Everything is a good question.

Good evening.

Welcome to the public works committee meeting.

Mr.

Hanlin, please call the vote.

I mean, go uh here.

And there and thank you, Mr.

Hanlin.

So we have three bills.

Bill 10.

Uh Bill 10 amends the 2026 capital budget applied for an increase of 346, 158 dollars.

Okay, thank you.

And we have Mr.

Shatter.

Good evening.

Uh Council Person Moda, and thank you.

Uh so we received an LSA grant and amount of 346,000 dollars.

Uh this funding this evening is going into a capital account to prepare work that we're gonna be doing uh at the uh Lehigh Street and Union Street intersection.

Um there's a project there where we're doing a total redesign of that intersection.

There's currently a concrete island there, so that concrete island would be removed, and there's a traffic signal that's going to be proposed there.

So there's a whole slew of improvements that we're looking at doing at that intersection.

So this funding here this evening is just to uh accept the funds from the LSA grant that we received and put it into the capital account.

Any comments from the Dayus.

Um I have a quick question.

Regarding um improvements, uh building 21 is there.

Is there are there improvements for like pedestrian safety as part of this?

There's gonna be crosswalks.

Um there's also gonna be a pedestrian flasher and RFB flasher that's at that location, so that will help guide pedestrians and students uh crossing to and from that location.

Cool.

Yeah, after school, I mean they're all crossing there, so uh it's a it's definitely a thing.

It's it's a mess.

That intersection is very scary.

It's probably one of the most bizarre intersections we have in the city, so we're really looking forward to it.

And that's where the school is, the charter school?

That's where the building 21 is.

I'm I'm glad.

I'm glad.

I'm glad that is happening.

Um so when will this take place?

Uh so we we we applied for another grant.

It's the uh it was a Susan Wilde's grant, part of the uh community project funding grant.

We also received 1.1 million dollars from that grant.

Uh so right now, between that grant and this LSA grant, we're still short $500,000 on pursuing that project.

So we're right now we're looking at other leads and other grant opportunities to cover that shortfall.

So we're hoping within the next two years or so we'll be able to get that project underway.

Oh, two years.

Approximately, yes.

Okay.

So really quick because um maybe you have spoken about this before, but what are what are you guys planning to do?

Is it uh run around uh uh rant aroundabout?

Yeah, not at that location.

It'll be a traffic signal, so we'll eliminate the island that's in the middle of the intersection there.

It'll be a signalized intersection with ADA ramps, crosswalks, and uh pedestrian countdown infrastructure to help guide pedestrians to cross the street safely.

I wonder why they did it like that.

You know what I mean?

Because this yeah, accidents and and it it makes it really difficult for the for the children to to cross the street, you know.

Unfortunately years ago, our roads roadways were designed to get traffic in and out of the city as quickly as possible.

Um, but that mindset now has changed, and we're trying to design our roadways safer and make them more accommodating to to all road users, whether you're a pedestrian, bicyclist, uh riding a scooter, driving a bike, whatever the case may be.

We're just trying to design our roadways, make them safer for all road users.

I'm glad that because it's like um I know that they were talking that we were talking about this quite some time ago.

And the Arts Academy Charter School, they're they're gonna be very appreciative, and also building 21, because as you guys know, there's two schools right there.

Which is interesting because they weren't there 10 years ago.

So I think you know it just goes to show that uh you know we have to change with the times and we have to update, you know.

He's looking at this a little differently than 10 years ago when there weren't kids all over the all over those corners.

So yeah, good good stuff.

Definitely.

Go ahead, Mr.

Um.

So you mentioned it's until we get the rest of the funding, maybe about a year or two out.

Um as far as timeline and aligning any of this with the upgrades that they're doing there, is there any kind of cooperation with the school district and what they're doing?

Just because I know sometimes, especially as they're making their expansion there, it might change the flow of pedestrian traffic, like any cooperation there, or just this is something we have to do, so we're just doing it.

There's a little bit of cooperation.

I mean, we did they did agree to give us a foot of their right-of-way to make actually make that intersection a little bit wider and make the roadway a little bit wider.

Uh so there is some collaboration that took place between us and the school district to obtain that right away at no cost.

So to answer your question, yes, a little bit.

Thanks.

That's great to know.

Any other comments from the Dayers?

Any comments from the public?

Um, I need someone to um make a motion.

I'll make the motion to forward it alone to the council.

I need a second.

Uh I guess I'm the second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay, thank you.

Bill 18.

Bill 18 amends the 2026 capital fund budget to provide for a transfer of $55,000 from a completed capital account for the redesign of traffic signal upgrades at 17th and London Street, 17th and Turner Street, 17th and 2th Street, and 17th and Walnut Street intersections.

This project was mostly funded through the multimodal transportation fund grant, and this will transfer the unused funds from a completed capital project to correct account for these services.

Okay, can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Okay, so it with in this instance here, it's another instance where we're a little bit short of funding on from a grant that we received.

Uh, we received 250,000 from an MTF D C E D grant uh to do the design work at the four intersections along the 17th Street corridor.

Uh that's 17th and Linden, 17th and Turner, 17th and Chu, and 17th and Walnut Street.

Unfortunately, we were 55,000 short to complete the design work that's needed before we could put that project out to bid for construction.

Uh, luckily enough that we did have the funding available in one of our older capital accounts.

So we're transferring the funding from a completed capital project to this account so we could do the design to move forward with that process.

Okay.

So when will this one take place?

This one is probably for construction.

We're gonna start the design work immediately.

It takes about six months to a year to complete the design, so construction probably two years out.

Okay.

Any comments from the dias?

Sure.

Go ahead, Mr.

Bong.

So the 55,000 came from an unused pot.

Is are there is there is that pot at this point depleted, or is there additional funding for any of the other projects?

So you know, I mean, if you don't know, that's fine.

I'm just wondering.

No, so the the funding came from two capital projects that were already completed and closed out.

It's just that there was leftover funding there.

So we're just doing a little bit of house cleaning and transferring the funding over.

Okay.

Okay, go go go ahead, Mr.

Brender.

Yeah, so I don't know the exact plan, but I do believe there was a plan around that area to do bike lanes or to change the way that the traffic patterns were.

So my only question is is this taking to account those changes?

Not that we're doing an intersection, then they're gonna go through the process of trying to change that.

I don't know if this was the intersection or not, though.

No, this isn't the intersection of so what with these proposed four intersections is gonna tie in the overall 17th Street corridor.

Okay, uh, these four intersections currently don't have the uh the emergency preemption and the GPS devices where if there's an emergency or emergency response vehicles have uh a device equipped in their vehicle where it speaks to that traffic signal and adjust the timing of the traffic signal to go in their favor.

So as they're traveling to emergencies, these four intersections will kind of complete that entire corridor.

Okay, so it's not a physical change, it's more the the tech that's on the um it's some equipment changes and there the uh current up uh infrastructure will also be updated as well.

So there'll be updated traffic signals with the retro reflective back plates and new pedestrian countdowns and crosswalks and ADA ramps.

Okay, thanks.

Any other comments from the Dayers?

Yeah, um, is there an opportunity to you know with newer equipment to time it so that you have a high school there and you have a hospital, like to maybe give pedestrians like a five-second head start so that you know it seems like there's a lot of traffic moving around and maybe giving five seconds where everyone's still and and someone can cross.

Is that an option?

Uh absolutely that that's something that we would have to include on our permit application with PENDOP.

Um so we between the city and the pen and pendul, we could certainly work on what those lead pedestrian intervals should be.

Uh given that there's two schools within close proximity there.

I'm hoping that we could at least give uh our pedestrians at least a five-second head time to get into the intersection.

Are we are you able to do that?

And then not have it do it over the summer.

Like is it there's a technology there that you can actually take three months off from that?

That part, yeah, that that part we can it's just a matter of redoing our permit at those intersections.

So that's something that we could certainly work with Pend out and doing.

Cool, thank you.

Okay.

Any comments from the public?

Okay, no comments from the public.

Okay, um I need someone to make a motion.

I'll make a motion to forward to council.

I will second the motion.

Those aye.

I agree.

Aye, okay.

Uh so that will be that will be going in front of Council Full Council.

Okay, Bill 19.

Bill 19 amends the 2026 capital fund budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of 55,295 and 39 cents.

This was the result of payment in lieu of tree plannings from the Allentown School District, QR3 LLC 309 East Hamilton Street, LLC, the waterfront development corp, North Street, North Sixth Street properties, OPLP, executive education charter school, and East Penn properties LP.

