that the mayor will sign off on it.

“We botched the process,” Napoli said. “I think we just need to take a look at it and make sure we get the process right.”