Thank you.

Under individual with liberty and justice.

Okay, we'll get started with a roll call, please.

Miss Appba.

Mr.

Here.

Mr.

Bender.

Present.

Ms.

Santos.

Here.

And Ms.

Girllock.

Here.

Mr.

President, six people are here to get a quantum.

Okay.

Thank you.

So we're going to start with courtesy of floor.

We're now going to take courtesy to the floor for any public comment that's not related to any agenda items on this evening's agenda.

Or comments tonight during courtesy of floor will be forwarded to the appropriate departments or entities, and someone will follow up either privately or join a future city council meeting with outcomes.

Do we have any courtesy of the floor?

Mrs.

Collar.

Becky go first.

Becky, go first.

Okay, Becky Kiss.

That's my girl.

She's not more not.

Hello, Becky Kess, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I am here because I was not able to attend the budget meeting.

But I did listen to some of the ideas that you had, and I think they were pretty good.

However, something I did not hear during that budget meeting was renegotiating the contract with the parking authority.

So currently the parking authority maintains approximately 1,500 metered spaces on the streets in the city of Allentown, which brings in approximately 1.1 million dollars just from those meters.

Then from tickets, the parking authority brings in approximately 7.5 million dollars.

And then I did some more digging, and I noticed that Philadelphia receives 108 million dollars from their parking.

So I'm not positive about that.

So just wanted to throw it out there that possibly the parking authority legislation could be re-looked at.

Sorry.

The DC Conference of Mayors is a dues-based organization based on the number of residents you have in the city.

So we pay 11,000 a year for him to go and talk to other mayors in the area, and I'm curious what kind of what we're getting from it as taxpayers, because these are decent numbers here.

Um and considering we had uh considerable snowstorm last week.

Um I'm just curious where all this money is going.

Thank you.

Uh Mrs.

Collar.

Miss, please.

Ms.

Collar.

We went through that with Daryl now.

Betty Coller, 2212 West Tillman Street.

I just wanted to bring to your attention that the Reading Parking Authority, which I've been told is different than Allentown, which doesn't matter.

They get 1.25 million.

Actually, they originally got 1.7 in 2023 or 2021 it began when the parking funds were increased.

And they just gave them a break because of their debt.

They get 1.25 million now.

And we got a whopping 480 dollars to the city of Allentown.

So I want to reiterate what Ms.

Kiss said that we really need to think about.

I don't know who's on the board now.

You might want to bring this up at a board meeting.

Because they they do need to re re um look at this.

And I did send something to Michael, which is Reading's agreement, so you can read over it and see if it could be something we that we could implement here.

Because 408, that's like a slap in the face.

I mean, really.

And also what's up with the snow removal?

The city is a mess.

There's like two streets that are cleaned, Fifth Street and Hamilton going past here.

That's about it.

You drive anywhere else, and it is a nightmare.

I know that the mayor suspended the removal over the weekend.

I don't know why.

We gave him his four percent increase.

I want to see that it's going to something other than his cronies.

So if we could I don't know what you guys have to do with snow removal.

We can forward that to that department.

And um we will forward it to the streets department and it's not it's not the workers, you know it's not the workers to manage.

But I mean it's it's ridiculous.

There's nowhere to park.

I I live on Tillman Street, which is a emergency route, and the snow is like four feet out from the sidewalk.

Still, this is two weeks after the storm.

Two freaking weeks.

So I don't know where we're working on now.

Do you guys know where they're working now?

I don't.

Yeah.

Do you know where?

Um so we can get we can have someone get back to you with that information.

I would really appreciate somebody getting back because it's a nightmare.

It took me 25 minutes to get from Fifth Street, Fifth and Chu, home the other day, because the streets are where there's two lanes, there's no longer two lanes because the snow is out to here.

It's ridiculous.

Go with it somewhere, there's somewhere to go through it.

We got lots of big parks and big parking lots we could go.

So can't we do something about it?

It really is a nightmare driving around the city.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

AJ from Turner Street.

I didn't expect to be going after that.

Um so my name is uh AJ Nee.

I'm a homeowner and former parking enforcement officer, and I actually came to speak in support of the parking authority.

Um at the last at last city council meeting and at many meetings here, parking issues remain a consistent topic, and often frustration is aimed at the APA claiming they're maybe targeting certain people or making our city less desirable.