Funds will be used for the purchase of new street trees.

Okay.

So this ordinance this evening is to accept that funding to do tree plantings uh across the city.

Uh anytime there's a new land development, uh, in this instance here, we have five five different pro locations where there is a land development, something that was constructed new.

Um in lieu of a tree planting at these locations, what they do is they give the city funding to do a tree planting in other areas of the city.

Um development process for every 40 feet of property that you have that abuts a right of way, part of our process requires for a tree to be to be planted.

In most instances, um there's obstructions that are usually in the way, whether it be overhead utilities or underground utilities where a tree can't be planted.

Uh that those are the instances where these developers will give the city money since they can't plant a tree on that property, they'll give the city the funding, and then we'll plant the tree in other areas of the city that need trees.

Okay.

You know what I would love to see?

More trees in center city.

Around second street, you know.

I know that the um I remember before that we talked about um that there were some issues.

Um of the uh homeowners, they were sort of like complaining, you know, that sometimes you know, there's this they purchase a house, the tree was there, and um now we become so problem because you know, but uh the at the end of the day, I I really believe that we need trees.

One, I mean it beautifies and at the same time is is is good, you know, is good for the environment.

Well, the good news is there's there's trees that are proposed for the six ward area, second street and ridge avenue.

And that's the work that's being done under the urban forestry grant that the parks department is overseeing.

So there's some relief gonna be coming down to the sixth ward.

Oh, okay.

Wow, that's neat.

Any comments from the values?

Go ahead, Mr.

Bumble.

Thank you.

Um Dr.

Shada, uh, I guess my question is is there a standard as far as how we understand the reasoning for why maybe a developer might not have to plant the trees based off of those circumstances.

I guess the first question is is that like a standard across you know the entire city, like if a resident has the same issue, if they can't or for some reason feel like it's it's a hazard to plant a tree where it's being proposed.

Can is there a financial kind of stipend that's like in lieu of a tree?

This is what it would cost to say to the city, here's a tree you could plant anywhere else.

Unfortunately, there that type of program doesn't exist for a residential property owner.

This is more for larger developments and commercial properties.

Okay.

And it's only on these special circumstances, or is this the standard that in any circumstance if you know if if they for whatever reason the project doesn't allow for trees or the budget doesn't allow for trees that they would opt for that in lieu, or is this only in extraneous circumstances where there's like utilities involved?

This is only for extenuating circumstances where there's either no space or there's underground or above above head uh utilities.

Okay.

Um and then I guess my other question is because of you know, like we said, here's the funding in lieu of planting those trees.

Is it like um you know, a stock?

Like if we're saying there used to be six trees on this property per the, you know, the ordinance, you know, 40 feet between each tree, that means you should have had eight trees.

That means we have to, as a city, allot eight trees, or is this just like okay, we'll take that funding and we'll we'll put trees wherever in the number doesn't really matter.

The the number does matter.

Um, so if it's eight trees that's supposed to go on on the property, uh we we ask we we calculate it, it's five hundred and eight dollars and thirty-three cents per tree.

So we'll take that funding and put it into the shade tree account, and then the shade tree commission meets, and then they'll they'll decide you know where those trees are better suited.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yep.

Any go go ahead, Mr.

Brenner.

Just regarding the schedule for it, how is that um reviewed?

Is that annually?

I just knowing the cost of trees after putting one in, they are more than 508.

So I guess my question is like how is that reviewed when things are getting more expensive, or the type of tree is the type of tree we're installing that um more expensive than the one that's the in lieu of uh fee that we're charging.

I just want to make sure we're getting a fairly Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

That's a really good question.

So the shade tree commission meets with our engineering department on a monthly basis.

Each month we have uh monthly meetings, and uh those decisions are made on a monthly basis, and they schedule the planting so this way um the trees are going into the ground before the cost continues to rise.

Okay, so but they're they're aligning the fee schedule to what current um costs are when they're being charged out to the uh to the entity.

That's correct.

Yes, right.

Thank you.

Any comments from the public.

Good evening.

My name is Miladro Canales, and I'm a big tree supporter.

And to answer your question, Christian, uh Councilman Pongo, um, during Earth Day, there are opportunities for neighborhoods to get together, like 8th Street, um, Old Allentown, they do tree planting.

Um what's the other one?

Um what's the other one?

There are some organizations I can't think of off the top of my head because this wasn't my thing.

There are some organizations doing some stuff for um Earth Day.

I would suggest that if anybody's interested in learning about how to plant a tree or what is necessary for the tree to be part of the shade tree commission meeting.

Also, you can go to um old Alentown's uh newsletter and also join um Earth Day.

I know the city is doing a big one.

Um it all happens to be my birthday, so I would not be here, but uh Earth Day is big, and I suggest that if anybody is looking to do some kind of earthing neighborhood cleanups and tree planting is and to answer your question about trees, when you do uh when an entity buys more than a hundred trees, the price is different than when an individual buys trees.

When old Allen old fairgrounds was buying trees, we used to get it through the the shade commission, and now prices were cheaper.

Right.

Thank you.

Any other comments from the public?

Okay.

I need someone to make a motion.

I'll make a motion to forward this favorably to council.

I will second the motion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay, so Bill 19 will be moving forward in front of full council.

Okay, so today we have the snow uh the snow discussion review.

And we have Mr.

Shatter.

We can we can start with you.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening again, and thank you for the opportunity to discuss our snow policies and procedure uh procedures this evening with city council.

So our mission during any snow event at the end of the day, it's very simple, and that's to make sure that our roadways are safe and passable so this way our emergency vehicles can traverse you throughout our city safely.

Next slide, please.

So, how we prepare in advance of a snowstorm.

The snowstorm typically preparations go underway typically 48 hours in advance of a snowstorm.

What would what goes into preparation is is we make sure that our equipment is operational.

Um we make sure that we have an adequate salt supply on hand to combat the storms.

Uh we carefully monitor the ever-changing weather reports.

Um they have a tendency of being off sometimes.

Uh so that's very critical that we stay up to date with the most uh weather information that we have.

Uh, and we obviously take care of scheduling our staff.

Uh, with any snow event, you know, it's always a hands-on deck, all hands-on-deck approach between our public works departments and our parks departments.

Uh, we all take snow very seriously, so it's always all hands-on-deck approach.

And we set up our phone lines and coordinating the messaging that we want to get out to the public so this way uh the public has a good understanding of what our weather reports look like and what to expect during and after a snowstorm.

So this slide here is uh to talk about snow emergencies.

So we currently have in the city of Allen Town 30 designated snow emergency routes throughout the city, which equate to 54 miles of roadway.

These are the routes that are the main arteries of the city and are critical for police, fire and emiss, and overall public safety.

The purpose of a snow emergency is to clear vehicles from the routes so our crews can plow the snow all the way over to the curb.

When that happens, snow removal is usually not necessary for a 12-inch snow event, and this is why it's very critical to uh call snow emergencies anytime you're we're the weather reports calls for 12 plus inches.

The main objective here is to just make sure that the roadways are fully plowed over to the curb.

Uh so this way you don't have to incur the cost of a contractor to come in and do snow removal, which could be very costly on these snow emergency routes.

Um we also do the best that we can to get the messaging out there through different news outlets.

We use social media, we put the information out on some emergencies on our city website, and we have uh community partner alerts that we count on.

Um per the city ordinance, uh obviously any vehicle that's parked on a designated snow emergency route uh must be moved off the snow emergency route four hours after the snow emergency has been declared.

Thank you.

So this slide here shows in this slide here is from our snow emergency manual.

Um this slide here gives you a good idea of when we look at declaring a snow emergency.

For the January 25th snowstorm, we fell in the class three snow event, which was six to twelve inches.

Uh with that snow event, uh we received 10 10 inches of snow followed by two inches of icing, which left us at a total of 11.88 inches to be precise.

Uh so we fell in the category three there, class snow event.

Um, as the storms get bigger, obviously you're gonna need more resources to to fight the snowstorm.

Once you get into the class two snow event there between 12 and 18 inches, that's typically when you're gonna have to bring in contractors to do snow removal on along the snow emergency routes and other priority areas throughout the city.

Thank you.

So going into a snow emergency, there's obviously a lot of prep and planning that has to go into place.

Not only are we focusing about making sure that the roadways are safe, passable, and and and open, but we also have to account for our city employees that live outside the city.

