Good evening and welcome.

Welcome to City Council's organizational meeting.

The purpose of the meeting is to have newly elected city council persons and city controller take the oath of office and to allow council to reorganize selecting a president and vice president.

We will begin by remarks by outgoing council persons.

That being Councilmember Ed Zukel, followed by myself.

Thank you, Mr.

Hendrix.

I would like to thank the citizens of Alentown who elected me eight years ago.

It's truly been an honor to serve these eight years and 25 years as a police officer before that.

During my 2,920 days in office, I devoted my time to representing the citizens and the employees in the city with dignity and honor.

I leave my position tonight with a clear conscience and with pride, knowing that I performed my duties in the utmost professional manner and represented Allentown as an elected official should.

Every vote that I cast was not made by threats, phone calls, or political influence, but in the best interest in the future of its citizens.

To my colleagues, have the courage to stand up for what you believe in and the values you were taught rather than by governing by peer pressure.

True wisdom often means standing apart from the crowd.

Throughout history, the majority has often been misguided.

Real change and progress comes from those willing to think for themselves.

For now, I'm going to enjoy my little time off, at least only for temporary.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

As I reflect on the close of my term as a council member, I am humbled to have had the privilege to represent the great citizens of our city, a city of which I have lived in since birth.

The city of which I have been a public servant in for almost 50 years.

During these assignments, I had a chance to meet and work with several like-minded colleagues where we could learn from each other's experiences.

During my career of service with this city, I had the opportunity to work with many great and dedicated city staffers, directors, and employees.

One of which I must name specifically Michael Hanlon.

Thank you, Mike.

I will miss you all.

Some of the other highlights were participating in city events and activities, such as parades, flag raisings, and car shows along Hamilton Street, and also representing our city businesses with countless ribbon-cutting activities.

During my term in office, I did my best, along with other council members to keep taxes and service increases down.

I feel that the majority of council members I served with were fiscally responsible and that we made solid decisions based on the facts and resources available to us.

It was a privilege to serve with many council members and three different mayors during my tenure.

I will miss helping to shape our city and making a difference in our community.

I made decisions based on research and facts rather than future election chances.

As I begin the next chapter in my life, I will continue to pursue those goals in service of our city and those members of the community most deserving of them.

But it is time for me to spend more time with my wife and our family, most especially our five grandchildren, who will certainly keep me on my toes.

Thank you.

Thank you all very much.

And now I will step down from the dais and have our vice president Cynthia Bodo take my position.

I'll get to you later.

And now what we're gonna do is we're gonna I believe that I'm gonna be the first one who's gonna be sworn in by uh Linda Vega.

So um honorable Miss Bega I know she's here.

This is so exciting.

I'm I'm really happy.

I see so many familiar faces here.

And ahead of time, I just want to say thank you.

Miss Moda, the first Latina church, one moment.

You ready?

All right, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, County of Lehigh, City of Alatal.

Repeat after me.

I Cynthia Moda.

I Cynthia Molten, do somebody affirm, do some that I will support that I will support obey and defend the constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

And that I will discharge and that I will discharge the duties of my office of councilperson.

Of the city of Allentown.

With fidelity.

You have been sworn in.

Wow, gracias.

Thank you.

And I was wondering, I would love to take a picture with my family.

I know that this is um you, Linda.

Thank you.

What a great day.

Thank you.

And now we have Mr.

Jeremy Bender and the Honorable Michael Deomore.

Okay.

Hi Jeremy Bender, do you solemnly affirmly affirm that I will support obey?

Obey and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

And the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

And I will discharge the duties of my office.

Yeah, discharge the duties of my office.

Of councilperson.

Of the city of Allentown.

Of the city of Allentown.

With fidelity.

With fidelity.

Congratulations.

Can I grab a photo of my family report?

You want to see that?

Thank you.

You guys are going off.

You guys did also Miss Natalie Santos, and she's gonna be sworn in by the Honorable Linda Vega.

