Um, we're gonna kick off um city council meeting uh April 1st, 2026.

Um, and we're gonna start with an invocation and a moment of silence for a gentleman named Dave Snyder.

Um Dave Snyder um served in the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, um, but he also worked as a civil engineer for the city of Allentown for 44 years.

Um he also was a photographer and a chronicler of local musicians and the local music scene.

He was especially fond of blues, and that includes blues festivals like Blues Bruce and Barbecue locally every year.

Um he was also a long time long-term member of the Recreation Board and the A Youth Program, and he was also a coach at Deeruff and Mountainville for many years.

Um Dave was an active bowler and coach, uh, and he also played on the City Hall Bowling League for 50 years.

So this is a gentleman that was as Allentown as it gets, um, and unfortunately, Mr.

Snyder passed away.

Um, there is a memorial service set on Saturday, April 11th at 11 a.m.

So uh just wanted to mention that um all Allentown gentlemen, and uh we pass on our condolences from the city of Allentown.

Um so with that said, we will um do an invocation in a moment of silence.

Thank you.

And pledge allegiance, pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States in America, which is one issue under a roll call, please.

Mr.

Bender, present, Miss Gerlock, here, Miss Moda here, Mr.

Pungo, here, Miss Santos here, Mr.

Napoli.

Here and Miss Affa is absent.

We have six people present.

Okay, thank you.

Uh we're gonna start with courtesy of the floor.

Uh this is courtesy of floor for anything that's not on the agenda this evening.

And if there are anyone who filled in a card.

We have no courtesy of the floor.

Okay.

So we'll move along to contract approvals.

Uh we have one this evening, uh, looks like R 49.

R 49 is the authorization for contract with GIS LLC in the amount of 82,400 to plan and design a new irrigation system for the Allentown Municipal Golf Course.

Four proposals are received, one was rejected.

Contract shall be for two years with three additional one-year renewals before the contract expiration period.

Okay, thank you.

And um any um any questions or comments from the dias or and that includes for the administration.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the public on R 49?

Okay.

Uh Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Ms.

Girloch.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have six years and no nays.

Okay, thank you.

Uh we'll move along to uh minutes of our previous meeting from March 18th.

Mr.

Binder.

Yes.

Ms.

Skerlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have six CAs and no nays.

Okay.

Um also want to remind visitors to all city council meetings.

Uh, they're encouraged to park in the government deck next door to City Hall and to please see our city clerk for a chaser to pay for your parking.

Uh, any old business this evening?

Okay.

Um, we're gonna jump into reports.

Um, I do want to uh mention city council will be holding um a few several a few special meetings.

Uh first is April 8th at 6 p.m.

Uh, that's a discussion with uh Allentown Park and Authority executive John Haney, April 22nd at 6 p.m.

Uh discussion with Anisda executive director, Steve Bamford, and April 29th at 530 for discussion with AEDC executive director Scott Unger, followed by a review of a bill for the encampment legislation, which should begin approximately 6:30 p.m.

The meetings with uh the APA, Anisda, and AEDC are to better understand the operations of other entities in Allentown and how they're achieving their goals.

It also gives them an opportunity to share what initiatives they are currently performing, along with plans for the future, and lastly helps council identify any potential collaborations.

Moving along, budget and finance, uh Chair Pungo.

The committee has not met since the last uh council meeting, and the next meeting isn't scheduled yet.

Thank you.

Uh community and economic development, Chair Gurlock.

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

The next meeting hasn't been scheduled yet.

Thank you.

And uh human resources administration and appointment, Chair Binder.

Thank you, President Neppeli.

Um the committee has not been since the last uh council meeting, and there are no future meetings scheduled.

Thank you.

Parks and recreation, Chair Santos.

Thanks.

The committee met this evening, and the next meeting is scheduled for April 15th at 6.15 p.m.

Thank you.

Uh public safety is chair office committee.

Uh the committee met this evening.

There are no future meetings scheduled at this time.

Uh public works, um, Chair Mota.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

The committee met this evening in the next meeting schedule for April 15th at 5 30 p.m.