Anytime you have a large snow event like that, uh we have to make sure that our men and women can report to work.

So one of the things that we do is we provide hotel accommodations for them for folks that live outside the city.

Uh we got to make sure that you know they're here available, that their the plow trucks are out.

Um there's other employees that live further out along the borders of the city.

So we also have to coordinate the transportation for those staff members that don't feel comfortable driving in to work.

Um we also collaborate with our stakeholders, downtown parking authority.

We work very closely with them anytime there's a snow emergency to uh uh coordinate the parking.

Uh they offer free parking at most of their parking decks for a snow emergency, so they're a great partner to have.

Another stakeholder is Lanta.

We alert them of uh the snow emergency plan.

So this way we could uh account for any scheduling and bus changes, and uh the downtown school district is obviously key partner there, so we have to collaborate with them and get a good understanding of what their needs are so this way they could uh reopen their schools and get the students back to school safely.

So with this January 25th storm here and the 27 years that I've been fighting storms, this one by far was like the one one of the most challenging storms that we had to contend with.

We had almost three weeks of below freezing temperatures after receiving a 12-inch snowstorm.

Uh typically a storm during the January 25 time frame, you usually experience post-storm temperatures anywhere between 35 and 40 degrees.

Where we've in this instance here, it would unfortunately we were almost three weeks below freezing, so the piles of snow remain on the roadways a lot longer than we would have hoped for.

So what we do is we prioritize our our roadways.

We obviously the snow emergency routes are the main priority, and then once our city has been fully plowed open, then the second and third priorities are around the schools and hospitals in our central business district and district nine, and that's where the snow removal takes place.

Next slide, please.

So before the storm, what we did was we started preparing obviously days in advance.

And we got everybody on the same page.

We had a really good meeting with our one of our key partners, which is the parks department.

And we strategized, and we basically set the tone for the city and declared you know what was gonna be the what was going to be important that week.

And the priority for that week was we were gonna work together to get the roadways fully plowed open.

That consists of our main roads, our secondary roads and alleyways.

And once we accomplished that goal of plowing the city completely open, then we were gonna move in to working together into the getting the trails and the sidewalks opened up.

So that's one of the things that we've done differently this year was we did a better job in collaborating between both the public works department and the parks department, prioritizing our resources and putting all of our resources towards one goal, and that was to get our roadways open.

Slide, please.

So during the storm, we had 50 trucks running around the clock on two or two 12-hour shifts.

Um and our the main focus again was to make sure that our roadways were open for our first responders while making some progress on our secondary roadways with the 50 trucks that we have out there per shift.

While doing some work in some of these tighter streets and secondaries.

So after the storm stopped, unfortunately, that's where the the real work begins.

We continue 24-hour operations to widen streets, clear the secondary roads and alleys, and we focused on the school zones so buses could safely pick up students and drop them off.

We also focused on our district nine street cleaning route where we followed the snow removal plan, which calls for snow removal along that street cleaning district.

We also cleared more than 30 blocks removed snow from 30 total city blocks around 27 schools.

So this slide here talks about the city of Alltown responsibilities.

So we have a total of 421 miles of roadway in the city of Alltown that we have to maintain during any storm.

Along with that, we also have to make sure that our trash contractor, JP Mascaro has the ability to navigate throughout the city so this way we could have our trash and recycling picked up.

The city's also is responsible for clearing all the sidewalks around city buildings.

We're also responsible for plowing all the parking lots that the city of Ontown knows.

Obviously, clearing snow from ice and bridges, and we more importantly, we have to make sure that during a storm that our vehicles and equipment are still operational, that there's limited downtime, so this way we could maximize our resources and keep our equipment out there fighting any storm.

Once we do all that, then we work closely with our parks department, and then we get into the and we provide them support as they need and in order to get the trails and sidewalks and the parks open.

So anytime you get into a snow event, we always ask for some assistance, and this assistance comes from from our residents.

The city of Alltown can't do it alone.

So what one of the things that we always ask for our residents to help with is to make sure that they're number one that their sidewalks are free and clear of any type of snow or ice, and also cleaning snow from along the fire hydrant.

So this way, if there is an emergency, that our firefighters have the ability to respond quicker and avoid having that delay of getting to a fire hydrant to hook up a fire hose.

Um of the things that we also encourage our residents is if there if there's any concerns about having on-street parking, uh, we also ask for residents to chip in and help out and and and make room for parking in front of their residents.

So that concludes the presentation.

And I just want to really take the time to give credit to our public works employees and our parks employees and the snow team that's involved.

They gave it 100%.

They they far exceeded my expectations with every storm event that we had this year.

They did a phenomenal job.

So I'm gonna just really take a minute to really recognize them for all the hard work that they do.

They did an amazing job this winter with every storm snow event that we had.

There was evenings where they're taking away time from their families.

There's holidays that they're missing.

They're out there working with our emergency responders to keep our city up and running and keep our roadways safe.

So I really want to just take time, take time to really commend them for a job well done and recognize all the hard work and effort that they put into it.

So that concludes my presentation, and I'll be happy to answer any questions that anybody might have.

Thank you, Mr.

Shatter.

I I do have a few questions.

You mentioned that we have 50 trucks in total, right?

How much does a truck cost?

An average dump truck costs anywhere between 250,000 and 300,000 for the full package.

That was with the plow, salt spreader, and the full package.

Okay.

Another question that I have.

Um do you have other ways to inform the community about you know snow removal?

Because I know that there was uh issues.

Um the residents had a few issues because some of the snow removal was um happening uh at midnight while people were sleeping, and uh yeah.

So we we obviously have a lot of roadway miles, road miles that we're responsible for to maintain.

Uh unfortunately, anytime you get into snow removal operations, it's a it's a 24 hour, seven-day a week event.

Um we can't we're not in a position because our city is so large, unfortunately, we're not in a position to just limit snow removal during the afternoon hours.

Um we get we get a lot more progress done and we cover a lot more ground overnight when there's less traffic on the roadways that we have to contend with.

If we were just to limit the operation to just during the daytime, we'll we'll never get anything accomplished.

And it's understandable, but I know because it's less traffic.

I mean, you know, you guys can move better, you know, it's more um efficient if it happens during during the evening.

But I'm just asking if there's maybe you know, if we can think about other ways, perhaps that we can inform you know uh the community about snow removal.

We we I mean we the just a simple question.

Maybe we can think about different ways, you know.

Absolutely, and I'm and I'm I'm open to ideas, excuse me.

I'm open to different ideas and solutions.

Um we I feel like we do the best that we can with the resources that we have to get the messaging out there.

Uh we post every road with no parking signs to alert the residents that we're going in to do stone removal.

Uh we get the messaging out on social media on Facebook, um, and we have the information also posted on our website.

So if there's if anybody else has creative solutions or a better way of reaching our residents, I'm I'm all ears.

Okay, that's good too.

Yeah, definitely.

And another thing, um, okay, okay.

I'm almost done.

How much would it be to uh to pay a contractor for snow removal?

So under current pricing uh for every three days of snow removal that we're gonna do, it costs 260,000 to bring a contractor in to do snow removal.

260,000.

260,000, 260,000 for every three days of snow snow removal.

And in a day, I mean, well, it all depends how many how much snow, you know.

Yeah.

Really depends on how much snow we receive.

Uh, if we if we get into the 15 plus range, at that point in time, uh we'd be sitting before council saying that we have to do a transfer to put funding into account to hire a contractor to come in and do snow removal.

Uh but uh with the 27 years that I've been doing this during a 12-inch snow emergency, we our streets are on average 36 foot wide.

Our streets are large enough to very easily accommodate 12 inches of snow without having to incur all the additional cost of bringing contractors in.

Um even with 12 inches of snow, unfortunately with this storm here, it didn't melt fast enough because the temperatures were below freezing for three weeks.

We we seen zero melting.

There was no melting involved.

Under normal circumstances, those piles of snow would be melted within a week, two weeks, and we probably wouldn't even be here today having this discussion.

So we're trying to be very mindful of when we bring contractors in to do snow removal.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Sherman.

Go ahead, Mr.

Well, I was gonna ask with respect to the um messaging.

Um so I know I think I pointed this out before there's a there's a local firm that makes message boards.

Um I think about 10 minutes away from here.