But as a former APA officer, I just wanted to express to everyone here that through the entire training process and and working as an officer there, never once was I asked to meet a quota or collect revenue or target any individual or vehicle.

Um I can say with absolute certainty that every every day APA works to make our our city safer and more accessible, and every ticket we wrote was about safety and accessibility.

Um there's so much more I say on that, but three minutes is not enough, so I can come back to future meetings.

Um to address some specific topics, three of them.

Um I heard a complaint at the last meeting about uh street cleaning um and someone receiving a ticket after the street cleaner came through, and just wanted to express that it's important for people to understand that um there are other things that need to be done during those periods uh for you know some garbage collection, line painting, tree maintenance, and a perfect example right now is snow removal.

So it's a it's a very good comment that brought up the streets are a mess.

I've noticed that um streets has done a great job clearing streets that aren't currently parked up.

So this is a very good example of uh why that enforcement is so helpful to keep our city functioning.

Um and I I do think we made maybe made a mistake in in suspending that enforcement for the week after the storm because it would have been more helpful to clear those streets.

Um the solution discussed at the last meeting to place enforcement in front of street cleaners, uh, would just kind of slow down the the whole process.

Um so I would argue that uh a more effective measure might be to remove the word street cleaning from the signs and just express to residents that that two-hour period is an important period not to park in order to um help keep our streets uh clean and organized and reset everything.

Um another comment I wanted to address is uh was a statement that I heard that we need more parking in Allentown.

Um I actually wholeheartedly disagree.

Uh our urban areas were built before the car was invented.

There are very walkable and decent transit access, and we're blessed with the network of smaller trees that other cities are smaller streets that other cities would kill for.

Um so this is not a problem that we can build our way out of.

If we try to add enough parking, we'll just destroy our city in the process.

Uh it's a simple geometry issue more than anything.

Uh I would implore this council to instead go into every conversation on parking with an understanding that not everyone in Allentown owns a car, not everyone needs to own a car, and even if people do own cars, uh they don't have the right to park anywhere and everywhere because parking illegally does hurt other residents, and we get lots of calls where people are trapped in their houses because someone parked in front of their street.

Um, that it can be dangerous.

Um, lastly, a comment I heard at the last meeting was what do you want us to do from from someone who was frustrated with parking?

And I think that is the root of the issue.

Um, and one of the things I spent most of my time communicating with residents about when I was out doing enforcement.

We need to do a better job of explaining what people should be doing rather than what they shouldn't be doing.

We shouldn't be ticketing our way out of this, and and APA officers do everything to avoid a ticket, but I do think as a city we do a pretty bad job of not explaining what people should be doing.

Uh, there are solutions to these problems, and then um, but it takes some reasonable, rational discussion to balance needs, wants, and demands, and I look forward to discussing some of those um alternate solutions that balance those needs of future meetings.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

Any others?

Uh curtis?

Okay.

All right, we're gonna move along to uh contract approvals.

Uh we'll start with R4.

R4 is an authorization for a contract with Bowman Consulting Group in the amount of 379,369 dollars and ninety uh three cents for design services to upgrade five outdated traffic signals.

Okay, thank you.

And we have uh Miss McNeil present.

Yes, this was this was done as RFP 2025-54, 17th Street signal improvement project.

It was advertised on public purchase on November 19th, 2025.

There was a public bid opening on December 17th, 2025.

The city received three proposals.

An evaluation team consisting of three members conducted both technical and cost evaluations.

Proposals were evaluated based on IBE preference, project understanding and approach, experience, qualifications, timeline, references, and cost.

After evaluating the proposals, the evaluation committee decided to move forward with oral presentations with the top two scoring firms.

The committee is recommending award to the highest scored vendor Bowman Consulting Group.

Okay, thank you.

Um questions or comments from the dais.

And any questions or comments from the public?

Okay.

Can you call a vote, please?

Ms.

Appa.

Yes.

Mr.

Binder?

Yes.

Ms.

Gerlock?

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

President 6A's and no days.

Okay, on to R5.

R5 is an authorization for a contract with Michael Baker in the amount of 215,733 to provide design and consulting services for the safe streets and roads program.

Okay.

This was done as RFP 2025-55 safe streets and roads for all demonstration project.