Thank you.

And rules, chambers, intergovernmental relations, and strategy.

This committee has not met since the last council meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 8th at 5 45 p.m.

On to our controller's report.

Mr.

Glazer, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

I do have a report for council in the public this evening.

It is an accounts payable weekly check review.

Uh the check period is the 4th of March till the 27th of March this year.

Um we reviewed 323 checks and wires in that period for a little bit less than $6 million, and there were eight manual checks for 84,000.

Um first finding we have is a non-compliance with the travel aim.

If you're going to take a trip, you're gonna go to a conference, you're gonna go someplace.

Uh first you fill out a TRA saying what you're gonna do, and then when you return from the trip, you fill out a TER.

Um, and then we can audit expenses against these forms.

Um in this instance, we found that an employee went to a um a conference.

They did not stay overnight, they communicated daily, and they the mileage was expense to account 28.

It should have been expense to account 34.

And the difference is account 28 is if we're using a vehicle for business, we're going to pick up a supply, or for the police for going to pick up a prisoner, as opposed to account 34, which is what we use for training purposes.

Okay.

Um, so it took a little while to get to the bottom of this because the TRA nor TER had been um had been submitted.

Uh the department did submit them, and the check was released.

We have three checks that were expensed to the wrong uh expense account.

The departments were advised, and um entries were corrected.

There were 15 instances of untimely payment of invoices, and by that we mean the invoice was older than 60 days.

The departments were advised, they explained the reasons, and the checks were all released.

And finally, um auditing runs on documentation.

Documentation needs to be in munis to support expense.

There were seven um instances where documentation was not originally uploaded, the departments were advised, the documentation was uploaded and the checks were released.

And that serves my report.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Glazier.

Uh moving along, um, mayor's report.

Did you have to I did not submit anything, but very briefly uh appreciate council uh approving or confirming the appointment of Frank Cain as our managing director.

Start date is going to be May 13th for Mr.

Cade.

Um he's completing his time at the county, uh, but he's continuing to engage with various different folks in the administration and partners to make sure that he hits the ground running for to notify council.

My expectation is that Mr.

Cade will be attending city council meetings as the mayor's designee.

So get used to seeing uh Frank Cade joining you on uh first and third Wednesday, and he should be able to answer uh any questions that city council has in advance.

I encourage you to use uh Ms.

Kane as your contact point for the mayor's office, and uh hopefully everything will go smoothly after that.

Uh wanted also report briefly that we held an Easter egg hunt for uh Allentown City Kids, had about 400 kids attend uh last mar uh last Saturday.

Uh very few crying kids.

I think everybody got uh an egg or at least some uh chocolates.

Uh so a lot of smiling kids enjoying time with Easter Binding and uh did an amazing job bringing our community together.

Um looking forward to to seeing you all at future events like that one and that's the extent of my report, Mr.

President.

All right, thank you.

And just to clarify, is it May 13th or April 13th?

Did I say May?

You said May.

Okay, uh April 30th.

Correct.

So confirm April 13th will be a start day.

That's correct.

Okay.

Although I tell you, and I think you all know this, his email address is active, so you can start filling his inbox with things that you want him to answer, and you can start scheduling meetings with him uh putting on the calendar now, and then he'll be very surprised when he finds everything on uh April 13th.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Uh moving along, we're gonna go to uh ordinances for final passage.

Uh we'll start with Bill 23.

Bill 23 amends the 2026 Trexler Fund Springwood budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of $13,468 and 81 cents from the Springwood Trust portion of the Trexler funds unappropriated 2026 balance per General Truxler's will.

Okay, thank you.

And this was in uh Chair of Santos committee.

Any feedback from the committee?

This was forwarded favorably to full council.

Okay, thank you.

Um and any questions or comments from the dais.

Um any questions, comments from the public?

Okay.

Call the vote.

Mr.

Bender, yes, Miss Gerlock, yes, Miss Moda, yes, Mr.

Pungo, yes, Miss Santos, yes, and Mr.

Napoli.

Yes, Mr.

President, I have six years and no nays.