So I guess, and I know it's it's challenging because if there's snow, it's hard to place a message board because there's a tax snow there, but I didn't know if that's been evaluated to look where it could be placed at the areas where there's gonna be known work in the future where that could be contracted out so they could overflow that, put it up so residents would know when they're as they're coming and going before a day or two before, because clearly you're gonna see a message board when you're driving and out, and then just as a as a potential option, just because I know it's it's I don't know the cost of it either, so I'm just throwing that out there.

We I mean we we utilize the message boards for lights in the parkway, so we do rent them.

Unfortunately, we don't own them, so we'll have to go out and rent them, but that is an option.

And one of the things that we're also um considering is use it utilizing our digital billboards too to get the messaging out there.

So that's one avenue that we're also looking at for for next year, too.

You know what I was wondering?

Who who's still wanting charge of like you know, putting the billboards because like there's messaging in the bill in the billboard because it's like I I see messages from the summer during winter.

You know, it just makes no sense.

It's it's Adams that's in charge of the billboards, but I'm really not sure, like from the city who the point the mayor's office.

Yeah, there's there's some messages that is really outdated, you know what I mean?

Yeah, so we should look into that.

Yeah, I do like the idea of the message boards and getting them out there maybe in the key locations.

The only problem with the message boards are they're very large, so you need the right-of-way, you need the right space for them.

But we could be strategic about where we place them.

And I did check they can talk about English and Spanish.

So that's another option for that that's beneficial too.

So Mr.

Pongo.

Thank you.

I think my question more relies on the messaging's key, but I think I'm I'm curious on, you know, even if you place a board, I know there were some streets where you know you can only do so much to project, right?

And so I'm just curious how we can maybe better improve our projection practices.

So I know there were some folks who maybe were on a street that said, hey, we're doing snow clearing starting Tuesday, and then maybe snow clearing didn't get there until Friday.

So how can we I understand you know you can only do so much, you're gonna get out, you're gonna spread the message.

So we may do three blocks, we may do six, so that might change the timeline.

But if we know, like, hey, look, in this district, we're projecting to get out to like Turner Street by Friday, and it's already you know Saturday, and we know we're still two days away from Turner Street.

What can we do to improve that?

Just because I think there are some folks who expressed, you know, the frustration of like, yeah, it says it was supposed to be done on Tuesday, but it's not.

So what's you know, just I'm curious what your experience was that with that this year.

And it's always a challenge to predict when you're gonna be in any given block because you really don't know what you're gonna encounter.

And the biggest challenge for us is that we experienced where cars weren't moving when they were posted well in advance.

So unfortunately, when you get to a block to remove the snow, we're we're at we're at the at the resident's mercy.

So if we get there with our crews and the the blocks are parked up, we have to wait until APD gets there, tries to make contact with the with the vehicle owner, get the vehicle removed, whether they move it willingly or it gets towed.

Uh but it that process all takes time.

Um so we have to be very mindful and strategic with our postings.

We have to have enough posted ahead of time, so hoping that the residents will move their vehicles so when we show up that the cars are free and clear and we could get in there and do our work.

Uh, but we do find ourselves a little bit behind our schedule.

Uh for example, if we post the roadway for Thursday, we with this storm here, and then in this storm here was it was a learning curve for everyone.

It's been five years since we've last had a snow emergency, so a lot of folks were just not accustomed to our practices and how we manage snow in general.

So a lot of folks were just not accustomed to our practices and how we manage snow in general.

So we've we've experienced some setbacks and delays, you know, with getting to certain blocks, and in certain instances, we were two days behind schedule.

But we have to have that little buffer or that cushion so this way our residents hopefully will be ahead of us, get their vehicles moved, and we could be a lot more efficient and quicker with our removal process.

No, I appreciate that.

And I just again, I think the points of that if there's anything, and I I think honestly, we did a great job trying to manage what we what we had.

Uh, and I just think you know, that's not to say there's not room for improvement.

I think that's one area where hey, what can we do to help?

Because I know you know that's just a fact of something that happened.

Um then again, I speak from my own experience as well.

Um, I know we we previously discussed there were some like snow emergency areas where maybe the the plowing wasn't done curb to curb.

Uh, and I can speak from experience of the second storm that came around in February.

We did a phenomenal job.

I think some of those, you know, so those stories that I heard from other folks, some that I saw myself were well resolved for that second storm.

Uh, and I think that was just a testament to hey, we're listening and we're learning.

So again, commend the department on that.

And I'm just curious if let's say again, we don't get one of these storms for like three years and it's a snow emergency route and it it wasn't cloud curb to curb.

Do residents have any sort of recourse for saying, hey, look, this was missed, or or for whatever reason, hey, like this just isn't complete.

Is there something that we can do, or or is or does our operation not support that given how much you know we'd be working at?

We we have a lot of ground to cover, so our operation wouldn't be able to support it.

But one of the things that I'm willing to do is work with our parking authority to make sure that those parking decks become available longer term.

So this way, if we do need that additional time, especially during a heavier snowfall where we're getting 12 inches, that we could take the extra time to go around and visually inspect and make sure that you know these areas are fully plowed over to the curb.

Uh, and that's where the parking authority will be a key ally in making that happen.

Thank you.

Go ahead, go ahead, Mr.

Sumter.

Um, I I just want to add regarding messaging, I think I know that's one place we definitely have to improve.

And that's gonna take coordination though.

I I think we when I look at your SOP or standard operating procedures on the website.

I I believe we need to do more with all the stuff we're talking about, the message boards, uh Facebook, we're talking about um the billboards.

You need a place to direct all those folks too.

You can't on a billboard, you can't put too much or no one's gonna read it.

So, like we need to beef up our the city's website and have a page that never goes away.

I don't know if it's Allentown PA.gov forward slash snow.

And everything we do for the you know, these couple days before a snowstorm funnels people to that that page because I I don't believe that exists.

Um does it it does?

Okay, and you know, what I guess what I'm saying is is that we're not pointing people there.

So people are getting there when they go on our website, but I'm not seeing that page anywhere else.

And that's where I I think we need to whether it's coordinating with the communications director, the mayor's office, wherever the case may be, and making sure that every sing every time we speak to a resident, no matter what channel we're speaking to them to, we need to point them to that that website because uh that's where everything lives.

Yep.

So um, and that's where you can tell the story about everything you're trying to do.

You can't really do that on Facebook and on a billboard.

But um, yeah, I I'll check it out.

I mean, so it's it's up now.

That's okay.

Well, okay.

I would like to see it more because I obviously if I'm not seeing it, I think other people aren't seeing it either.

So maybe we just have to do a better job of promoting it.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I think everything rolls down some messaging, you know, communication.

I can add something to that note specifically.

Just I'm wondering if there's also, you know, I think there's a kind of a higher standard of expectation from anyone that lives on a snow emergency route.

So even if that's before the season starts, sending out mailers to anyone on a snow emergency route, because not everyone uses technology.

Some folks might not have access or might not know where to go, even if we broadcast it on social media because maybe you don't have social media.

So maybe that's an option too, just because I know snow emergency registry routes sometimes have a higher expectation, the risk of getting towed, all that sort of stuff.

Um I'm sorry.

That's it.

Really an understanding that we have a transit community, you know.

I mean, people come and go.

So we have to, you know, be aware of that.

I did want to call out I think uh a win in this process, because it's always good to have those as well.

Um the amount of people parking in the decks between the first between other storms, the first storm, and then the second one.

I think it more than either doubled or tripled.

So from a from a messaging perspective, at least I think it was really, really good to see more people taking advantage of uh of that opportunity um during that second storm, and I would hope that you know we can continue down that road because it really helps everyone.

If you get cars off the road, it helps you, it helps anyone who's clearing.

So I think that's definitely something.

So yeah, to Mr.

Pangu's point what he made earlier, you know, with not only are our residents getting better, but we're we're also getting better, you know, with each snow event that we experience.

It's been five, six years since we've last experienced a snow emergency.

And just with these two that we had alone, uh, the first one, there was only 500 vehicles that utilize the parking decks.

And with the second snow emergency, well, I'm glad it was a bust.

Um, we there was a little bit over a thousand vehicles, so we more than doubled.

And I'm very confident with every snow event that we have, you know, going forward in the future, um, those numbers will only increase, and the the messaging will get out there over time.

I don't want everything.

I also would like to um it might sound kind of like cheesy or whatever you want to call it, but um, I would like to say thank you to um you know me sortega and and the rest of council.