It was advertised on public purchase on November 25th, 2025.

There was a public bid opening on December 23rd, 2025.

The city received two proposals.

An evaluation team consisting of five members conducted both technical and cost evaluations.

Proposals were evaluated based on IDE preference, project understanding, approach, experience, qualifications, timeline, references, and cost.

After evaluating the proposals, the evaluation committee decided not to move forward with oral presentations.

The committee is recommending award to the highest scored vendor, Michael Baker International.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions or comments from the DIES?

Any anything from the public on R5?

Okay.

And call the vote, please.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Ms.

Gerlock.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

And Ms.

Affa.

Yes.

Ms.

President have six years and no nays.

Okay.

Moving along.

R6.

R6 is an authorization for a single source contract with Microsoft in the amount of 110,500 to provide the ability for city staff to open tickets directly with Microsoft.

And it's in background, Ms.

McNeil.

National service purchase over 10,000 dollars, which requires council approval.

And it was done as a single source procurement as the city is fully integrated with Microsoft 365.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the Diaz?

Any questions or comments from the public?

Okay.

Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Affa.

Yes.

And Miss Mr.

Binder.

Yes.

Ms.

President has six years and no days.

Okay.

R7.

R7 is an authorization for a contract with Fisher and Sun Company, Genesis Turf Grass, Roots, TERF Products, Harold's LLC, Nutrient Solutions, and City on Landscape Supply Services at unit prices identified in the bid tabulations.

Okay.

Ms.

McNeil.

This was done as bid number 2025-53, TURF Chemicals 2026.

It was advertised on public purchase on November 18th, 2025.

Public opening was held on December 16th, 2025.

The city received seven bids.

One was rejected due to not including their bid bond.

Was determined to award to all six responsive vendors for various parts of the contract.

Okay, thank you.

Um any questions or comments from my colleagues?

Any questions or comments from the public?

Okay.

Can you call the vote, please?

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Affa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

And Ms.

Gerloch.

Yes.

Ms.

President six years and no days.

Okay.

And last one, R8.

R8 are uh various purchase of uh services off of a state contract and co stars.

Okay.

Ms.

Ms.

McNeil.

They are just being procured through PA coast PA state contract and co-stars.

Okay.

Uh any questions or comments from my colleagues or the public.

And we'll call the vote.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Affa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Ms.

Gerlock?

Yes.

And Mr.

Bongo.

Yes.

Ms.

President have six years and no nays.

Okay, thank you.

We'll move to minutes of previous meetings starting December 30th, 2025.

Okay, on the first set of minutes, Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

Affa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Ms.

Gerlock?

Yes.

Mr.

Bungo?

Yes.

And Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Ms.

President F six YA's and no nays.

Okay.

And next is uh minutes January 13th, 2026, special meeting.

Ms.

Affa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Ms.

Gerloch?

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

President have six years and no nays.

Thank you.

Um some communications.

Um, City Council received the 2025 Allentown City Planning Commission annual report from Jennifer Gomez, the director of Bureau of Planning and Zoning.

The PA Municipal Planning Code requires the planning commission to maintain a full record of its activities and submit a written annual report to the governing body.

That report is an attachment to the agenda on the website.

Also, for uh visitors to city council meetings, we encourage you to park in the government deck next door and to see our clerk, Mr.

Hanlon, for a voucher to pay for your parking.

Uh any old business.

Okay, we'll move to reports.

Um there is a public hearing.

Uh City Council received a request for the transfer of a liquor license number R-21060 to the Felix Restaurant LLC 395 South Cedar Crest Boulevard.

We have scheduled a public hearing on March 4th at 6 p.m.

to take public testimony on the transfer.

The resolution will be on the council meeting as follows at 6 30 p.m.

to allow city council to approve or disapprove the transfer.

Next up, uh budget and finance, Chair Pungo.

The budget and finance committee met on January 28th and reviewed the budget process, um finance reports and committee, the committee's priorities.

Uh the next meeting is actually scheduled for February 25th at 5:30.

Currently, the agenda will include a review of the monthly financial reports and a continuation of our review of the budget process.

Okay, thank you.

Uh next up, community and economic development, Chair Gerlock.

Uh yes, thank you.

Uh the committee met this evening.

Uh we discussed the encampment enclosure um bill.