Ready?

All right.

All right.

Natalie Sansels.

City Council president for City of Allentown, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, County of Lehigh City of Allentown, repeat after me.

I Natalie Santos.

Hi Natalie Santos.

Do solemnly affirm.

Do solemnly affirm.

Obey.

Obey.

And defend.

And defend the Constitution.

Of the United States.

Of the United States.

And the Constitution.

And the Constitution.

Of this Commonwealth.

Of this Commonwealth.

And that I will discharge.

And that I will discharge.

The duties of my office.

Of councilperson.

Of council person.

Of the city of Allentown.

Of the city of Allentown.

Pennsylvania with the double.

Pennsylvania with the double.

So you can sworn and subscribe before me this fifth day of January 2026.

You have been sworn in.

Photos.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And the next person will be the next council person will be Christian Pongo.

And he's going to be sworn in by the Honorable Linda Vega.

Are you excited?

Absolutely.

Are you sure?

We've got two seconds left.

The city of Allentown, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Repeat after me.

Hi, Christian Pungo.

Hi, Christian Pungo.

Do solemnly affirm.

Do solemnly affirm.

That I will support.

That I will support.

Obey.

Obey.

And defend.

And defend.

Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

And the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

And that I will discharge.

And that I will discharge.

The duties of my office.

The duties of my office.

Of council person.

Of councilperson.

Of the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Of the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Take and sworn subscribe before me on this fifth day of January 2026.

You have been sworn in, sir.

Logistically, we didn't plan for the picture, so I'm just gonna ask like five folks in the row over there to help up here with my uh my wife, my mother, and photo.

I know we don't have just a lot of people.

And now we have Honorable Matt Turk, the mayor of the third largest city of PA.

Hi, Mr.

Mayor, are you prepared, prepared?

Very prepared.

Yeah, please feed after me.

I'm Matt Turk.

I Matt Turk.

Do solemnly affirm, do solemnly affirm that I will support, obey, and defend, that I will support, obey, and defend.

The Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of this Commonwealth and the Constitution of this Commonwealth.

I will discharge the duties of my office.

Of mayor of the city of Allentown.

Of mayor of the city of Allentown.

With fidelity.

With fidelity.

Good evening.

Thank you to everyone who's here today.

My family, my friends, colleagues, and most importantly, the resident of this great city, the city of Allentown.

Being sworn in for another term is truly an honor.

And I do not take this responsibility lightly.

I want to take a moment to recognize and thank some of my colleagues who will not say who will not be continuing on council.

Public service is not always easy.

And it requires time, sacrifice, and a deep commitment to the community.

First, I want to thank Darrell Hendrix.

Daryl, you support and partnership have meant more to me than you may not realize.

But it had a lot to do with the community.

Your willingness to support others and stay connected to the people of this city speaks volume about your character.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to have served alongside of you.

I also would like to thank Ed Sulko for his passion for this uh for the city of Allentown.

While we may not always have seen eye to eye, there's no doubt about your dedication and commitment to this city.

I respect the service and energy you brought to this role.

Thank you for your years of service to Allentown.

And to the voters of this city.

Thank you.

Thank you for believing in me.

In my leadership once again, your trust means everything to me, and I promise to continue working, working very hard every day to earn it.

I remain committed to listening, learning, and leading with integrity and purpose.

Finally, I want to thank my family.

Thank you for standing by me, encouraging me and supporting me in my dreams to serve the city, this city that I love dearly.

Your patience sacrifices and belief in me makes this journey possible.

I am proud to serve Allentown, and I look forward to continuing this work together.

I am I am also so excited and looking forward to this year.

I know that we will all remain focused on building a stronger, more united city for everyone.

I thank you so much.

Muchas gracias.

And now, Mr.

Bender.

Um, thank you.

Councilperson Moda.

