Meet Mike Krill, Candidate for Mayor of Easton

The tag line for Mike Krill's mayorial campaign is "Residents First"

Posted by: Noël Jones


I met Mike Krill, Republican candidate for Mayor, last week to get a sense for why he's running for office, and what his vision is for the City of Easton. Krill is a firefighter, an employee of the city, "which is a little unusual, I know, because it's kind of like running against your boss." Krill goes on to explain that he has worked on a lot of campaigns--for Republicans and Democrats--specifically the campaigns of  Mayor Goldsmith (R), Mayor Mittman (R), and--believe it or not--Mayor Panto (D). He also worked on the campaigns of City Controller Tony Basil (first an R, then a D), and Justice Dan Coppora (D). But with each of the mayorial candidates he helped get into office, he ended up disappointed with their performance. Goldsmith had a complete disregard for the neighborhoods, according to Krill. Mittman shared that disregard, and made a bad choice in appointing a police chief that eventually led to the Jesse Sollman shooting and a $20 million lawsuit for the city. And where does he feel that Mayor Panto has gone wrong?


"They've all made the same mistake really. We're never going to solve Easton's problems by focusing on mega-projects in our downtown. And it doesn't help to make all these KOZ's downtown. Investors have been buying properties, not paying taxes, not doing any work to improve the buildings, and just waiting for the market to go up again so they can sell them for a profit. These mayors, over the last 20 years, quickly slip into 'economic development' mode as soon as they get into office." And what's wrong with economic development? "What we need first, before economic development can take hold, is community development. We need to focus on neighborhoods. We need economic diversity. We need to roll up our sleeves and do the non-glamorous work that needs to be done in the neighborhoods...if you ignore the


neighborhoods, the need for services increases as the ability to pay for those services decreases. It's not gentrification--it's balance. All of our efforts in this city in the last 20 years have been to fill downtown spaces on the first floor. We have to stop with this 'if you build it, they will come' approach. Business follows people, not the other way around."


Krill sites, as an example of how he feels the city lacks a serious strategic plan for attracting residents back into Easton, the Mayor's recent proposal of a Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) for downtown residents. Because of recent funding cuts, the city can no longer afford to pay for the Easton Ambassadors (the people in red shirts who regularly clean up downtown streets and sidewalks). So the city has proposed--without any public input according to Krill--raising taxes on downtown residents 30% to cover the costs of keeping the Ambassadors on. "How is that going to attract new property owners downtown?"


So how does Krill propose keeping the downtown clean? "In my opinion, we should have never been paying  an outside company $417,000 to clean up downtown...business owners should get together and chip in. We need, as a community, to put some sweat equity into this city."


In much the same fashion, he is not happy to see $35,000 being spent on a dog park, as he would rather see the city reach out to dog-owning residents and local pet stores to chip in to build a simple dog park together.


But his biggest issue with Mayor Panto's current plan by far is the proposed intermodal facility featuring a high school hall of fame. He feels it's unrealistic to think that residents would pay to park at the facility when free park-and-ride lots already exist in our area. "The new parking deck is going to cost almost $50k per parking spot to build, and it's going to be expensive to park there. What we need, is more free parking downtown. We need to remove meters in residential areas of downtown. 26,000 tickets were issued last year. If you subtract the cost of enforcement from the revenue brought in, you're not talking about a lot of net revenue, and it hurts the residents." More free parking could be achieved, he says, by not building the new intermodal facility, paving over the old Perkins and majestic lots, and allowing people to park there until a private investor puts up the money to build there. Krill says the number of new parking spaces created would be roughly the same, and we wouldn't have to drop $10 million on a new intermodal facility, because what really needs to happen, he says, is "to improve the way we deliver services--especially bus service. Christie (Governor of New Jersey) is never going to allow the train to be built while he's in office, so in the meantime, we need to re-examine our bus service to make sure that the routes maximize bus service in the city."


And doesn't he think the high school sports hall of fame would attract significant tourism to our city? "No. And the reason is two words: South Bend." South Bend, Indiana is where the College Sports Hall of Fame was built a few years ago, according to Krill. "The first year they projected 312,000 visitors--they got 115,000. The second year they got 60,000. Now they sold it and it's moving to Atlanta...and the collateral spending at downtown businesses is totally exaggerated."


Mike Krill is a South Side resident, originally from the town of Northampton, PA. His wife Donna is a life-long Eastonian. As a firefighter, Krill says he gets the opportunity to know all neighborhoods in the city well, being on the streets and in homes, talking to residents wherever he goes. His work on various campaigns has also afforded him the opportunity to meet residents face-to-face, to hear their concerns as well as their ideas. So what's his plan for community development as opposed to economic development? First off, he says he would like to involved more public input. Secondly, "Community Block Grant Development (CDBG) grant money should be used for improving neighborhoods, not our downtown." Krill would focus on key areas of the neighborhoods that  are blighted, to make the neighborhoods more attractive to prospective homebuyers. If more middle-class home buyers move into these neighborhoods, especially the West Ward, downtown businesses will enjoy the benefits of new regular customers for their businesses, and the city will enjoy the benefit to the tax base.


Krill has some interesting ideas with regard to cutting spending in the city's budget. "For the last 25 years we have been cutting feet on the street--we've outsourced water, sewer and garbage services, and we've cut Public Works. I think we need to cut some middle management." In fact, Krill intends to propose, if elected, the elimination of his position altogether. "We currently, under Home Rule Charter, have both a City Manager and a Mayor--we don't need to be paying for both. We should put it to the residents for a vote via referendum. I'd like to make the Mayor's position part-time, and limit the role to President of City Council."


Krill admits that he has no executive experience, but adds that he does have management experience from 10 years as a Lieutenant in the Fire Department, the Administrator of the Northampton County Emergency Services Program, and as Chairman of the first 911 task force.


Does he have a tag line for his campaign? "Residents First," Krill answers. Ironically, he says, Mayor Panto's slogan of "Clean and Safe" was actually one that he and fellow firefighter Terrence Hand came up with when they were running the neighborhood blog Easton Undressed, which recorded and posted City Council meetings for residents for years. They gave Panto permission to use the slogan when they were working on his campaign. 


So now it will be Neighbors First vs. Clean and Safe. Since Mayor Panto, a Democrat, is the incumbent, and Krill is the only Republican running, we already have our choice in November laid out before us. But that shouldn't stop us from casting our vote of confidence in the primary--Tuesday, May 17th. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to hear Panto and Krill in a candidates' forum before the general election--it should be interesting!