The next meeting is scheduled for February 18th at 5:30 p.m.

Uh to review Bill 8.

Um, and also we'll talk about some priorities that evening too.

Thank you.

And human resources administration appointments, uh, Chair Bender.

The human relationship um human resources administration and appointments committee met on January 28th at 5:30 to review committee priorities and review a bill that's on tonight's agenda.

Um there are no future meetings scheduled at this time.

Okay, and moving along parts and recreation, Chair Santos.

Thanks.

The committee met this evening.

We forwarded two items to the full council, and the next meeting is not yet scheduled.

Okay, and uh public safety, Chair Afa.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The uh committee has not met since the last council meeting.

There are no future meetings scheduled.

Thank you.

Uh public works is Chair Moda.

Um, she's absent this evening, but the committee has not met since the last council meeting.

There are no future meetings scheduled at this time.

And lastly, uh rules, chambers, intergovernmental relations and strategy.

Uh this committee has not met since the last council meeting.

There is a meeting scheduled for March 5th at 6 p.m.

It will be a public workshop meeting uh with Lehigh County.

Um moving along to controls report, Mr.

Glazier.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I have a report for you this evening, which is um accounts payable weekly check review from um January 3rd, 2026 to 130, 2026.

This report was just published today.

Um the number of checks we reviewed in this period was 353.

The dollar amount that we reviewed was um a little bit over 6.1 million dollars.

There were three wires in that time period for 171,000, and nine manual checks for it a little bit under 100,000.

Um an employee of the city is gonna take a trip, you need to fill out a number of forms.

One is a TRA asking for permission, and the second one is a TER detailing your expenses, and TERs need to be filed within five working days.

Uh a department took a whopping 181 days to file it, and department was advised and reminded that they needed to follow the city's travel requirements.

Um the dollar amounts and everything on the TER were correct.

Um we noted two overpayments in the garage, one for five dollars and thirty-eight cents, one for 109.95 cents.

Um instance the vendor issued a refund, and the second instance the check was voided.

Um there were only two instances of um uh of checks having an incorrect expense account, and that's probably a record in terms of how low it was.

So that's good to see.

And these were not necessarily garden variety questions, they were things that took a little bit of thought.

Um, but the departments were advised and journal entries were made.

Um there were 21 instances where invoices were not paid within a 60-day window.

The city does not have in its aims a um a date or a number of days that constitutes what late payment is.

Um, so we have picked the number of 60 days, which is really pretty lenient.

Um, and there were 21 invoices that fell afoul of that.

All the bureaus were advised of the issues, the checks were released, and um all the departments responded with a reason as to why these were paid late.

And there were two instances of um checks where the proper documentation was not attached within Munis.

The Bureau's revised of the issue, and the proper documentation was scanned in, and the checks were released.

And that's my report, Mr.

President.

All right.

Thank you to our controller.

Just a quick question.

Go ahead and start.

So I'm just reading through, and I'm not going to name the department.

You don't uh I tend not to.

Yeah, I I noticed, and uh, I won't add it either.

But just it seems like sometimes it's it's a reoccurring department.

What does training like what what could help uh maybe the staff within that department um not continue to um you know make some of these these these mistakes?

It says that the uh there isn't a response from the one department that has the highest number of incidences.

Um so I mean I you know is there's a way to like alleviate this in the future or um that's a great question.

As you know, that what the controller does or can do is really advise.

Um occasionally we can publicly shame somebody.

We try to avoid that.

I don't really think that's good policy.

Um I think this really comes down to um better communication in terms of expectations between, for instance, purchasing and the various departments in the city.

And I will tell you, and I'll tell council and the public that I think that purchasing is really stepped up their game in terms of um communicating expectations, especially with regards to P cards and making sure that information is in on a timely matter.

Um they've had some success, but not perfect success.

Um so um that's the best I can tell you.

That might be a topic for um Mr.

Napoli's committee and you know, administration to to take up.

But good question.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you.

You're welcome.

Um also do you want to mention you have an event coming up?

Um, I think next week.

Sure, on the 11th.

Yep.

Um, and the controller's office has invited uh all the departments to meet here in city council chambers to go over what we do, how we do it, why it's important, uh and we're gonna go over things like you know, the charts of account, and everybody gets their own personalized chart of account to take um I know it's in the big budget book, but this makes it easy.