I do have to say I have prepared remarks, but um, as someone who's sat in that audience many, many hours and watched, this is really surreal to look this way.

So I just want to call that out right now.

Um I do also want to acknowledge outgoing uh council members uh Hendrix and Zugel.

Um as uh Ms.

Moda had said, um, though we may not see eye to eye on a lot of things all the time, um any person who puts themselves out there in community service, um, especially at the local level, uh it's it's a lot.

I I I can appreciate going into this that it's going to be a lot, and I can uh just want to acknowledge uh the time that you have put in.

Um I do want to start off as by saying thank you to the voters uh in Allentown for taking a chance on me.

Um I entered into this without any name recognition or um really a lot of background.

Um I'm just truly humbled and honored to be able to be sitting up here right now.

Um I spoke to many, spoke to many people while I was knocking on doors, and I was just encouraged by conversations, and those will shape a lot of the decisions that we make here to um on the diet here.

So I really appreciate that time.

I also want to um thank my uh friends that are in the audience today.

Your uh counsel, your feedback over the last couple of years has been uh uh I I can't put even a word to it.

Um, and your commitment to holding me accountable and critiquing as as these next four years go is is incredibly important as well.

I want to thank uh my parents, Paul and Sharon, as well as my sister Heather and my niece Maya, who's this is her first um public meeting of any way, shape, or form.

So um my parents taught me at a very, very young age the importance of civic engagement that your vote was your voice and you should exercise it all the time or as often as you can.

Um so I I thank you so much for being here tonight.

And last but not least, uh most importantly, I want to thank my partner Sherry.

Um your love, your encouragement and support in this process has meant the world to me, and I just want to thank you for agreeing to endure four more years of City Valentine discussions at home.

Um I just really briefly wanted to say why how I got here.

Um so a little less than two years ago, uh I was sitting in a Franklin Park community meeting.

Uh and at the time, the there was neighbors that were voicing frustration.

It was either something that council was doing or the administration, I don't remember.

Um, but at the time I said uh, you know, it really only takes about 3,000 votes to get through the primary here in Allentown to get on council and actually help shape some of the stuff that the community was frustrated about.

Um at that time, Carol Gonzalez came over to me.

And if you don't know who she is, uh, she is just an or was just an amazing uh social justice activist.

And she said, we have those votes here in Franklin Park.

We just need to get people out.

That um carried me through the rigors and the challenges of campaigning.

And I really appreciated what she uh said in that moment.

And um though she has passed last year, unfortunately.

Um her memory lives on.

Um in closing, I'd like to carry on a tradition of a previous uh Allentown City Council um member, and that was Courtney Robbins.

He quoted someone during his acceptance uh time, and I believe he quoted Churchill if I'm looking at you, Kentia, because it's probably Churchill that he would have quoted, or I'm sorry, she would have quoted.

Um I'm gonna go a little bit not as uh uh as uppity on that one, but I'm gonna quote um uh uh Father Gregory Boyle.

Uh he's uh he was a Jesuit priest in California, and he focuses on marginalized individuals and um kids that are trying to overcome uh gang violence.

Uh and he said, we don't rescue people on the margins, but if we stand at the margins, go figure we're all rescued.

Sorry.

So I just want to say I'm humbled and honored for this experience, and I'm looking forward to the next four years in Allentown.

So thank you.

Now we have Ms.

Santos.

Thank you.

Um I'll keep mine shorter and maybe sweeter.

I am so grateful to be entrusted with another term.

Uh my second term as a council person of Alan Town.

And I've learned so much during my last four years, let me tell you.

Um, to be in this kind of position.

I don't know, some people don't know.

This is a part-time position.

We do this because we like it and we want to serve our community.

So shout out to all of you that are still doing this um and want to continue to do it.

Um I can't wait to continue to serve my community.

So thank you to everyone that has helped me along my journey, especially my friends and my partner who are in the audience today.

Thank you guys.

