Scranton City Council wants more information from mayor on City Hall annex
SCRANTON - City council introduced legislation from Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti to fund the $1.88 million purchase of a building next to City Hall for a municipal annex that includes a police "Real Time Crime Center," but then tabled it to get information on total costs and the long-term plan for use of the addition.
Council voted 5-0 Tuesday - with council President Tom Schuster, Patrick Flynn, Mark McAndrew, Sean McAndrew and Jessica Rothchild all in favor - to introduce an ordinance that assembles over $1 million in city funds for the acquisition of the former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave. A prior council authorized the purchase in December.
This ordinance would amend the city's 2026 capital budget by $1,089,067 and involve reallocating federal block grant and other funding to buy out lease payments on Scranton Fire Department's Rescue 1 vehicle, to save on interest payments and to purchase the property for the Police Department and other City Hall operations to improve disabled accessibility, the mayor said Friday.
Cognetti also proposed to council an ordinance that would allow for purchasing additional surveillance cameras and upgrading Police Department operations by reallocating $366,000. That amount would come from closing three accounts called "special city accounts" that total $190,991 and repurposing a different special cities fund that has accumulated $175,547 in unallocated interest.
Council members also voted 5-0 Tuesday to introduce the other ordinance. They did not table it.
Council tabled the annex ordinance to request information on the administration's overall plan, including costs of maintenance, moving and insurance and specifically how the annex would be used by the city and departmental costs.
"There's information us as council need to know, need to see first," Sean McAndrew said, noting council has not seen the inside of building or plans or designs for its use. "Also, the most important question, what's the total cost? … So let's sit back, let's ask for the information."
In December, the prior council voted 3-2 to approve the city purchase of the bank branch for an annex to City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave., and the city put down a $188,000 deposit. At that time, the bank was renovating the nearby Scranton Electric Building at 507 Linden St. into a headquarters and would vacate the branch. The renovation nears completion and Fidelity recently vacated the branch. Last week, bank and city officials said they expected a closing on the city's purchase of the former bank branch to occur in mid-July.
Schuster and Mark McAndrew in December voted against the purchase, while Rothchild and former council members Gerald Smurl and Bill King approved it.
On Tuesday, Schuster said, "As I said last year, I'm concerned about expanding the footprint of government. I understand we've purchased that building and it was one of my concerns … but I do think council does need to know what's going to be the end price. We need to see the end goal."
Mark McAndrew said, "It should be tabled. Tell us more" about the annex plan.
Flynn added, "This is council's role, to ask questions and get the answers, especially on something with this big of a financial impact."
Rothchild said, "I agree with my colleagues that there are questions that need to be answered and we want more details regarding the plans."
Schuster suggested council ask the administration to attend a caucus to provide more information on the annex plan.
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This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 8:10 PM.