Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting - February 4, 2026
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Parks and Recreation Committee Meeting
On February 4, 2026, the Allentown Parks and Recreation Committee met to review two supplemental appropriations for parks projects and receive departmental updates. Both proposed bills were moved favorably to full council.
Discussion Items
- Bill 5 – DLNHC Grant for Jordan Meadows Park Water Fountain Upgrade: The committee considered a $2,000 supplemental appropriation from the Delaware Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (DLNHC) Lehigh Valley Greenways Implementation Block Grant. Parks staff explained the funds will upgrade the existing water fountain to a bottle filling station at Jordan Meadows Park.
- Bill 4 – H&P Construction Invoice for Bogert’s Bridge Electrical Hookup: The committee reviewed a $3,124.20 supplemental appropriation from H&P Construction, Inc. This reimbursement covers the cost of city staff performing specialized electrical work for the Bogert’s Bridge project, avoiding contractor expenses.
Updates from Parks and Recreation
- Seasonal Hiring: Positions (lifeguards, summer playground interns, laborers) are now posted on the city website. Recruitment is underway for a team starting in late May/early June.
- All-Star Basketball Game: Scheduled for February 21, 2026, at Dieruff High School, aiming to celebrate community involvement.
- Franklin Park Planning: The first of three community input meetings will be held on February 26, 2026, at a local church. Additional meetings in March and April will refine the park design, with completion expected by mid-summer.
Key Outcomes
- Both Bill 5 and Bill 4 were moved favorably to full council by unanimous votes (motion by Binder/Pungo for Bill 5; motion by Pungo/Binder for Bill 4).
- No public comments were received.
- The meeting adjourned without further business.
Meeting Transcript
All right, everybody. Um, I would like to begin the parks and recreation committee. Let the record show that my committee members, Mr. Pungo, Mr. Binder are present, and we have two items on the agenda today. Uh Mike, will you read bill five, please? Uh bill five amends the 2026 general fund budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of $2,000 from the DLHC. Um state as part of the uh we have Alley Greenway project. Thank you. And Ms. Tulina, would you like to elaborate on? Sure. Uh good evening. So this is a small grant, a mini grant that they have every year, and we applied and we're able to receive funds to upgrade the water fountain to a bottle filling station and a new water fountain at Jordan uh Jordan Meadows. Thank you. Um any comments from my committee members on that or from the dais. Anything from the public all right. Um can I get a motion to move this forward favorably to council? Motion made by Mr. Binder. I'll second that. Seconded by Mr. Pungo. And with that, uh Mr. Clerk Bill 4, please. Uh that admins the 2026 general fund budget to provide for supplement appropriation of $3,124.20 cents uh from HP construction for the city uh providing electrical hookup for the Bovert's Bridge project. All right, Miss Tolino. Um so this is um another positive um influx of money to the city where the city staff were able to perform uh specialized service that then the contractor didn't have to, so the money went back to the account. Nice. Okay, any comments from my committee members. Any from the dais and any comments from the public on this. All right, seeing none can have a motion. Hall motion to push that forward. Motion by Mr. Pungo. Second by Mr. Binder, and it will move forward to full council. Um any updates for parks and rec. Sure, thank you so much for the opportunity. Just a few brief updates. Um we have our seasonal hiring positions are open and they're on the website right now. So if you are able to share that, that would be greatly appreciated. We're hiring for um lifeguards and summer playgrounds, interns, many different variety of tasks. We have laborers, so um, we're really looking forward to have a great team that starts in um at the end of May, early June, but we're already starting, so it's it's a good place to be for that. Um another date I'd ask to keep in mind is um 221. We're having an all-star basketball game where we'll have um a lot of uh residents of the community. It'll be at Deerov High School and it should be a really great celebration. So if you're interested in attending, um it should be an exciting event. Um and two upcoming or an upcoming event on February 26th, Thursday evening, is a Franklin Park um planning meeting. So we're uh meeting at the at the church, and we'll be looking at what are listening to residents to hear what they want to see in the park.
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