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September 17, 2025 ·6:30 PM Final

Council Chambers

Agenda PDF Minutes PDF 📹 Watch video Official record ↗

Agenda — 27 items

  1. 1 Invocation: ▶ jump to 0:17
  2. 2 Pledge to the Flag ▶ jump to 0:41
  3. 3 Roll Call ▶ jump to 1:06
  4. 4 Courtesy of the Floor Please observe the Rules of Council when given privilege of the floor. A copy of the Council Rules can be found on the council agenda on the website. If you would like to speak, we are asking that you fill out a card – they are on the back table provide them to the clerk before speaking. Include your name and address. When speakers have the privilege of the floor, personal insults, attacks, name calling or other behavior that is inconsistent with the purpose of conducting official business will not be tolerated. Courtesy of the Floor is meant to provide public comments on items that are not on the agenda. Public comment during consideration of ordinances, resolutions and motions are limited by topic – your comments must be relevant to the subject matter of the proposed legislation. Public comments are taken before council votes on legislation. You are given the privilege of the floor to provide public comment; it is not a question and answer session. State your position clearly and concisely for consideration. If you speak on behalf of yourself, you have three minutes and if you are speaking on behalf of a group that has several members present, you will be given five minutes in place of everyone coming to the podium. Please address the Council President not individual councilpersons or city staff. Refrain from insulting or defaming staff, officials, and the public; refrain from using offensive language, cursing, and making noises while other people are speaking. Please be aware that comments and/or behavior in violation of these rules will result in a forfeiture of all remaining time and you will be asked to return to your seat. ▶ jump to 1:20
  5. 5 Contract Approvals ▶ jump to 34:51
  6. 6 R122 Authorizes and Approves the Engagement of Maria Montero, Esquire, to Provide Legal Services to Allentown City Council Pursuant to the Allentown Home Rule Charter and Administrative Code at a salary of Fifty - One Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($51,250). 15-7960 approved Pass ▶ jump to 35:50
  7. 6 R127 Renames Valania Park, located at S. 6th and Union Streets in memory of Mr. Clyde Bosket, Sr. 15-7964 approved Pass ▶ jump to 32:06
  8. 7 R123 Authorization of Cooperative Contracts to provide the City with various goods/services, for with Code 3 Public Safety Equipment, Koch 33 Ford Toyota and Brown Daub Chevrolet. 15-7958 approved Pass ▶ jump to 37:06
  9. 8 Minutes of Previous Meeting: NONE
  10. 9 Communications President Hendricks to note: Pursuant to Act 205, the Director of Finance provided pension the MMOs (for the Police, Fire, PMRS and O and E pensions) to council - they are on the city website and attached to this agenda. Mr. Santo Napoli stated that also for visitors Chasers to City Council, we encourage you to park in the government deck next door and to see our City Clerk, Mr. Hanlon for a voucher to pay for your parking. Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Mr. Napoli. ▶ jump to 37:37
  11. 10 Pursuant to Act 205, the Director of Finance provided pension MMOs to council - they are on the city website and attached to this agenda. 15-7951
  12. 11 Old Business: NONE
  13. 12 REPORTS Committee of the Whole: President Hendricks A special meeting will take place Wednesday, September 24th at 6 PM to review Bills 69 and 70 - the zoning and subdivision and land development proposals. Budget and Finance: Chair Napoli, Santos, Gerlach The Committee met this evening, the next meeting is not yet scheduled. Community and Economic Development, Chair Mota, Hendricks, Napoli The Committee met September 10th; there are no meetings scheduled. Human Resources, Administration and Appointments: Chair Santos, Napoli, Hendricks The Committee has not met since the last council meeting; there are no future meetings scheduled. Parks and Recreation: Chair Gerlach, Santos, Affa The Committee has not met since the last council meeting; the next meeting is scheduled for September 24 at 5:30 PM. Mr. Michael Hanlon stated to Councilperson Gerlach that they couldn't do that and asked if it is ok to switch it to October 1st. Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated October 1st at 5:30 PM. Mr. Michael Hanlon stated 5:30 or 6:00 PM. Whatever works. Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated 5:30 or 6:00. Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated alright, those changes will be made. Public Safety: Chair Affa, Zucal, Mota The Committee met this evening; there are no future meetings scheduled. Public Works: Chair Zucal, Gerlach, Affa The Committee has not met since the last meeting; there are no future meetings set, however, he spoke with the Director of Public Works today and they agreed that there is no need for them having a budget discussion and he assured him that all these budgets below what it was last year as far as capital projects, he will meet with Ms. Patel sometime within the near future. He stated that there are no future meetings set. Rules, Chambers, Intergovernmental Relations, and Strategy: Chair Hendricks, Mota, Napoli The Committee has not met since the last council meeting; there are no future meetings scheduled at this time. Controller's Report The Controller has submitted reports which are on the city website. Mr. Jeffrey Glazier thanked Mr. Hendricks and stated that he has two that he would like to go over with Council tonight. He would like to say a note about Mr. Bosket stating when he moved up from South Carolina, he found his way to Glazier's Furniture. He stated that Mr. Bosket was a customer for decades. He stated that he can say that there weren't many customers who really brought a smile to his face when they walked through the door. He stated that Clyde was one of those and come in and they would probably spend 20 minutes talking before they even got to what they needed, if he needed anything. He stated that one of the things that he learned about city government and all governments is there some marquee positions, but a lot of the progress is made by people doing every day stuff from following their personal muse to make the city and life a better place and that was really Mr. Bosket. He stated that it is a well earned honor for him. He stated that these are the final two audit reports on the interns. The first one is revenue and audit. He stated that this was released on the first of August. He stated basically what they did is residents in the city are entitled to refunds of overpaid real estate tax, business privilege tax, garbage collection fees, stormwater fees, and unused business licenses, additionally Allentown residents 65 and over that meet the income and resident criteria are eligible for garbage and water and sewer rebates. These refunds and rebates are processed by the Bureau of Revenue and Audit. He stated that they are offering water and sewer rebates that are not supported by any ordinance in this city. He stated that i.e., they are giving money back to people and there is no provision for it in any Code that they do it. At this time, there have been. It was repealed. It was not replaced with anything current. He stated that he is going to tell them that the total budget for this is $5,000.00 a year. He stated that it is not a lot of money going out the door, but it is a pretty fundamental error that screams for correction and he doesn't think it should be that hard to get this on the books. The administration has responded that they agree and will work with Public Works. Revenue and Audit agree and they will work with Public Works and the rest of the administration to draft an ordinance. He stated that they also give out money for garbage rebates and one of the challenges there is verifying by the income of the house. He stated that they look to see that the applicant is in fact the property owner. A lot of the folks that are applying have verified income that is below the threshold. It could be 15, 20, 25,000 a year. He stated that he finds it hard to believe that it is possible to run a house on that kind of money to feed yourself, to pay your property taxes, to pay your insurances on the residents. Part of the problem is that they used a term, household income and one of the things they continually asked for what is the supportable definition of household income. He asked does getting support from a third party count. If there sons or daughters or grandchildren are living there that are providing rent, that are paying rent on a property asking is that household income. He stated that he thinks that is one of the things the administration should do is research what a governmentally acceptable definition of household income is and see if it is worth applying in this instance or take that terminology out of the ordinance and just leave it to be the property owners income. There maybe some negative effects in a way, but it is something that they see on a regular basis and have concerns about. He stated he would say they are the two major findings and the administration has been willing to look at them in both instances. He stated if Council had any questions about this Report, he would do his best to answer it at this point before he moves on. He asked Mr. Zucal if he is thinking and stated go on. He stated that the second audit report they did was look at municipals and now he is going to say that every department that they work with has been very cooperative going back years. In this instance, He would have to say that the Parks Department was beyond cooperative. They really wanted to have these pools run as well as possible. He stated that they pushed his department and pushed the auditors to look at different things and ask them questions and to look at things and he doesn't think they always agreed on everything, but he speaks very well to management of the department because we know pools are really important during the summer and have them run as well as and efficiently and effectively as they can be run. It would be a good thing for everything. He stated that this Report came out on August 26th and once again, if you haven't looked at it, take a couple of minutes and dive into it. He stated