Um this is the first time in my what, 14 years, 15 years that I have been here in in City Council, seeing a lot of presence in in Facebook and in the media, you know, many of us went out and and actually uh, you know deep the the life, you know, and indeed the messaging um, you know, through Hennessy, and uh I think that it was well received, you know.

I I saw many of us uh on Facebook letting people know what was what was going on, you know.

So I think that um yeah, we did a good job.

Yes, we did.

Thank you.

Well, one thing before we adjourn or close, you know, I I just want to really take that second minute again to really thank the men and women of our public works department and the parks department that put in the hard work.

I mean, we had a 12-inch snowstorm with two inches of ice and sustained freezing temperatures, and days later, we had the entire city opened up for our traveling public.

We had a sold-out concert at the PPL center where we had 10,000 people that came into town, didn't experience any delays, they didn't miss the show, were able to get in and out of our city quickly.

Um that same evening, we also had a sold-out event at the Archer.

And that same Friday, we Governor Shapiro was in the town, and he was able to successfully come in and have an event at the Da Vinci Science Center.

So we had three big events that that happened within our city days after a 12-inch snowstorm under freezing temperatures, and we were able to get everybody into our city safely and out without having experiencing any setbacks or delays.

So that's a true testament to the hard work that our men and women do here at the city of Owntown.

So again, I just want to really thank them and acknowledge them for a job well done.

I have two other things then.

I have two other things then.

Okay.

So two real quick, two other things.

Um, one, I did get a lot of feedback and going to community group meetings where there was concern or frustration um related to when street sweeping days were there, why we weren't utilizing that.

Now I know you the focus and then looking at here, and it's very clear the numbers and the effort was in a specific area.

But I guess what I'm wondering is on on maybe less severe storms where there is a little bit more uh opportunity to be able to go through this is the city.

Is there a place where or there is there an opportunity that what we could do is utilize that time when it's a street sweep day to plow that road, and then um because residents are already then expecting it because they're they're calling in if to know whether or not it's been canceled.

So that would give that opportunity, and I think that that would it would help a lot of people.

So I'm just that's one question that kept coming up.

That's what I wanted to one thing I wanted to ask.

That's that's a good question.

Um that's a very tall order to to plow all the street cleaning routes.

When you talk about street cleaning, it starts at Front Street and expands all the way out to Ott Street, MLK to Tellman Street.

That's a large area to cover, and to try to take that on to plow the snow is a tall order.

I'm not saying that I'm not willing to try it.

Um I'm willing to give anything a try.

I just don't know how successful we'll be in being able to manage the street cleaner routes, plowing all the street cleaner routes while making sure that all of our secondary roadways and alleys are plowed open.

Um I would I would attempt to try it after we complete all of our secondary roadways and alleys are done.

Uh so that could be maybe a week after a storm that we get into those street cleaning routes and we could dedicate all of our resources, we could certainly try it.

Yeah, and I don't think the expectation on anyone that was bringing up is that it would be momentarily out of the day after.

But I think, and even if it's the kind of thing where we're doing the numbered streets or we're doing you know the east-west streets, uh that's the sort of thing where I think it goes a long way to someone in communities that are very, very challenged with parking.

It makes a big difference if you can get one main one at least open so you can do normal stack parking, even if the the other ones aren't.

So, like if there's something we could evaluate on that, I think that that would help a lot because you know, as you know, for 17 days there was people pushing their cars out because they couldn't, you know, couldn't move, and it it was it was a challenge.

Um and then I think the other question I had, which is I know we talked about it, and uh I wasn't gonna bring it up, but a person at a community group meeting did bring it up with unprovoked was asking why don't we do it the way we used to do it, which was not parking on a specific side during snowstorms.

I didn't know when that was in Allentown, I didn't ask the guy, but um at some point we must have done that.

He he he he's been here for a long time.

So I guess my only question is could we evaluate if other cities are doing that, what that looks like to come through a process to saying everyone can't park on whatever that even or odd side is so that when the plows go through, they can do the main line lane and whatever that that uh sequence is because that is doing a ton of work in that process.

I don't I know there's a ton of vials that you have to cover.

There's a limited amount of vehicles that might not be possible.

I'm just asking, could we consider it or value evaluate it?

Absolutely, no, that's something that we I'd be willing to evaluate for a snow plowing event.

But when you when you get into the larger events where plowing is no longer effective and you need snow removal, you're it's gonna be a lot more costlier.

You're talking a couple million dollars per year for one snow event to do snow removal in all of our street sweeping districts.

So I I'm willing to entertain the idea of plowing those street cleaner routes, but when you talk about in terms of removal when you get larger snow events, uh that's a program that we're just not equipped for right now.

And I'm willing to entertain the idea and have that conversation around it, but we'd obviously have to create a budget for it.

Yeah, I was meaning I wasn't speaking in that for my second point, it wasn't related to street sweeping.

It was when an emergency is declared.

Um what he was referencing in other, and I've seen in other cities is that that one side of the street no one can park on.

I know it's a it's a learning curve, it takes a lot because everyone in the city would have to understand this is the and if we're not getting this every five years, everyone forgets.

But if if we were able to message it properly, it would give your team the ability to have a full lane open in addition to the center, and then that gives people a place to park once you want through.

So just asking, just because I've I've I've seen it work, um it's a different city, I get that, but uh I just worth evaluating.

Absolutely, and if if council is amenable to it, I'm willing to create like a small subcommittee where we could work in the off season to have regular dialogue around snow removal and and what our process should look like.

So that's something that we'll we'll entertain.

Okay.

Any other comments from either any public comments?

Okay.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

Ryan Hunsaker, I'm SCIU president.

Um I've been here for 36 years, starting 36.

And I have never seen a winter snow event managed the way this one was.

When we go back to his slide presentation and the different events on when you look at um categories of storms, it obviously rates them by how many inches you get.

In my estimation, we should have been in a class two category, which defines what you should do.

Now, this snow manual has been around since 1979.

There's a reason for that.

Whatever they did in here works.

It works because it gets the public in and out of the city efficiently if you go by what they have outlined.

Number one, what I seen.

The snow emergency was lifted way too soon on the 12-inch snowstorm.

Way too soon.

Because if you have all the cars moved on the snow emergency routes, your next object should be evaluating those routes and saying, let's get 15th Street open, removed 7th Street, Tillman Street, Chew Street.

Why?

Because they're essential routes.

We did it for years that way.

And furthermore, once they're removed, they're open.

People can park, you can get across the city.

You can have emergency personnel get through.

The way it was run now, none of those were touched.

They were plowed back, but you had prior storms before that.

And you had sub-freezing temperatures.

So what when that happens and all those things happen together, and it's in January, guess what?

It don't go nowhere.

It stays unless you remove it.

So the problem here is management.

That's the problem.

And I don't care how you if it's your first snowstorm you ever attended, or it was the 15th snowstorm, it doesn't matter.

It's all outlined in here.

It tells you what to do.

All you got to do is follow it.

My next problem was manpower.

Manpower was reduced the second night of the storm.

How do I know?

I was on night shift.

They told me the next night, you're going back to your normal day shift job.

Fine.

I go back.

I was the one running the snowblower at night shift.

That was my normal job.

That's what I do.

I'm a heavy equipment operator.

So if we were running 12-hour shifts around the clock for a week straight, we would have had these routes open if they would have did it correctly.

It wasn't done correctly.

And that's why you had problems.

You have problems getting in and out of the city.

15th Street, Chew Street, Tillman Street.

Those streets were tough to get through.

That's the whole problem here.

We wouldn't be here tonight if that was done correctly.

Simple.

Only because it works.

And it wouldn't be in that manual if it didn't work.

That's the main thing here.

That's why I'm up here tonight because this is a learning process right now.

You guys are learning.

You haven't been here as long as I have to see this.

I've been through the storms.

93 superstorm, 96 blizzard, 2016, 30-incher.

Think about that.

In 2016, we had the city open in a week.

In a week, with the same type of personnel.

We have three snowblowers that are that are able to be run.

But what are we doing?

It comes down to managing your personnel and equipment.

Thank you, Mr.

Huckinger.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Okay, next.

Hello, council.

John Huntseker 19th in Highland.

Well, my follow-up.

I'll follow up with my brother on that one.

You know, I've been around the city for 60 some years.

Worked with the housing authority for 37 years, 37 years.

Sorry, I'm not good with microphones.

Um this is the worst managed 12-inch snowfall I ever seen in the city.

I was out of town, I came back.

