The hire comes as a deadline to spend federal American Rescue Plan funding looms. Cities that were awarded funding via the 2021 stimulus bill must allocate the money by the end of 2024, or be forced to send the funds back to the federal government. Allentown was awarded $57 million in American Rescue Plan in 2021 to spend on infrastructure projects and economic recovery.
The city unveiled plans in early 2024 to spend $38 million on a renovation and addition to the city’s existing police building at 425 Hamilton St., which police Chief Charles Roca has said is out of date and lacks enough space for city officers.
The investment would also bring all officers into one central headquarters. Most of the city’s patrol officers currently are stationed at another building at 1001 Hamilton St., which is in disrepair. Despite opposition from police union president Dave Benner, Allentown Cty Council narrowly approved the sale of the patrol station in October.
Allentown set aside $9 million of ARPA dollars in its 2024 budget for the police building, and plans to make up the funding gap via issuing bonds, officials have said.
The entire cost of renovating and building the addition could come to $37 million.
The City Council vote to hire Alloy5 was 5-1 — members Cynthia Mota, Daryl Hendricks, Ed Zucal and Candida Affa voted in favor of hiring Alloy5, Natalie Santos voted against it and Ce-Ce Gerlach was absent.
Alloy5 also conducted a feasibility study for a new building, the findings of which were unveiled in February.
Zucal questioned why Alloy5 was selected to both conduct the study of the new building and oversee the architecture and engineering. Jessica Baraket, deputy finance director, said that six other firms applied for the contract, two were disqualified and that they did not conduct oral interviews with the applicants before selecting Alloy5.
Mayor Matt Tuerk said that city staff followed an objective “scoring” process to evaluate the applicants.
“The procurement process has always been led by the purchasing team at the city of Allentown, which is not just celebrated but decorated,” Tuerk said.
Zucal voted in favor of the contract, because the city could lose the funding.
The new police building would take around two years to complete: The planning and approval process would take around 10 months, and construction 12-18 months.
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