Council addresses resident’s concerns over use of former school building

Lehighton Borough Council this week addressed the long-standing concerns of a borough resident regarding the handling of a former school building.

Councilman Ryan Saunders said he, along with Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky and Annex building manager Tom Evans, met with borough resident Ed Conarty.

Over the years, Conarty has expressed his dissatisfaction to council regarding the use of the Pfc. Clyde R. Houser Jr. Building/Borough Annex at 110 N. Third St.

Saunders said the meeting was “regarding his concerns with how the borough Annex building is being managed.”

“His concerns have been that the leases do not reflect the proper square footages as per what the current tenants are occupying, nor are the lessees being charged the amounts suggested by a feasibility study dated several years back,” Saunders said.

“After reviewing many years worth of Right to Know documentation that Mr. Conarty had provided, we had come to the conclusion that Mr. Conarty has some valid concerns that should be addressed.”

Saunders said that since Evans took over in managing the annex building, he has addressed several of those concerns.

“Since 2019 is a lease year for most of our tenants in that building, council along with Tom need to make sure that the new leases reflect correct room numbers, square footages and costs per square footages are being charged as council agrees upon,” he said.

“For these reasons, I am suggesting the leases which come up for renewal in 2019 and beyond come to council for review and approval before they are signed by the borough. This should help us address any concerns and help borough administration as well.”

Currently, the former Lehighton Junior High School building houses offices for Pathstone Head Start, Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit and state Rep. Doyle Heffley.

The annex was converted by the borough into office space in the mid-1990s. The borough obtained grants and loans for the project.

Conarty previously told council when they initially bought the building, they wanted to put municipal offices in it and paid to have a study done to see if it was feasible without burdening the taxpayers.

He said he also was upset that they wrote tenant leases for occupancy that was for less square footage than what it actually was.