Um, and I look forward to continuing to represent.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

And now we have Mr.

Pongo.

Thank you, Cynthia.

Um, first and foremost, thank you all for being here tonight for being engaged, uh, for supporting those of us that ran and and just really for caring about others, which is really the reason that you're here.

Um as I sit here, I'm humbled to be surrounded by so many people who have played an integral role in getting me to be here as a public public servant.

You see, service to others is amongst the most impactful things we can do as a people.

I sit here today, not just in my own will to run uh for an elected office, but as a testament to the kindness and service of others in my life.

Um my family came to the city in the early 2000s when I was six.

Um I came with no expectation, no intention, no specific path because I was six.

Um but I thank God for the decision because without it I could never be here.

Um the people who supported me by you know, in my campaign by sharing my posts, donations, attending events, uh knocking for signatures and standing with me at polling stations were the same people who saw me grow up here years ago watching the plays, attending the swim meets, buying my art, uh, and just being a community for me in a place where I originally had none.

Um Allentown and the community I found here is the main reason I decided to run.

Uh and ensuring that every resident of Allentown can have that is and always will be my North Star.

Whether today is your first day here, or whether you're the seventh generation to live here, whether you're born on the hospital on 17th Street or in another country altogether, if you call Allentown home, we will serve you all the time.

I won't take too much more time.

Uh, but I want to give some special thank yous.

Linda Vega, thank you so much.

Uh, who during campaign season sat me down on her porch and asked me the tough questions.

She wasn't gonna let me off easy, but no, she shared so many just incredibly honest opinions about her time with service.

Uh, and I just knew it was a no-brainer to ask you to swear me in today, so thank you so much for that.

Uh I really want to thank my friends who are here today, uh, the voters who voted me in today.

I have so many specific gratitudes for each and every one of you.

Uh, but I don't have enough time to single you all out, so thank you so much.

Uh, and I love you all.

Uh, thank you to my newfound family and your support means so much more than you will ever know.

Um, I want to thank my mother specifically, whose work ethic showed me how to work for what you want.

No estaría gasingti.

Um and of course, my anchor, the love of my life, and the person who sees me at my lowest and helps me get up and keep moving forward.

My wife is Stephanie.

Uh, I am better because of you, and um I hope I can serve the city even with an ounce of compassion and love that you show me every day.

To my colleagues up here, it's an honor to sing uh sit amongst you, and I look forward to getting to work.

Thank you.

Mr.

Hanlan, this to the roll call, please.

Here.

Mr.

Jacker.

President.

Mr.

Ola.

Here.

Here.

Mr.

Athlene.

Here.

Here.

Santos.

Here.

President everyone's right.

Thank you, Mr.

Hanlin.

And now we're going to do the invocation, and it's going to be done by Rabbi Mosh.

Moshe Kurtz from the Congressional Congregation, Sons of Israel.

Will you mind pronouncing your name?

My apologies like that.

It's Moshe Kurtz, but actually the Yiddish pronunciation is like Meshi.

So it's really close, actually.

Okay.

My teachers will call me that.

You're good.

All right, this is working.

Can you hear me?

Very good.

All right, I'm not going to go through a million acknowledgments, but I do have to thank both Genesis Ortega and Chair outgoing Chairman Darrell Hendrix for the kind invitation.

And uh just a few weeks ago, we were actually standing in these chambers here.

We did the inaugural menorah lighting with Mayor Turk and some of the council members who are with us.

And uh we just look forward to future partnerships with the entire city of Allentown.

Um I ask that you please rise as we recite the following prayer.

Almighty God, we come before you as men and women of noble will.

And so we do not possess your infinite wisdom, yet we humbly endeavor to fulfill your mandate, as it says in Genesis, to work and to safeguard the city of Allentown, the garden which you have entrusted to us.

Oh God, you declared, as it says in Jeremiah, is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, just as the hammer breaks a stone into several fragments, so too one verse is stated by God, and from it emerge several interpretations.