Um we've done this in the past.

Um, and we thought about doing it last year and or the year before, but with Munis coming in, we didn't want to put too much on people's plates.

So we're we're doing it this year.

Uh you guys are all welcome.

It's the 11th at nine o'clock.

Um I might do, depending on council's interests, a uh a brief presentation workshop one evening at some point in the future, so that you guys and the public gets a better understanding of some of the things that we do and what we look for and why it's important for proper and efficiency operation.

Thank you for the question, sir.

Yep.

Okay.

Uh moving along, uh, the mayor has not submitted any report.

Um or it has been previous practice that the mayor needed to submit a report prior to saying anything in the council meeting.

I don't know if that's gonna continue under your leadership, Mr.

President.

I'm happy to provide a brief uh update on a couple of items if you're okay.

If you're interested in a an ad hoc report.

Um yeah, we'll do that we'll do that tonight and we'll come up with a plan going forward.

Uh just so really quickly, um, in the past month and kind of on the month of January.

Uh I'm report on the happenings of the mayor's office.

I was grateful to meet with four of seven members of city council to talk about what uh goals look like for the year ahead and for the four years ahead.

And I look forward to meeting with the city council members that I was not able to sit down with individually.

I was incredibly happy to see six of our seven city council members show up for the Allentown State of the City address what feels like a month ago at this point, but I think it was a week ago.

Um incredible good turnout uh from the community and gave me an opportunity to share uh my observations on the city of Allentown with the members of council.

The long story short on the state of the city is that we're in good shape.

We've got a long way to go to be in great shape.

Uh the city's in good uh general condition, a very good financial condition, and the future is bright.

Um I know that uh Mark Shada will be providing a snow update uh or kind of a post-mortem of our cleanup response to this most recent storm, winter storm Fern, I believe that's scheduled for the first meeting in March.

Um so he'll he's working to prepare a complete analysis of the lead up to the storm, the storm itself, and our cleanup operations.

Um I do want to provide you at with a what's going on right now uh answer.

We are continuing snow removal operations in district nine.

So there are 30 trucks working around the clock to remove snow from streets from fourth to 12th and from union to two street.

So that includes a lot of our denser neighborhoods.

Removal operations are challenging.

I think as Mr.

Jordan mentioned, when cars are parked in the street, uh it complicates our ability to remove snow from that side of the box.

So uh getting residents to uh come to comply with the um no parking regulations on street cleaning sides is important.

Um those operations will continue.

We do not have the equipment or the capacity to remove snow from the entire city uh when conditions persist like this.

But Mark will give you the the full detail.

The good news is that looking ahead, we we have above freezing temperatures uh at least forecast for next week.

Uh although unfortunately it looks like right now the forecast calls for a little more snow uh next week.

But Mark will be providing from public works will be providing a full update to you.

Thank you.

Thanks for the update.

Uh moving along, uh ordinances for final passage.

Uh we'll start with bill three.

Bill three amends the 2026 general fund budget to accept 50,000 and grant funding from the Bloomberg philanthropies through John Hopkins University for the Love Your Block grant.

Okay.

And do we have any anything from the administration on this?

Um I have some information.

I I think most of that was provided in committee, and I believe the bill was forwarded favorably.

Um we are this has been uh a good thing for our city for building community engagement.

The first phase of the Love Your Bock grant was focused on Franklin Park.

Uh some of the funding went to staff time for a part-time employee and a Vista employee.

Uh, some of the funding went to do mini projects in collaboration with a couple different community-based organizations.

Phase two uh will fund additional staff time around neighborhood engagement.

The focus is going to shift to the first and sixth ward.

The purpose of the program is to build community engagement with neighbors.

Uh, there'll be a more substantial investment uh through this funding in projects.

So the projects will be focused on vacant lots in the first and sixth ward, and we'll also focus on uh improving uh porches as gathering places for our neighbors.

Um so we're looking forward to uh active collaboration with city council to help get these dollars uh into public improvements around the first and sixth ward and continue the work that we're doing in Franklin Park as well.

Okay, thank you.

And uh Chair Binder, this was your committee.

Anything you like to Yeah, thank you.

Um so yes, this was as the mayor stated forward uh forwarded favorably.

I did want to uh say thank you to Mr.

Daniels for reaching out.