that it is 11 pages and there are a bunch of issues and he is going to highlight some of them. He stated that they felt that hiring orientation needed improved opportunities for these applicants. He stated that we tend to operate on a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM mentality with fewer opportunities on Saturdays. He stated that they are dealing with kids who may not have applied for jobs for it and don't have that experience. He stated that he thinks the way of saying it stating that they need to do the job to meeting them where they are and making their experience in applying for a job a positive one. He stated that this was an issue that supports coordination between the department and HR. He stated that he can say that he thinks that based on the Duane Morris Report that they said that the hiring process needs to be better and hopefully between what they recommended and what they recommended, some changes can be made going forward to make at least this aspect better for the city, better for the applicants, hopefully, the results of more people getting jobs here. He stated that they know there is communication weaknesses. He asked how do we community with these folks. If they are sending emails, and he is not sure 15 or 16 year olds spend a lot of time looking at emails. They community more via text messages and stated that is what we need to do. The administration responds that they have been working with IT to provide bulk SMS and MSS services to Recycling and Solid Waste and they believe the same solution can be applied here and that will help applicants be aware of the opportunity when they have an appointment and see the reminder on their text messages so they will be there and a better way of communicating with this cohort. He stated at 68 he will communicate any way he can, except for Slack and Tiktok, but this is a great idea and it sounds like the administration picked up the ball here. He stated that they noticed some concession operation weaknesses and this is an ancillary service to having a safe swimming pool, but we noticed the venues would not always reflect the current food prices. Inventory was managed manually using paper tracking methods and they also noted there were broken appliances and by that we mean they weren't keeping drinks and food at the applicable food safety temperatures. He stated that it will speak well of the city and its commitment to running a top notch operation that have somebody have a certification here. The administration has responded in the affirmative on these suggestions for next year and are (inaudible) to see that. He stated that they did make a suggestion, another suggestion and the point of sale and refund issues that needed to be addressed. He stated that they don't take Apple Pay for instance and once again, he doesn't know if it is generational, but it is a very popular method to pay. He stated that they encourage the pools to be able to take a broader range payment options and he certainly understands that this is tied up with software and what services IT can provide and once again, the administration is committed to looking into that and hopefully, some of those changes could take place. The pools in 2026 and may be for other things and if other people want to come in and pay their property tax bill on Apple Pay, but certainly business licenses and other things may be a possibility. He stated that they look forward to that happening. He stated one of the last things they recommend and perhaps it is time to look at having a third party run the concessions. What they had suggested is a food truck or food trucks as the case may be. He stated that they were not thinking and he doesn't know if they communicated of just allowing food trucks to pull up willy nilly to serve the patrons. Having a year long contract with them. He stated that he thinks it bears some research on the administrations part. He stated that he thinks do to the fact that he doesn't think that they framed it accurately. The administration really didn't think that was a good suggestion. He stated that he is ok with that, but he thinks to have a third party on contract for the year would address some of the administration's issues. It might provide better level of service, a broader range menu items to patrons. He stated that he doesn't think it is the highest priority item. It is something to look forward to and one more thing he would add, if the city would decide to go that way and get one or two out of the contract at Mack and at Cedar. He stated that this provides an opportunity for small business people in Allentown, perhaps. He stated that is his Report and once again, they really appreciates the diligence that the Parks and Rec brought to this audit and they were great partners. He asked if they had any questions. Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Mr. Glazier and stated that he believes Ms. Mota has a question or comment. Dr. Cynthia Mota stated that it is a comment, not a question. She thinks it is important to have other ways, other method of payments for the city. She stated as soon as Mr. Glazier said Apple Pay, she uses Apple Pay all the time. She stated as a matter of fact, she went to Walmart the other day and it is unbelievable, they don't allow people to use Apple Pay. She stated thank God that she went with her sister and she was able to pay for her, but it is like it is unbelievable. She stated yes, they do need to use other methods of payment. Mr. Jeffrey Glazier stated that he agrees with her and they are looking at that and they may be some other things. He stated that he is not suggesting they take Venmo for a pool payments, but it depends on what the costs are because those costs can get passed along for clients. If that is the method they use, then he thinks it is certainly a good thing to research and hopefully you know we can find providers that will do it for us and IT is able to integrate them into our systems. He stated as he mentioned broader than just the pools. It is what they do on the first floor, the second floor, the third floor, and the fourth floor for the cost of permits and permits and licenses. He stated hopefully, they will have some good news for us in the future. Mayor Matt Tuerk stated that if the Controller Venmo's him the money, he will take the cash and use it to buy hotdogs at the pool. Mr. Santo Napoli stated that he will be super brief and stated that he can talk for an hour on this stuff. He stated Number 1, regarding payments Mr. Glazier is right, the less friction the better. He stated that they should be taking more payment forms. He stated that is really important. He stated that other thing, communication is 100 percent an issue now and he can tell them and he will speak with Ms. Tolino offline, but they actually moved to an App and the App is tremendous with communicating with employees, scheduling, employees looking for other coworkers to cover their shift. He stated that they will talk offline and stated there is a lot out there now that goes above and beyond SMS texting so, but you are on the right track stating we need to be better. He stated thank you. Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated Ms. Gerlach. Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated yes, just two things along that line. She stated that with Venmo and CashApp, she stood in lines at pools because it is a process to get people in. She stated what she loves with Venmo and CashApp is that they can scan the QR Code when they are already in line and by the time they get up, they can show they already paid and they get their wrist band and they just go on in and speeds things along. She stated with the food truck thing, personal that will be beneficial for small businesses that happens to run food trucks type of businesses, but no. She stated that the administration doesn't want that right. She stated that they are not going to have. Mayor Matt Tuerk stated that he loves food and a lot of great food trucks out there, but as someone who is a purchaser of the $2.00 hotdog and the $1 bag of chips and he is in line with a lot of 10 and 12 year old kids and that is about their budget. A food truck can be really hard. Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated yeah, no $6 lemonades. Mayor Matt Tuerk stated that it is delicious lemonade, but you are right. Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated nope. Ok, alright yeah. She stated that this is going to be something we are talking about later. Mayor Matt Tuerk stated that he thinks there are others things that they can explore, not food trucks. Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated ok, cool. Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated ok. Thank you, Mr. Glazier all for your comments. Mayor: The mayor has not submitted anything for the agenda. ▶ jump to 38:12
  14. 13 Controller Reports 15-7965
  15. 14 ORDINANCES FOR FINAL PASSAGE (To be Voted On): There are none.
  16. 15 CONSENT AGENDA The Consent Agenda is for items that are considered ‘no brainers’ – no need to have the administration explain anything the objective is to vote on all the resolutions at one time if there are no issues. The President asks if there is any request to remove any item from the Consent Agenda. If not, the clerk will read the titles of the resolutions. The President will ask for public comments, prior to council voting on the bundle. Sewage Planning Modules simple indicate there is enough capacity in the water and sewer system to handle the development. approved Pass ▶ jump to 79:03
  17. 16 R124 Sewage Planning Module at 420 North Albright Avenue 15-7962
  18. 17 R125 Sewage Planning Module at 326-336 Hanover Avenue 15-7963
  19. 18 R126 Sewage Planning Module at 1002 Walnut Street 15-7961 ▶ jump to 32:29
  20. 19 RESOLUTIONS FOR FINAL PASSAGE (To be Voted On): NONE ▶ jump to 2:39
  21. 20 R127 Renames Valania Park, located at S. 6th and Union Streets in memory of Mr. Clyde Bosket, Sr. 15-7964 approved Pass ▶ jump to 1:36
  22. 21 ORDINANCES FOR INTRODUCTION (To be referred to Committee with public comment prior to referral) There are none.
  23. 22 RESOLUTIONS FOR INTRODUCTION (Can be voted on or Referred to Committee): There are none.
  24. 23 NEW BUSINESS: NONE
  25. 24 GOOD AND WELFARE: NONE
  26. 25 ADJOURNED: 7:49 PM ▶ jump to 79:31
  27. 26 Reference Materials: Council Rules Procurement Code Ethics Code 15-6577