I would try to get down Tillman Street.

It was a disaster.

19th Street was plowed, but it wasn't plowed back to the curb or over the curb.

There was no city trucks removing snow.

I used to, I used to even when the past mayor was in office.

We had snow removed.

They were removing snow on 19th Street in the middle of the night.

You know, I don't see any of this.

And we're we gave this man a $9,000 raise in this year.

Come on.

Come on.

That's his job to do that.

I do understand, but you know what?

We don't attack people.

You know what I mean?

Why not?

It's you're paying him.

We're paying him to do a job.

He didn't do a job.

He's got to be called out.

And I'm calling him out.

They're not attacking them personally.

He didn't do a job.

And counsel, you're part of the responsible for that because you're the people that vote these races in.

And I know a lot of you weren't on here when that was done.

But this is ridiculous for a city of our size.

You know, thank God we didn't get that February storm of maybe a foot or more, like Rhode Island got.

You'd still be removing snow here.

You know, this was unacceptable.

You can go by guidelines that he puts up there, but he got to get his ass out on the streets and find out what the hell's going on out there.

He's not.

That's what we pay people for.

That kind of money, I could do his job for half that amount of money.

Let's not be little.

Let's not be bundled that.

The public's upset with this nonsense.

And I agree with you.

Let's do a job.

We're paying these extraordinary salaries, and what do we get in return of the public?

I'm not the only one.

125,000 people that are upset with this crap.

Had enough.

Next.

Hey Don Ringer from Ringers Roost.

Uh this was the most inept leadership of any snow emergency I've seen since 1970.

It was truly awful.

We never got plowed.

We did get plowed.

We never had any snow removed in the west end of Allentown.

Nothing.

Nothing was removed.

Okay.

And it's totally unacceptable.

Then the policemen were telling me about the trucks, they were removing snow at night, and there was a guy loading a truck up, and the truck would leave.

And the guy in the snow removal thing would sit there until the truck came back.

Now that's really, really bad.

And also, did we remove snow from the school district buildings?

Not from around the schools, not from the buildings.

So we remove snow around the schools.

Yet schools were out for the whole week.

Why the heck weren't we removing snow from the streets of Allentown?

Not the school district stuff.

They have a budget.

Why don't they use their budget?

Secondly, I'm speaking from most every businessman in the West End of Allentown.

I spent $3,000 out of my pocket to get snow removed from Liberty Street, 18th Street, and around my place.

I've been plowing snow all my life.

I know how to plow snow.

These people don't know how to plow snow.

Okay, and don't give me this crap that it was cold outside.

It was a fluffy snow.

We didn't have rain on top of this snow.

This was a fluffy snow.

It's an easy snow to remove.

It's not a hard snow to remove.

This was not a storm of the century.

This was 12 inches of snow.

I up in South Whitehall, they did a tremendous job removing the snow.

And also, South Whitehall also removed the snow around the fire hydrants.

Nowhere in Allentown did I see anybody get out of a truck and remove snow around fire hydrants.

This man should be held accountable for this clusterfuck.

Next okay.

As the chair of the public work committee, I want to make sure that we have this discussion tonight because winter preparedness is something that we should be thinking about well before the first snowfall.

In the past, the city of Arlington operated a snow cleaning program designed to assist seniors and other vulnerable residents with snow removal from sidewalks.

While the program has success in connecting volunteers with residents who need help, it's clear that there's an opportunity to revisit the model and explore how we can strengthen strengthen and modernize it.

And first, I just also want to say that um I I really believe that you guys did a really good job, you know, with the budget and and the the equipment that you guys you know had.

Thank you.

And that's one of the reasons why we're having this discussion, because I know that there's always, you know, room for improvement.

One idea that I'm particularly interested in exploring is how we can better leverage partnership with our local high schools.

Many students are already required to complete community service hours as part of their graduation requirement.

A program like Snow Angel could provide a meaningful opportunity for young people to fulfill those hours while also supporting seniors and residents who may have difficulties clearing their sidewalks after um a storm.

This type of program can create a real sense of community.

It connects generation, it helps students understand the need of their neighbors, and it ensures that residents who may be physically unable to shovel are now left isolated during the winter months.

My hope is that tonight conversation help us identify what works in the previous program, what challenges assisted, and what adjustment we will need to make in order to relaunch something that is sustainable and well coordinated.

Ideally, I would like to see us beginning laying the groundwork now so that we have a framework in place well ahead of the 2026 to 2027 snow season.

That means thinking about volunteer recruitment, partnership with schools and community organizations, coordination with neighborhood groups and a career process for residents to request assistance.

This is also an opportunity to think creatively about how volunteers program can complement the work of public works team that is already doing without creating unrealistic expectation about what the city itself can provide during a snow events.

So tonight I'm looking forward to hearing about the previous structure of the snow angel program, and I'm interested in hearing from my colleagues about how we might improve and expand the concept of moving forward.

So with that, I would like to welcome Miraculos Carnales, who used to run the Snow Angel.

I heard my nice to know.

Good evening.

First, I want to say that snow is my thing, right?

I've done it for a long time.

I didn't realize that we start, we started at 21.

That was a long time ago.

But now the one in the blue with the pink scarf, thank you.

She's now 31 with two kids.

And the one with the purple hat is now 24.

And my my son, who is the original, it was him, Richard Ramos.

He has a daughter who's turning nine next week.

So we we've been doing this a long time.

This was a family's passion.

Um the snow angels came about um in 2011.

Uh we 2011, my son was on probation for uh drawing on the table in Rob Middle School, and uh Master Lord gave him instead of probation, he had to go to the art museum for classes as part of his probation.

And one night as he's walking home, um it was starting to snow really bad while he was at the museum.

And when he came out, he saw an elderly woman and he offered to snow, you know, shovel for him, and she said, not a lot enough youth do that.

And mind you, we are Latino, and our neighbors weren't.

And so we reached out to Rick Doherty and Tatiana Thule at the time was um working for Wheat and Seed.

This is how I'm dating myself.

So those who don't know weed and seed was in the sixth world.

I've been around a long time.

Damn.

And so um we did the first winter, seven kids from William Allen, uh, the seniors at Senior Life, uh, active life, Rick Doherty, myself, my ex-husband, one blue pickup truck and eight shovels.

That's all we had.

And we went and did 78 homes in the first storm.

And you can imagine in 2016 when we had the 32 inches, but by then we had a hundred kids from Central Catholic, William Allen and Dara helping us.

And it didn't matter what you look like, we did it.

Sometimes we didn't get home until 11 o'clock at night because we made sure we win.

So at the height of the program, we had 65 students committed from 2014 to 2016.

Um, as you know, William Allen was going through multiple principles, so it was the at that time um the Allentown School District was not so um amendable, right?

But we had uh the volunteers of the kids, so my kids were very, very, as you can see, and that that was the 2016 uh press conference, November to be exact, um, at Central Catholic.

I know because Rocco at that time was seven years old, and Rocco is going to be 18.

So it was all hands on deck in my house.

It was mandatory that they had to do a volunteer session with me.

We also did a snow uh shoveling uh workshop that Rick did in the yard of active life, and we had some seniors who told us you had to use the shovel at a certain angle.

Like they some seniors have their tricks on how to remove snow so that they don't get it heard, and you know, told the kids about safety first.

Then the Allentown had this website called Serve Allen Town, and we had to do the volunteer paperwork through there.

All of this, I did all the volunteer work.

I did workshops, we did all the um really was pizza party.

The kids had them come over and we talked about what they need to do.

Everybody had to get permission.

Um, and I think that was the first time I really got to meet Mark.

Um, and he was in that, and I was like, there's gonna be a lot of kids, but they're all mine.

I had the most kids, right?

So um, so then we went from serve, we did the application, we had the snow bunnies, those were the seniors at the active life um front desk.

So senior citizens had their paperwork, and then the teens had their paperwork.

Um, how the process was homeowners will call in, they would get an application sent to them, they would fill out the required documents, which is the homeowner's insurance, who they are, they have to meet the criteria for us to do it, and then they get paired with a juvenile uh that was within walking distance of their home.

And you'll be surprised how some teens didn't know their neighbors.

So this was kind of like the uh, you know, the new adopt, let's adopt a grandma and grandpa kind of thing.

We had a lot of that.

Um, and once they got approved, the application was forward to it, it could have been West Park, it could be old prayer grounds, old Allentown, um, just so that I because we used to meet here, City Hall, all the uh neighborhood groups, and we would talk about we're gonna send kids out in your neighborhood if you see them, you know, that kind of thing.