Um answered a lot of my questions that I had from the previous committee meeting, and it was very, very helpful.

So thank you.

Okay.

Uh any other questions or comments from the dies.

Any questions or comments from the public regarding Bill three?

Okay.

Uh, can you call the vote, Ms.

Allen?

Uh Ms.

Apppa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Ms.

Girllock?

Yes.

Mr.

Pongo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have 608s and no names.

Okay, thanks.

Bill 4.

Bill 4 amends the 2026 general fund budget to provide for supplemental appropriation of 3,124 and 20 cents from HP construction for the city providing electrical hookup for the Bulbert Spritch Project.

Okay, and this was uh in Chair Santos committee this evening.

Yes, and it was forwarded favorably.

Okay, great.

And any uh questions or comments from my colleagues?

Or from the public.

Okay, bill four vote.

Mr.

Binder?

Yes.

Ms.

Girlak, yes, Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

And Ms.

Appa.

Yes.

Okay, thanks.

On to Bill 5.

Bill 5 amends the 2026 general flood budget to provide for supplemental appropriation of $2,000 from uh DLNHC as part of the Lehigh Valley Greenways Implementation Block grant.

Okay.

And this was also your committee, Miss Santos.

Yep, and it was also forwarded favorably today.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from colleagues?

Or the public.

Okay.

Can you call above, please?

Ms.

Girlot.

Yes.

Mr.

Pongo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Affa.

Yes.

And Mr.

Binder.

Yes.

Mr.

President have six years no natives.

Okay.

On our consent agenda, we have three items R9, R 10, and R11.

R9 is a sewage planning module for 1324 South Howard Street.

R 10 is the appointment of Kate Hartney to the Planning Commission.

And R11 is the appointment of Krista Brown Lee to the Human Relations Commission.

Okay.

Any questions or comments?

Go ahead, Ms.

Garlock.

Just want to make sure we're all good here.

With the two appointees to the various commissions, there's no sort of conflict of interest.

I just see a familiar last name.

Want to make sure it's not like a family member and there's some sort of there's no relation to the the Hartney, Mark Hartney's our deputy director of community and economic development, and there's no relation.

I think Kate can attest to that.

Okay.

That you know of.

Okay.

Cool we have Valley.

All right.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Um, thanks for clarifying.

Of course.

Um any other questions or comments regarding um these appointments and the sewage planning module.

Any questions or comments from the public?

Okay, we'll call the vote.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Affa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

And Ms.

Gurloch.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have six years and no nays.

Great.

Thanks.

And uh we'll move on to resolutions for final passage, starting with R 12.

R 12 is a resolution of the city of Allentown that approves the Allentown Parks Plan.

Okay.

Um any questions or comments from my colleagues?

Um ahead, Mr.

Bender.

I did want to say I just thank um Director Tolino for the opportunity to meet with you and your team.

Um I met at the uh facility that's um in Lehigh Parkway.

Uh it was it was eye-opening to see the um the place where the parks department was working out of.

Um there are a lot of challenges that I witnessed firsthand in that building.

Um, I think there's a lot of work to be done, but I I I commend all of the the staff of what they've been doing, um, working through the various uh challenges in that in that facility.

So I look forward to future updates to the parks and how that uh can impact residents.

So thank you.

Thanks, Mr.

Bender.

Um go ahead, Mr.

Pungo.

Sure.

No, I again likewise just great work.

It's a very substantial document for those who maybe not had the chance to read it.

Um I just encourage everyone.

There they're still having meetings as we heard during the Parks and Rack Committee today.

We're gonna have some meetings for Franklin Park.

This is a great opportunity for people to provide their input for what you would like to see in Allen Town.

Of course, there is the plan, but you know, there's always more input necessary for the final stages of those plans, and you know I sat through a couple of those early on, and it's incredible, you know.

Like I think everyone's you know, input was taken into consideration, and it's your opportunity to mold the city and the parks that we have, so please take advantage of it.

Thank you.

Um I also very quickly, Miss Tolino, I mentioned at the committee meeting, but I want to mention it now.

The the engagement from your your team was really really good.

I I went to a few of the meetings um where you solicited feedback and and engaged with our community.

It was um very well done.

I think the fear of those fire one was really well done.

That was my favorite.

So just great job by everyone in your team and um anxious to get this to the finish line.