Debate and difference of opinion is not a bug, but it is a feature of the human condition.

However, your sage's God elucidated that argumentation need not result in alienation.

In Psalms it states, happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

They shall t they shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

They become likened to adversaries with each other due to the intensity of their debate.

But yet they are not permitted to leave the study chambers until they express their love and their affection for each other, as the Talmud teaches.

Almighty God.

Much debate has occurred in these hallowed chambers.

And there will be, and there should be many, many more debates.

However, sha'altime sadonayosa vakesh.

There is but one thing I request of you, O Lord, that you bestow upon us and bless us with the wisdom, the patience, the resolve, and the fortitude to see that even when it may seem like we are enemies at the gate.

That is only but a temporary illusion.

For we are all in pursuit of the same fundamental goal.

Like a hammer that strikes the stone, we produce different methods.

However, we are not adversaries, but allies working together for the betterment of our neighbors for the betterment of our beloved city.

May God bless our mayor, our city council, and all who work for the betterment of the city of Allentown, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and may God bless our United States of America.

And let us say Amen.

Let's build up legislations.

Thank you.

Now let's do courtesy of the floor, please.

Okay, no cards.

So next we're gonna do the organization of council.

We're gonna do the election of council president and vice president.

So I'm the acting president.

I will ask someone to make a nomination on the floor for president.

Any someone to make a nomination for president?

I'll nominate president.

Okay.

Okay, so it's time to vote.

Okay.

Mr.

Napoli is council president.

Ms.

Appa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Yes.

Ms.

Moda?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Yes.

And Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Okay.

Congratulations.

Okay, we'll get we'll explain the president.

It's okay.

No problem.

We'll also continue this meeting forward with uh nominations for vice president.

Um so I'll take nominations for vice president, please.

I'll nominate Cynthia Moda for uh vice president.

Okay, we have a nomination for Miss Cynthia Moto.

Okay, for uh Miss Mohamed for Vice President.

Uh Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Yes.

Miss Mota.

Yes.

Napoli.

Yes.

Santos.

Yes.

And Ms.

Apple.

Yes.

Right.

Yes, you can.

I'll make a some brief remarks.

First and foremost, I want to thank all my colleagues who um supported me and also who have believed in my leadership.

I will tell you I will not let you down, and I'm anxious to show all of you, our um our city staff, and all of our residents and taxpayers, how much good the city council can do in 2026.

So I'm really, really excited.

Um I'm also um looking forward to working with um Miss with Vice President Cynthia Mota.

Uh her and I uh served in leadership two years ago, and uh I learned a lot from her.

And um her experience and her passion for this community will only help us get more of what we want done and more accomplished in 2026.

So I'm really excited to work with her, and I'm looking forward.

I'm also looking forward to working with all of my colleagues.

We have a lot of work to do.

And one thing I want to do is set a new standard, new tone for our public meetings.

And I also want to put more of an emphasis with all of your help on creating more legislation that creates a positive impact for this community.

So definitely more legislation coming out of us, and very excited to see what we can accomplish.

Congratulations to both of you.

And uh also like to welcome our new colleagues, uh, Mr.

Jeremy Binder and Christian Pungo.

Um, congratulations to both of you.

And um again, looking forward to 2026.

Uh, we have a lot of work to do, and tonight's the night to celebrate.

Tomorrow we get to work.

Thank you, everyone.

Okay, and any remarks from uh Mayor Turk?

Thank you.

I'm excited.

The spirit of levity is phenomenal.

It feels good.

I'm happy to hear you say that we're here to celebrate.

Um it is a celebration.

I want to note uh we had there's a ton of people that we should recognize in the room today, but I just want to note two people who did have to step out.

Uh, the recently uh sworn in new county executive for Lehigh County, Josh Siegel was here a moment ago along with uh city or Lehigh County Commissioner Jeff Brace, and that also give affords me the opportunity to make a brief joke.

