Public Safety Committee Meeting - March 18, 2026
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Public Safety Committee Meeting - March 18, 2026
The Allentown Public Safety Committee met on March 18, 2026, at 6:25 PM in Council Chambers to discuss Bill 22, a supplemental appropriation of $15,000 from the Pennsylvania Office of the State Fire Commissioner grant for the Fire and EMS Department. The committee voted unanimously to forward the bill favorably to the full council.
Discussion Items
- Bill 22 – OSFC Grant Allocation: The committee considered a supplemental appropriation of $15,000 to the 2026 General Fund Budget from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Office of the State Fire Commissioner (OSFC) grant for the Allentown Fire and EMS Department. A department representative explained that this is a yearly allotment for eligible fire and EMS agencies. Allentown EMS applied and received $15,000 to purchase four EMS bicycles (replacing bikes over 10 years old) and one portable ventilator. The ventilator will allow transport of patients on ventilators from extended care facilities (e.g., nursing homes) who otherwise could not be moved safely. The representative noted the goal is to eventually acquire six ventilators, phasing in one at a time with additional funding.
- Committee questions: Committee members asked about the ventilator’s use and confirmed that one unit was sufficient initially. No questions were raised by citizens.
Key Outcomes
- Motion and vote: Chair Affa called for a motion to move Bill 22 favorably to council. A motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously by voice vote (all ayes). The bill will be forwarded to the full Allentown City Council for further consideration.
Meeting Transcript
22 amends the 2026 general fund budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of $15,000 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Office of the State Fire Commissioner grant to the Allentown Fire and EMS department for the purchase of equipment. Right, would you like to make any comments? Yes, uh thank you. Members of council, this is a yearly allotment offered by the Office of the State Fire Commissioner for eligible fire and EMS agencies. Allentown EMS once again applied for the grant, and we were allotted $15,000 for a project not otherwise covered in our budget. This year's project, uh we will be purchasing four EMS bicycles to replace some of our aging bikes uh greater than 10 years old. Um, and a portable ventilator for patients who are either on a ventilator at home or for the Good Shepherd uh Raker Center type facilities where a patient is on a ventilator and we might have to transport them where otherwise we wouldn't have had a ventilator to utilize on that transport. Could you explain about the ventilator again? Sure. Um if somebody's at an extended care facility like a nursing home or uh rehabilitation and they're on a ventilator. Um a lot of times when they call 911 to have that person taken to a hospital because they've gotten worse or because um something's happened to them, we're not able to transport them on a ventilator because the ones they have at the facilities are not portable. So we're looking to purchase at this time one portable ventilator to keep on our shift supervisor vehicle that can be mobilized for these type calls, and there's a litany of other types of calls we can use it for, but that's that was uh the basic reasoning was be um because to take them and manually control their airway isn't good for the patient in the long run, so we want to give them the boss or the best possible solution, which would be to have a ventilator. No, I agree. One would be sufficient. No, but they're very expensive, and we're gonna phase them in one at a time and seek other funding to try to get that number up to at least six. Yeah, okay, thank you. Do you have any questions from my committee? No. Any questions from uh citizens? No. See none. So I have a motion, please. I would like to make a motion to move this second. I'll second that motion. Okay, uh, everybody say aye. All in favor, aye. Aye. All right. This will be moved favorably to the council. Thank you. That's the end of this meeting. Thank you.
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