So thank you.

Um any questions or comments from the public on the Allentown Parks Plan?

Go ahead.

Good evening, everybody.

Uh my name is Kyle Ropsky, 528 North Burke Street.

I'm chair of Allentown's Environmental Advisory Council.

Um, speaking today in support of the resolution here affirming the passage of the parks plan as we've sort of referenced.

Uh this has been a lengthy process with a robust community engagement portion of which many of people in this room have participated in.

Um voicing my support for this.

I want to emphasize that this plan is not only a vision for recreation, it is also strategy for how Allentown prepares for the ongoing and emerging impacts of climate change as extreme heat, heavier rainfall, flooding, and other severe weather events become more frequent.

Our parks will increasingly serve as the city's first line of defense against these challenges.

Our naturalized areas and parks are where climate mitigation and adaptation happen on the ground, and this plan intentionally designs them to serve that role through commitments to expanding the tree canopy, preserving and enhancing green space, and increasing naturalized areas.

This plan helps cool neighborhoods, reduce heat-related illness, and improve air quality during extreme heat events.

By prioritizing riparian corridor restoration, floodplain protection and green infrastructure.

The plan uses parks to absorb stormwater, reduce flooding, and protect downstream neighborhoods as rainfall becomes more intense in this way.

This plan positions our parks to protect residents every day, not only as places for recreation, but as essential environmental infrastructure working on behalf of the city.

The plan recognizes parks as essential environmental infrastructure, places that manage water, store carbon, and support biodiversity.

Investments in greenways and trail connectivity will also support lower greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging alternative forms of transportation like walking and biking while improving access to nature for residents across the city by treating parks as both public spaces and climate assets.

This plan strengthens Allowtown's ability ability to respond to environmental challenges while improving quality of life today, meaning the needs of our current generation while preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

I urge your support for its passage and adoption.

Thank you.

And I'd also like to reiterate Council Person Bender's uh comments regarding the parks and recreation team.

They did an amazing job.

They attended these meetings over the course of months.

Um and I know that they're gonna do a great job in actually adopting this plan if you choose to uh pass it here tonight.

So thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Uh any other questions or comments from the public?

Okay, we'll call the vote.

Mr.

Pongo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos, yes, Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Affa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

And Ms.

Gurlock.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender F6As and no nays.

Okay.

Moving along.

Ordinances for introduction.

Uh we'll start with Bill 6.

This is a request from the administration to introduce and vote this evening in order to make some timely payments on an equipment loan.

Can I say this?

So I I goofed on the agenda.

There should be another resolution on here.

I don't have that.

Okay.

Yeah, it didn't appear.

So this is my mistake.

Okay.

And this is actually for the parks.

All right.

So you would need to make a motion to suspend the rules.

But to be clear, there's a finance question.

This is a park finance.

So this is this authorizes the submission of a formal application for funding to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation multi-multal grant.

Oh, this is in the groundskeeping.

Yep.

Yes, yes.

Thank you.

This is for the trail connection.

This is the one written.

Okay.

You can look at mine.

Okay.

All right, thanks.

Um wanted to do a quick suspension of the rules.

Yeah.

So um so we'll first start on um suspending the role.

So um we need to explain the the the resolution prior to your decision to vote to suspense.

No, exactly what we're doing.

So then we can make them the motions.

Um I I believe that the printed copy uh doesn't list the grant application as um resolution R 13, but online it does show it, which is what I'm looking at.

So I think that's what we're talking about, right?

Mike, yeah.

This is not showing it on their agenda.

Gotcha.

So um it would be really not to suspend the roles.

Oh, does it okay?

All right.

Final verdict.

Are we suspending roles or not?

Um years.

Okay, so it's it's showing up on an agenda somewhere, and it's not on mine.

Okay.

Um, so um any questions or comments from my colleagues regarding R 13.

Yeah, I can I can explain what it is too if that's helpful.

So go ahead, yeah.

It's um uh request to submit a grant to um Pennot multimodal for a connection between um Cedar Parkway and um Traxler Park.

So this was identified in the parks comprehensive plan, and the opportunity arose to submit this application, and it's a short connection, um, and it connects to a previously existing um pending investment at the corner of Parkway Boulevard and Cedar Crest.

