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Council hears questions about oversight of publicly funded Bethlehem Co‑op; administration says HUD reimbursements reviewed
Summary
Public comment raised concerns about the Bethlehem Co‑op’s use of earlier federal, state and CDBG grants and its reported debt. City officials described the standard CDBG/HUD reimbursement and controller oversight processes and said staff have advised the co‑op on operations and recruiting members.
During public comment on Oct. 14, resident Michael O’Hare outlined a chronology of public funding to the Bethlehem Co‑op and said the organization now reports roughly $1 million in debt and no opening date three years after an initial planned February 2022 opening.
“I was thinking to myself, if this is an example of a government run grocery store, we're all gonna starve,” O’Hare said. He asked council to consider oversight or independent review of the co‑op’s use of public money.
Council members and city staff responded that the largest federal grant the co‑op received was administered as a pass‑through and subject to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HUD reimbursement procedures and controller review. Mayor Reynolds said, “Mister Vidoni has been the one that has been working with the co‑op as far as their HUD reimbursements are concerned,” noting the city’s role as pass‑through administrator and HUD monitoring.
The mayor told council the administration has repeatedly advised the co‑op on recruiting members, volunteer capacity and operational planning. “We have tried to get across to the co‑op that they need to set a date to open their grocery store, that they need to be honest about what the different challenges are and that they need to recruit more people,” he said.
Councilwoman Laird reiterated that the city’s grant‑monitoring process includes controller review and HUD oversight for CDBG funds. Staff and council said reimbursements are subject to review and that grants sometimes require timeline amendments; the mayor said most of the $2.9 million congressional appropriation has been spent, approved by HUD and reimbursed.
Officials stopped short of directing a formal audit or independent review; they described the city’s existing oversight steps and said staff continue to advise the co‑op. Mayor Reynolds and staff urged the co‑op to communicate a clear opening plan and to recruit more cooperative members to resolve outstanding implementation challenges.
