Phillipsburg Mayor, Democratic Council Candidates Comment on Police Relocation

Ellis, Stettner, Clark Call on Council to Identify ‘Secret’ Donor

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ (Aug. 22, 2019)—Phillipsburg Mayor Steve Ellis and Democratic town council candidates JP Stettner and Lee Clark, released the following statement on the temporary relocation of the Phillipsburg Police Department:

Tuesday night, the town council voted to approve $1.4 million in bonds to finance the temporary relocation of the Phillipsburg police and fire departments and office of emergency management to the former Phillipsburg Armory. The plans approved Tuesday night are for a bare bones facility that will not be equipped to store evidence or house prisoners. This temporary relocation was approved because the New Jersey Department of Labor and Work Place Safety was threatening to assess tens of thousands of dollars in fines against Phillipsburg for its failure to relocate our first responders after health and safety issues were identified at the Corliss Avenue municipal building.

Prior to the intervention of state authorities, the council had obstructed plans to rehabilitate the armory into a modern, public safety facility in favor of an expensive and unfeasible plan to keep the police in the Corliss Avenue building. While this temporary solution protects Phillipsburg taxpayers from the state fines, it’s an additional taxpayer expense that does not move us any closer to a permanent new public safety headquarters. A key component of the council’s plan is their claim that they have a “secret donor” to offset the cost of the temporary move.

We now have good reason to believe that no such donor exists, and we are calling on the council to identify the donor and assure taxpayers that their money is not being squandered on a temporary quick fix.

More than a year ago, the town council, the police department and the mayor agreed on a plan to rehabilitate the armory building into a permanent public safety complex for our first responders. The estimated cost for this project is $4 million. The town spent $85,000 in design and engineering fees as well as $40,000 on a feasibility study of Corliss Avenue that determined the building could not be rehabilitated into a modern police headquarters. The location of the armory building was preferable as well, because it located first responders closer to the neighborhoods they serve most frequently and eliminated the dangerous crossing of Route 22.

On the eve of the final vote, the town council dismantled the funding for the armory project. It spent an additional $30,000 in taxpayer money on a second feasibility study of Corliss Avenue—this one miraculously finding the building suitable for rehabilitation. The delay also cost Phillipsburg a low-interest, 40-year USDA loan that was going to fund the armory project at very little cost to taxpayers. The town council proceeded to approve $6.2 million in bonds for the renovation of Corliss Avenue. A new set of armory plans has been commissioned for $37,500.

The town council justified spending $1.4 million of taxpayer money for a temporary fix by claiming a secret benefactor will donate $1 million to offset the costs, and that the renovated armory will be used as a community center once the police are relocated back to Corliss Avenue. They have not explained who will pay the $400,000 difference between the cost of the move and the $1 million donation, or the additional costs of turning a temporary police headquarters into a community center. They have never explained why they pulled their support for the original armory project or why they are determined to renovate the Corliss Avenue building, literally at all costs.

We urge the town council to confirm immediately the existence and identity of the secret donor.