Millcreek Township’s proposal to buy the Zem Zem Shrine Club for use as a community center was the focus of a sometimes contentious conversation between a township supervisor and former township supervisor on Monday.
Former supervisor Sue Weber, now an elected member of the Millcreek Township Government Study Commission, criticized the township for hiring firms for professional services, including services related to the potential community center, without requesting proposals and bids from a variety of companies.
Supervisors hired a consulting firm to study the feasibility of the township parks and recreation department operating a community center last fall and on Monday hired a firm to do an environmental assessment of the Shrine Club property. Both firms were hired without seeking other proposals or bids.
Pennsylvania law does not require second-class townships like Millcreek to seek bids or proposals for professional services, but not doing so is a disservice to taxpayers, Weber said.
“That’s not the correct way to go about things even though it’s legal,” Weber said. “That’s not what other townships do. You’re not getting the best deal for the taxpayers when you do that, and you do it over and over again.”
The proposal to buy the Shrine Club at West 38th Street and Zuck Road is “putting the cart before the horse,” Weber said.
“You’ve got on the agenda today a phase-one environmental assessment (of the property), which should always be done anyway, but why are you spending money for that when you have not even let the public weigh in,” Weber said.
“My understanding is that the parks and rec study will span a period of five months and in that park and rec study, having a community center at all will be studied. Why would you even sign the letter of intent to purchase (the Shrine Club) property or pay for an environmental study if you haven’t even had the completion of that study that says if you should have a community center, where it should be located and what size it should be,” Weber said.
Weber also questioned whether the parks and recreation study would cost the township $100,000.
The Zem Zem Shrine Club at 2525 W. 38th St. LINDSEY POISSON/ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE
It ‘has been done’
Weber is misinformed and has “not been in meetings the last three years where this has been discussed, and all of the research has been done,” township supervisor Kim Clear said of the parks and recreation study. Clear participated in Monday’s supervisors’ meeting by phone.
“Anything and everything you just said has been done and all of these agencies have been vetted,” Clear said.
Township supervisors in May 2023 hired Altair Consulting Group to study township parks and recreation needs and create a five-year plan for improvements. The study and action plans were completed in February 2024 at a cost of $42,000.
A community center is among the study’s top recommendations for improvements. The study included a survey and public meetings to identify residents’ priorities.
Supervisors in October hired Ballard King & Associates to study the feasibility of developing a community center. The study will cost $24,000 and will look at potential locations, operations and costs.
Both consulting firms were hired by supervisors on the recommendation of township parks and recreation director Ashley Marsteller.
Supervisors on Monday hired Environmental Remediation and Recovery to conduct the environmental assessment of the Shrine Club property at a cost of $3,500.
“This is a common company that we use a lot, however I don’t disagree with (Sue Weber) that the directors could start sending out (requests for proposals), though it’s not required, to other companies,” Supervisor Jim Bock said.
The company has done good work for the township and the quoted cost is reasonable, he said.
“I’m okay with this, but for the public’s benefit I think we should be soliciting more than one quote on some of these things,” Bock said.
Feasibility study approved: Will there be a Millcreek community center?
The Shrine Club agreement
Supervisors unanimously approved a letter of intent in December indicating interest in buying the Shrine Club.
The township will have five months to study the feasibility of the purchase and accept public comments before committing to it. The township then would investigate financing the $3.6 million purchase over time, supervisors said.
The building and parking lot are in need of maintenance and repairs and a community center could be costly to operate, another former township supervisor, John Groh, said Monday.
“I wonder if we’re going to be biting off more than we can chew on this,” Groh said. “I really hope that the township, that the board of supervisors, looks at this with their eyes wide open as far as what this could be doing to the overall cost for the township. This is something that could come back and haunt us in a few years should we decide to take that building.”
Millcreek community center? Township approves letter of intent in plan to buy Zem Zem Shrine Club property
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Former supervisors question Millcreek community center studies, costs