I'm going to be shorter than uh County Executive Siegel in my remarks tonight.

Uh but the bar is pretty low because I think Josh went on for like 22 minutes or something today.

So I'll I'll try to be brief.

Uh, four years ago, I spent my first day as mayor running from building to building and thanking the employees of the city of Allentown.

I was a grateful but naive resident of the city with a big job ahead of me.

Shaking the hands of police and public works employees, finance team, and firefighters, I felt a sense of excitement for our shared future.

And I'm sure that the traffic control and tech support folks alike appreciated that thanks, but they probably wondered what kind of mayor is he going to be.

Today, I started the first day of my second term, again thanking our city employees.

The Naivetay is gone.

After four years as mayor, I have a new profound sense of gratitude for the incredible public servants that I work alongside every single day.

Through crisis and triumph, they've shown me a lot and they've taught me how important it is to show up.

And four years later, paramedics and paralegals, registered nurses and rec specialists, housing inspectors, and human resource generalists all know what kind of mayor I am.

I'm a mayor who starts every day with energy and passion to serve the residents of the city of Allentown.

I'm a mayor who celebrates with our people when we succeed, and who grieves with our community when we lose.

We're going to need partners like Abby Goldfarb to show up with a helping hand.

We're going to need moms like Jeannie Garcia to show up for peace.

We're going to need artists like Kyle Edwards to show up and bring us together for a purpose.

We're going to going to need residents like Aitan Rudsky, Adrian Meiras, and Isak Ramos to show up, along with all those laughing kids that you heard in the hallway earlier to show up for the future of Allentown.

We're going to need mentors like Tony Hanna and Nidia Ramos and Crystal Viras Benton to guide those young people.

We're going to need fellow public servants like Josh, who just stepped away, and Andrew Brown Noel and Jeff Brace and Anna Tiburcio to join us all in service to Allentonians.

And we're definitely going to need Tony Ionelli and Carol Burks to show up to bring business and education together here in Allentown.

And I can say with certainty that we're going to need a city council and a mayor to be on the same page every day showing up for our residents.

Well, actually, I want to take a moment and thank Councilman Hendricks and did Councilman Zuckel step out, step out.

There you go.

And Councilman Zukal for your service.

We didn't always agree, but I knew that I could always talk to you both.

And I appreciate your service to our city, not just the city council people, but as police officers for years.

You set a standard for what it means to serve the public of the city of Allentown, and I'm grateful to you for that service.

So I'm thanking you all in advance for what I'm about to ask.

And I want to thank again our incredible employees.

I'm grateful to be joined by so many of them tonight.

I want to especially mention my chief of staff hiding in the back somewhere, Michaela Boyer, my special assistant in the mayor's office, Jay Lopez, the chief of police, Charles Roca, our chief of fire, Freddie Augusto, DC D director, Vicky Kissler, Director of Parks and Recreation, Mandy Tolino, Director of IT, Jerry Anthony, and former city council person, somebody who deeply understands public service, and current human resources director for the city of Allentown, Marty Velasquez.

Thank you all.

Now, before I finish, I have to tell you what kind of man I am.

I'm a partner who is most proud to stand beside Karen, without whom none of this is possible.

And I'm a father whose hope for the future lies not only in the amazing children of the city of Allentown, but in my children, Mel, who's in Belize right now, and Margo and Riley.

We've all done a lot of good work together over the past four years here in Allentown, but we've only just begun.

There's a lot of future ahead of us.

Thank you, Tony, Shukran, everybody.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Okay, uh, any other remarks uh from my colleagues before we adjourn.

Okay, thanks again, everyone.

Happy New Year, and um we'll join this meeting.

Thank you.

Oh, hey everyone, real quick.

We just have one quick announcement.

One brief one quick announcement, everyone.

If anyone has a chaser of parking, we can pay for your parking with Mike Hamlin.