So it was a lot of conversations going on throughout the city with the kids and the thing.

So it only was activated when there was three or more inches.

So if it was uh an inch and a half, we did not have the kids go out, but a majority of the time the kids did go out because they now had a relationship with some of these seniors.

Um, the the lady in the first picture, um, when she passed, my kids went to her funeral.

We've been we were doing her for seven years before she passed.

So um, and I think how old was Anna at that time?

I think she was 93, going on 99 when she passed.

Her lawyer got in touch with us, and that's that meant a lot to us.

She was on the corner of 13th in Liberty.

Um so then every volunteer, remember when we started, we only had eight shovels.

Then we got a donations of at 2016, we got a donation of 12 shovels and a snowblower to do 152 houses.

So we try to do our best with what we had.

Um, and oh, and by the way, we then created an ID card for the teens that said snow angels, their name and their school, so that it was senior ass who you are, so that they didn't get scammed.

Also, the teens were to call the seniors when there was a snowstorm to make sure that they had permission to get on the property, not just show up and scare them because you know, we had some teens in the first year that did that, and seniors were calling the police not knowing that they were approved for the program.

So, you know, it's learning curve.

There we are with the blue truck, big blue.

My son is the one in the camouflage, that's Richard.

There I am in the back.

These are the girls.

This is on 13th Street.

Um, there's Ryan, there's Pulowski, and that's Alex Pulowski.

So these are the resources, right?

We had salt, snowblowers, shovels.

Some of my kids had walkie-talkies that were um 10 yards, ton was 100 yards, so they, you know, they had the long-range walkie-talkie so they could talk to each other.

Um, we were constantly buying hats and gloves because the kids would take off the gloves, shovel, move things, and then can't find the gloves because they're in the buried snow.

You know how many times we had to go buy protective gear.

Um at the end, if there were, we tell the seniors they do not have to pay us.

But traditionally, seniors are set in their way.

They would find creative ways to throw money at the kids through the window, through the door, they would throw it on the sidewalk.

Um, so when when that happens, the kids will come and put it in a big um, you know, the cheese ball barrel.

They would put it in that, and we would have a pizza party at the end of the year.

So we always had enough for pizza.

Pizza seems to be the thing.

Um, so whether or not uh you guys determined that you want a city-led nonprofit led or partnership model, the process is simple.

We now have a school district that has a superintendent that loves partnerships.

We also have a lot of neighborhood groups that are remembering when this was in and they want it, right?

But we also have kids, we don't no longer have the requirement for teens to to do community service so that they can graduate high school.

But we do have for DHS the requirement to work to earn your benefits.

So if they have teens in their homes and they receive some type of benefits, we can pull from that pool for future participants, just an FYI.

Um the other thing too is district courts are always flooded with creative ideas of how can we get so that the parents aren't being uh how do you say victimized from the teen who don't want to go to school, but this could be another way to get a teen to be active in the community, also civic duty, but also get creative and paying restitution.

That's an idea.

One of the things that made this program stop was when the city then decided that it was getting too big for them.

They, you know, at that time we had a mayor who was always a bride in a wedding and the corpse and the funeral.

Uh they then took over.

If you have an uh older gentleman in a school lunchroom saying, hey, volunteer for me, you're not going to get the participant.

But if you got teens saying this is the fun stuff we're doing on a snow night, this could be creative, you know, you get more honey with bees.

Just saying.

So what happened was they took over and then nobody wanted to volunteer.

They were like, well, we're not doing that.

Plus, my kids were graduating high school.

I still just one just graduated two years ago.

So I mean, the potential would have been there.

Um the other thing too was the they didn't want kids on probation.

The kid who started the program was on probation.

So if you're gonna tell me that you don't want a kid on probation, but the kid who started it was on probation, I bowed out.

Because that's a slap in the face of what we were doing.

Because we were trying to get the city to recognize that just because someone made a mistake doesn't mean that they're a bad person.

And kids on probation should not just be tossed aside and said that they are less valued than a kid who's not on probation.

So we bowed out.

Once we did that, it was no longer the snow angels.

We became the snow angels because the snow bunnies as active life kept calling us the snow angels because we would be out at nine, 10, 11 o'clock at night until the last house is done, we did not go home.

And we will go all around the city and make sure that everybody did what they were supposed to do.

Because you know, teenagers, they're like, you know, the fish dory, ooh, shiny thing.

So even if you told them they had to do something by a certain time, if they didn't do it, we make sure it got done.

Because you the seniors shouldn't be penalized if a teen didn't show up.

Towards the end, though, it was finding hard to find partnership, and that's when we, you know, between the turmoil upstairs and the Allentown School District and all the shoveling of uh shuffling of principals, we did not want to be part of the politics.

And now I'm in politics.

So I so I thank you.

Um, and there she is.

That's my favorite picture.

Oh yeah.

And she um she was one of our best.

We did her all year round.

We we did her backyard in the summertime, we whacked her, we she had stories for days for the kids.

Um, we had a lot of residents that we just they just became part of the family, and kids always talked about, you know, remember when we did the lady over here.

So, like when they driving around the city, they talk about, and people still remember the kids.

So that's thank you.

I think you for your time.

Well, I have a few questions for you on Milagros.

When the kids will go out, who will make sure that uh the job was done?

That would be me.

So when the when the ladies at Active Life would call, they had one line, that would be me.

I had a big whiteboard in my my living room, and we tracked all the kids.

At first, we only had eight kids, so it was easy to track, and we mostly did around the William Allen High School area or around where the individual teens live, and we try to keep it within that area because remember, it has to be walking distance.

We couldn't send a kid to South 4th Street if they lived on 9th Street.

It just it didn't, it wasn't feasible.

So we try to pair a kid with a with an elderly that was within walking distance of their house.

Kids love being, believe it or not, they really enjoyed going out and shoveling and then saying goodnight.

It was it was just one of those things.

But I did that.

I I did all of the teen um scheduling, I did all the follow-ups, I did all the phone calls, I paired the teens.

I did, I was the one who made sure that they were good fit.

Um, you know, if once I talked to the the owner of the property, if they had a certain need, like maybe they wanted uh their front step and only to halfway because they only get to the mailbox, we try to make sure we get that.

If they had a driveway that was too long, then that will be the snowblower.

So we would go out.

So we had we we tried to pair them best with what was suitable.

Okay.

Um another question that I have where do you used to keep the equipment?

School provide salt.

So that's where we one snowblower would go.

We would go to the streets and we would park the snowblower and our eight shovels.

We had a cage uh gated uh area where we would get, and then the city would put all the salt in the back of that blue pickup truck that you saw there, and then we would go, and every kid somehow always had an extra Halloween bucket, and we would fill Halloween buckets with salt.

Remember, we had no money, and all of that we did was free, and we never got paid.

This was all free.

Everything we did was always free.

Well, thank you for that.

But I I do remember the snow angel.

Yeah, you guys did a great job.

Thank you.

Um any comments from the Dayas.

Go ahead, Mr.

Pungo.

No, thanks.

I just I just wanted to say thank you for sharing that.

That's really touching.

I think it's exactly what our community yearns for uh as somebody who went out and shoveled when I was younger in high school, like that exact same time frame, like through 2016.

Um, it does make a difference, and I I wish I knew about the snow angels because I would have been involved too.

Um, and I I definitely want to see what what's possible and you know what we can do to give this a second wind and with the proper partnerships or development, whatever, you know.

I know we want to structure it.

I think the city at large would love to see something like this, um, and just making sure that you know it's a demand that we can meet, uh not you know setting expectations too high at first and growing something organically, but I would love to see something like this.

So thank you again for sharing.

Definitely.

Go ahead, Mr.

Though to uh Mr.

Bongo's uh comment too.

I would I was didn't know of this program at the time, but um, I want to commend you for all of the efforts that you put in just when it started in 2011.

Um, also for your effort to step up to look into doing this now and also to say it's the the impact on the community, especially when you make connections between you know local kids and adults, like this is what makes the city successful, and it's it's it's like the the intangibles around that um are pretty significant.

So I'm I'm excited to see this.

Um you know who knows maybe it turns from snow to something else like you were talking about with doing um landscape and that kind of stuff, but it it sounds like an amazing program.

Oh, go ahead.

Um thank you again, uh Milan Rose for sharing.

