Night of the Jaeckle

Last night was probably one of the most heated sessions of the Lehigh Township Board of Supervisors meetings ever. For the first time (other than a flyer that has been circulating via word of mouth from neighbor to neighbor) citizens of the township, as well as parents of students at the school, learned of the intrusive power plant plan that was so secret that the township supervisors had only recently heard about it.

Well, we found out why it was secret. The school board learned from Nazareth township that if the public finds out, they can stop the project at the township. The plan was developed by Metrotek an electrical engineering company run by Reiner Jaeckle and his financier Eric Abeshaus, and was given the greenlight by the Northampton Area School Board in a 9-0 vote. At the meeting, representing the School Board, was Bob Yanders, head of facilities. The plan is for 6.4 acre Solar power plant, 13 feet high with over 5,000 panels, generating 2.2 Megawatts. The School board is leasing the land to Metrotek for 20 years for $0 and in return will get $2 million in reduced energy spread out over 20 years. Metrotek and it's investors (to include Abeshaus) would receive all state and federal grant money, stimulous money, and the money from selling the excess energy back to the grid. In addition, they would get the SRECs (sustainable renewable energy credits), which are given yearly and over the life of the project would amount to $13-$20 million dollars!

Also there were approx. 70 township residents that were highly anxious to give the school board, the superintendant and Metroteks Jaeckle/Abeshaus, a piece of their mind. When they grilled the Metrotek duo, along Bob Yander, on a myriad of topics, many couldn't be answered. How safe is this for our kids?, why are you using most of the remaining land on school grounds?, will this affect property values? How much is this costing us in state and federal taxes? Why would the school district do this for such little gain?

Boiled down, the citizens found out, for $2 million in reduced energy rates and a $0 land lease for 20 years, the school board is going to make Reiner Jaeckle and Eric Abeshaus millionaires, with a no bid contract. The project would use most of the children's play area land at the school and would be a 13 foot tall, 6.4 acre metal nightmare.

One explosive, yet highly interesting fact came out when one of the township residents asked school facilities manager Bob Yanders if he had done background checks on the people they are doing business with. Without waiting for an answer he proceeded to ask him if he knew Eric Abeshaus was named in a Federal Lawsuit with fraud and corrruption. He told Yander he had found it out in 2 minutes on Google. I looked it up and in a March 27, 2009 article in the Express-Times, Abeshaus, along with his father and others in Circle Systems Group, was accused of not safety testing high school football helmets their company was contracted to refurbish.

All in all an interesting night, next stop the Lehigh township zoning board, as now Northampton Area School District will attempt to get a variance to allow Metrotek to operate the power plant on school grounds as a second principal usage. I wouldn't miss that one for anything. I am sure the next School Board meeting will also be VERY interesting, as the NASD will probably be asked to explain themselves in this matter.

"What were they thinking??"