Residents urge third‑party review after alleged spec deviations at Walnut Street parking garage

Residents and tradespeople asked Bethlehem city leaders to investigate what they say are safety and procurement problems at the Walnut Street parking garage, telling the council tonight that the installing contractor did not follow bid specifications for the garage's fire‑protection system.

Bert Macklin, who said he has 17 years in the trade, told council the standpipe work called for schedule 40 steel pipe but that the installing contractor used schedule 10 pipe instead. "Anchor's bid was $573,600," Macklin said, and "they installed schedule 10" rather than the heavier pipe in the specifications. He also said the contractor omitted three required pressure gauges and used roll‑groove joints where the spec required cut‑groove joints.

"It appears the installing contractor did not follow the correct pipe that was the spec for the fire suppression standpipes," Macklin said, and he asked the city to commission a third‑party engineer to examine whether the work meets the written bid documents.

Scott Moser, who introduced Macklin, said the pair provided council with a list of alleged deficiencies and documentation obtained via a right‑to‑know request. Macklin estimated that if the specified materials and methods had not been followed, the contractor may have saved roughly $205,100 on materials, labor and fabrication.

Councilman Callahan said council members had received a memo from Bethlehem Parking Authority staff and that he had personally asked for documentation and filed a right‑to‑know request when copies were initially withheld or when a charge was proposed for the records. "They told me I had to file a right‑to‑know request," Callahan said. He told the room he was told by Parking Authority staff that Anchor had not submitted formal paperwork to change the specified piping and valves.

Council members and staff emphasized that the Bethlehem Parking Authority is an independent legal entity that manages its own contracts and that council does not sign or adjudicate those contracts. The council asked that the material provided by the speakers be distributed to all members for review and for follow‑up at a future meeting where the authority and its records can be discussed in public.

Because the meeting lacked a quorum, no formal actions or votes were taken tonight. Materials provided by the speakers will be circulated to council members and the issue was flagged for further review at an upcoming meeting or parking authority session.