And um surprised my colleague uh Mr.

Bender didn't bring this up, but I think the the concept is tremendous, but leveraging technology now could make this I mean could really amplify I mean it's it's cool.

Listen, we all did the whiteboards back in the day.

So I'm with you, but I think um finding opportunities.

I mean, we have a GIS system here in the city where we could actually I mean really take this to a whole another level with you know where these folks are and where they sit on the map and where the kids are.

Um I just think we could really leverage a lot of that, and I'll lean on some of my colleagues who um live in that world.

But there's a lot of opportunity.

Thank you for sharing, and um hopefully we can make this happen.

Well, just to make you laugh, uh earning a TM may he rest in peace.

He used to get me maps, so I had these huge maps in my living room, and so that's how you know you would say 13 2 to 2 and a half north 13th Street.

Who live and it was like it was really like calling bingo, like getting the kids in maps were huge, and you know, you get your neighborhood.

Um, and one of the things that was so um that I think made it so great was that the partnership between active life and the city at that time to really serve their seniors and getting them uh Rick Doherty, he played a big part on making sure that the seniors knew what resources are there.

And when AARP came and was part of the serve, they really like homed in on they really wanted the kids to be this kid um oriented, like they really and the kids really took ownership of it, and I think that's what really made it so um dedicated because when I looked at the data, I was like, wow, 2011.

I told Genesis 2016 because I remember that press conference, but they were doing it before the press even got it.

So they share the same sentiment on Milagros.

I um I was surrendering the snow angel, and uh um that's why I want to bring it back.

Because we we we just need more positivity in the community.

And um, I think that if we bring it back, the community and everyone will benefit from it.

Absolutely.

You know, so it's a win-win situation for everyone.

Well, just so you have some data.

Pennsylvania is the sixth oldest uh state in terms of most seniors, if you look at per capital.

And so this program will not only benefit the population that is most vulnerable, right?

And they're house rich, but they're not rich.

And so what happens is people knock on the door and say, I will shovel for $150, but they know they got a certain amount of hours before they have to have that property or they get a fine, right?

And it doesn't matter what age, the city is not looking at two to two and a half is 73 years old.

They're looking at two to two and a half, did not shovel.

So what we want to do is eliminate that that that idea that they're gonna get a ticket, but we also want to bring them closer to the community in which they live, because they could be by themselves.

And we want to check on our neighbors, that's all.

Definitely.

It will bring unity, and that's what I'm looking for.

And I hope that um my colleagues, you know, it seems like they're they they like it, you know.

I think there's another snow angel idea here too.

She was she has a snow angel program in what's what city?

Easton.

I'm sorry.

What city is yours?

Come to the come to the podium, please.

I also want to share too that I spoke with Rick Doherty today.

He wanted to come tonight to share comments, but he had bingo night.

But he said he's very supportive of this program, and if the city is looking to bring it back, he'd be happy to manage the senior part of the application process.

Yes, so we do.

That would be nice.

Okay.

My name's Lori Lee Holman, and Genesis knows who I am.

Um I have what's going on in the Lehigh Valley, and for over 15 years, I've been getting out all kinds of alerts, information on the city.

Um, it's not a paid platform.

And then I started an independent news publication, but it's really it's tough to stay in business.

So I'm trying new things, but um for years I'm trying to bring the community together and help people.

I love helping people in the community.

Um I've been a previous school teacher for Allentown School District, uh, four kids.

But my platform reaches millions monthly.

It's um not just local but national, um, but it focuses more on the Lehigh Valley and then helping our residents and bringing our community together.

So for years I've been getting out word on all the various things for City of Allentown.

It could be alerts, it can be events.

I get out weather and traffic and breaking news, um entertainment, go live at press conferences, events all over the city for years.

Um just because I know people enjoy it.

They, you know, they like to be informed, updated, kept safe.

I'm real big on safety.

And uh a couple years ago, uh resident reached out to me, and she uh her husband was a disabled vet, and she said, can you help us shovel out?

So because my platform is so large, I can put out word to the community, and so many people respond because the engagement's very, very, very, very large.

So that's how it all started, and then I started what was called Operation Snow Angel.

So I thought, well, this would be a great way to help people in our community, help the disabled veterans, help the seniors, help those with health problems.

This past year there were um a lot of people reaching out.

I had oh my gosh, like hundreds of messages.

People needed help shoveling out, so I would get word out to the community.

We we need, you know, I need somebody to go out to this area and help them, and people are just so willing to help each other, help their neighbors.

So I thought it would be really great to have like various zones in the city and maybe adopt a neighbor program or adopt a block.

And um, but people usually what they usually do is they message me or they email me.

If there's a need, I had um people even reaching out from different states.

I had a woman that reached out for her father.

Uh she was in Florida.

She said, can you help him?

And then there's people with a lot of health problems.

They need to get out.

There was even uh situations where there was like an apartment building, people needed to get out, so I got people to go there, help shovel.

So that's what I basically have been doing.

But my platform is basically to help the community all these years.

Over 15 years, I've been doing this, a lot of work.

Um, like I said, it's not a paid thing.

I tried donations, but that doesn't work, so I'm trying to do some other things, fundraise.

But basically getting out all the information on the city of Allentown, different things uh throughout the Lehigh Valley, helping the community.

So hopefully, if you know, um, if we put everything together, you know, because we have to um, you know, we have to make sure that we do this and we do it right.

Um with all the technology that that Santo mentioned, um, it will be um more effective, definitely.

We will need uh you know, people like you to bring the you know the word out.

But thank you so much for all that you do.

Yeah, it's a great platform.

People rely on it, they write in all the time.

It could be a missing family member.

They they reach out to me, I get word out to the community.

People have been found over the years, missing pets help the police, the fire departments get out word on their events, go live, help them, the veterans.

So I just you know, I love helping people.

Thank you for what you do.

Any other comments from the the diet, I mean from the public.

No.

I did have one thing.

Uh, you okay go ahead?

Yeah, I just want to call it so I know you mentioned partnerships, and I think um it's we're at a really good time right now.

I know that uh council just met with the county to do just that to start this dialogue, and I know that we're gonna be meeting with the school district at some point.

So I think this is actually a really really exciting time to see how we can have these partnerships.

I had already um started the conversation once you reached out.

So everybody who was previously part of the Snow Angels is coming back.

Um the head of the Department of Revenue, which was one of my biggest fans, he's even uh coming out saying um, you know, let me know what we can do.

Uh I think that what's what's amazing is that we're at a time, like you said, that we can use technology, so I don't need a whiteboard and big city maps.

I can actually and and those long-range walkie-talkies can be retired.

But I look forward to what our next steps are.

Um I know that Rick Doherty and I will and you guys will I wouldn't look forward to that small committee.

Just let me know how you see me fit.

Um, and the rest of the snow angels will be at the city council meeting if this goes forward, and they will address the crowd if you need them to.

Thank you.

Thank you, Milago.

Thank you so much.

Um, any other comments from the um Oh, wait, I do I get a bigger cage.

Um I'm pretty sure that it will be, yeah.

It will be bigger, no doubt about that.

Um okay, so I was just gonna say one last thing.

I I guess I'm curious what what are our next steps here?

Do we want to develop kind of direct shada mentioned like a subcommittee?

I know that was specifically for snow removal processes or snow emergencies, but you know, kind of what where do we want to leverage this?

Is this something that you know does it start from the private side or the nonprofit side?

Does it do we want to spearhead this or maybe we we talk about it, you know?

I think that I think that we should talk a little bit more about it, you know, because we want this to we want to do this right.

You know, I mean, I um like I mentioned before, I was around when the snoops when the snow angel, you know, were doing their thing, and it was really effective.

But again, we need to talk about more regarding what what is it that we're gonna do because we're gonna we need to talk about liability, you know what I mean?

We need to talk about insurance, we need to talk about um if it's gonna be you know a nonprofit.

Now we know that you know uh Mr.

Doherty, he's he's more than willing to do it, so that's you know, that's positive.

But you know, we just we just want to talk a little bit more about um insurance and and you know to lay things you know cor correctly.

This the city clerk's office can explore it and build options out for you guys to review.

Definitely, but the most important thing is that we start it, you know, that we started and and we like it, and uh, you know, uh it's always room for you know for improvement, you know.

And this will unite us.

This this will unite the community, and that's what we need.

You know, we need to share some love, you know what I mean, throughout the community, right?

Definitely.

So with that, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.