Mike Krill Announces Mayoral Bid

As he announced his candidacy for mayor Friday afternoon, Easton firefighter Mike Krill promised to focus on neighborhood redevelopment, rather than large downtown projects.

"There is no one-time multi-million dollar multi-use mega-project that will protect our long-term stability,” Krill said, standing at the future site of Easton's .

“We have spent too much time on the tourists that spend a few hours here and not enough time on the people that spend a lifetime here.”

Krill said he chose to announce his candidacy at the intermodal site because he feels the project is ill-considered.

“We cannot keep spending on frivolous, risky projects,” he said. “This is a project I believe no one really wants or really needs.”

While he supports a bus terminal in Easton, he said the former Perkins/Marquis Theatre site would be better developed privately and the bus terminal located elsewhere. He added that he feels the bus terminal should be planned with room for future growth and the possible addition of local city routes with smaller buses.

Krill, who is running on the Republican ticket opposing incumbent Democratic mayor , said the current administration has made some improvements, but they have been too narrowly focused on Easton's Downtown. Attracting new taxpayers to Easton's residential neighborhoods is essential, he said.

Attracting first-time home buyers, especially working- and middle-class families to build the city's tax-paying base, focusing on traditional city services and investing in the city's infrastructure, developing a long-range strategic plan for neighborhood redevelopment and revisiting the city's Home Rule charter, along with reigning in spending, are the main points Krill said the city needs to focus on.

The city's Home Rule charter is “not as effective as it was thought it would be,” Krill said. “I will give the public the chance to choose between a mayor form or government and a manager form of government. We cannot afford (the salaries of) both positions.”

He added that he feels the changes the recent Home Rule charter have brought to city government have created an imbalance.

“We need to restore the checks and balances back to city government,” he said. “We need to go back to five (city council) seats with an elected president.”

If elected, Krill said he will retire from firefighting.

“I am not going to intertwine my employment with my politics,” he said. “If I am elected mayor, there will be no double-dipping.”

Although Krill would receive his firefighter's pension and benefits, he said he would decline health care and other benefits the mayor's office affords, such as a car allowance, and travel and mileage reimbursements.

Working to revitalize the city's residential neighborhoods by working with residents and finding ways to be less reliant on state and federal funding for development projects is key to Easton's future, Krill said.

“We cannot afford to allow our neighborhoods to continue to decline,” he said. “If we want a strong Easton, we need strong neighborhoods.”

The West Ward would probably be his first priority in the “Urban Oasis” project he intends to develop. More details of the plan will be available as his campaign gets underway, Krill said, but the project would rely on focusing on block improvement, community policing, facade improvements and code enforcement, along with community involvement.

“This will not be easy. It will not be glamorous. This will not be with some outside consultants, but with residents and businesses.”

Both Panto and Krill are unopposed in the May primary.