If you're not familiar with this, this is the great like missing like the our phenomenal Tresler Park feels completely disconnected from the from Cedar Parkway, and this this would help us bridge that gap.

Okay, there are no sidewalks either, so it's very difficult.

You can't get from here to there, even though you can see it.

So this will be a great one.

We know it's a very busy road, too.

Um, thanks for the background.

Again, any uh go ahead, Mr.

Bender.

And just so uh if I'm correct, the deadline for this was the four is the 14th of this month, so it to get take advantage of this, is that correct?

Yes, exactly.

All right, thanks.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments from the public regarding R 13?

Okay.

So thank you.

We'll call the vote.

Uh Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

Appa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Ms.

Gurlock?

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

And Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

No names.

Okay.

So now we're gonna move along to ordinances for introduction.

So regarding Bill Six, um, there was a request from the administration to introduce and vote on bill six uh in order to make timely payments on an equipment loan uh through the truckler fund.

Um so bill six, Mr.

Hanlon.

Uh bill six amends the 2026 Trexler fund by authorizing a supplemental appropriation in the amount of twenty-two thousand one hundred thirty-three dollars and ten cents to the parks and recreation department to make the fifth and final payment uh towards the groundskeeping equipment loan.

This is part of the trexler operating allocation.

Okay, thank you.

Um any questions or comments regarding Bill Six.

And just to be clear, Ms.

Patel, this is all from the Truxler Fund.

Yes, correct.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the public?

Okay, go ahead.

Okay, Miss Appa.

Yes, Mr.

Bender?

Yes.

Ms.

Gerlock?

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo?

Yes.

Ms.

Santos, yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President's 60s and no names.

Okay.

And on to Bill 7.

R7 amends the 2020 risk fund by transferring 1,210,000 from the general fund unappropriate balance to the risk fund for the payment of health care claims, drug prescription benefits, and other employee medical costs for the remainder of the year.

This has the same situation as bill six.

Okay.

Okay.

Um anything from the administration on on bill seven.

Um, yes, thank you.

Um so um I have come to you uh twice before um for our risk fund health care expenditures are coming in much higher than what we had expected.

So we are already year to date at 32.4 million uh for health care expenditures, and we are requesting um we have a few more invoices that came um after the year was over, and the total is 1.2 million, and that's why I am in front of you today to request to increase the budget.

Okay.

Uh any questions or comments from colleagues?

Uh go ahead, Mr.

Pungo.

Sure thing.

Uh Director Patel, so this uh increase comes from the I guess anything that was above and beyond the general fund balance from last year that is supporting this, correct?

Yes, correct.

That's my question.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments from the public regarding bill seven?

Okay.

Can you call the vote, please?

Ms.

Gerlock.

Yes, Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos?

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

Ms.

Appa?

Yes.

And Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Mr.

President F68 no.

Okay, last one, Bill Eight.

Bill 8 amends uh general legislation, chapter 400 noise, section 4001 definition revising the definition of zoning classifications and section 406 sound uh levels by re receiving land use, revising table one receiving land use to be consistent with the zoning classifications within chapter 660 of the zoning code that was recently adopted.

Okay, sounds good.

Uh see here and any any comments from the administration on this uh I think this is just a house clean housekeeping minor cleanup uh that we can discuss in greater detail during committee.

Fair enough.

Okay.

Um so we're gonna refer this to uh community and economic development committee, Ms.

Lock's committee.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Okay, there's no resolutions for introduction.

Um new business.

We covered our meetings that are upcoming.

Anything good in welfare?

And we'll adjourn this meeting.

Thank you.

There's no public comments or thoughts about anything open that we have concerned about.

Um we did have courtesy of the floor um earlier in the meeting.

Unfortunately, that was that's passed.

Oh, okay.

Um sorry at the end.

I was saying other meetings and it's okay.

Yeah, we covered that at 6 30.

I'm just concerned about the people who are outside intense.

I'm one of them.

And it's gonna be below freezing for the next I don't know nine days.

I'm asking that you think about really in if it was a posing an emergency situation because this is a US life.

People did die.

People are dying around the country.

Over in in New Jersey and town server, somebody died in their car because they ran out of gas.

This is a serious issue, and we need to get to one side right now.

You can for the why.

No, okay.

I have a dog, sorry.

She's my surgeon, but they also they always look back on that.