Thank you.

Um next up is Bill 24.

Bill 24 amends the 2026 capital fund budget to provide for an increase of 1,087,039 to fund the upgrade to the intersection of 19th Street and Roth Avenue as part of the Green Light Go grant the city was awarded.

This grant is partially reimbursable and requires match funding.

Okay, thank you.

And this was in Miss Moda's committee this evening.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

President.

This was uh forward favorably uh to full council.

Okay, great.

Uh any questions or comments from my colleagues?

There's just one.

Go ahead, Mr.

Pungo.

So uh just during the meeting we discussed that this is a matching grant, so we will be matching 199,000 roughly of it.

There was a note of 89,000 being a supplemental appropriation coming from the general fund.

So I just want to know uh I'll be reaching out to the director of finance to just make sure, you know, just kind of how we're uh appropriating that and where the transfers are coming from, but otherwise I'm all for it.

And and I think that the positive thing of this is that we get the money, and then later we can give them the 89,000 dollars for less positive.

Absolutely.

Yeah, okay.

And any other questions or comments from the public on bill 24?

Okay, can you call a vote, please?

Bill 24, uh Mr.

Bender, yes, Miss Gerlock, yes, Miss Moda, yes, Mr.

Pungo, yes, Miss Santos, yes, Mr.

Napoli.

Yes, Mr.

President, I have sixties and no nays.

Okay, and on to our consent agenda.

There's one item on the agenda this evening.

This is R50, the sewage planning modular ASD SSD LIA modular building.

Okay, any questions or comments on R50 consent agenda?

Any questions or comments from the public?

Okay.

Uh Ms.

Gerlock, yes.

Miss Moda, yes, Mr.

Pungo, yes, Miss Santos, yes, Mr.

Napoli, yes, and Mr.

Bender, yes, Mr.

President.

I have six A's and no nays.

Okay, thank you.

Uh next up, we have resolutions for final passage, and we'll start with R51.

R51 is a resolution of the City of Allentown Commonwealth of Pennsylvania supporting the Pennsylvania Commission for the United States semi-concentenal America 250 PA.

Okay, thank you.

Any comments or questions from the administration on this on R51?

Looking forward to celebrating the 250th officially uh here in the city of Allentown with your approval.

Okay.

And any questions, comments from the dais or the public on R 51.

Okay.

Uh Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Uh Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

And Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have 60 A's and no A's.

Okay.

And next up is R52.

R52 is a resolution of the City of Allentown, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, confirming the administration sale of city-owned real property at 1001 to 1007 West Hamilton Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Identified as tax map parcel number 549699-283455 to the Allentown Art Museum.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions or comments?

I'm sorry, any comments from the administration on this resolution?

Just by way of brief introduction.

So about two years ago, council gave the administration permission to dispose of the property at 10th and Hamilton where our police are currently mustering.

They give me permission to enter into this allowed us to put it into or onto the market in collaboration with the Allentown Parking Authority.

At the time, the intent was to transact the property to for the city to sell it to the Allentown Parking Authority and then for the Allentown Parking Authority to bundle the two parcels, the city-owned property and the Allentown Parking Authority property and sell those to uh whoever the highest or the appropriate bidder was.

We have uh we're now at the point where we had a bidder, you know it was the Allentown Art Museum.

We're we have an agreement of sale.

We're looking for council to uh now instead of the initial resolution gave me permission to execute an agreement.

Now we're saying the agreement will be with the Allentown Art Museum uh where we'll transact directly to the art museum and then the parking authority will transact their property directly to the art museum.

The hope is that we'll be able to uh close more expeditiously uh through this process.

So it's a simple resolution that uh allows us to sell directly to the art museum.

Okay.

Uh thanks for the background.

Any comments from the dais on R 52?

I'm just I'm just glad that it's the art museum who's purchasing it.

Um but like what is the plan?

Are they planning to demolish it and build?

Or they're planning to so I can speak uh the intent, I believe, and I haven't seen full plans from the art museum, but as part of the presentation as part of the RFP, the intent is to build a new multi-story art museum at the corner of 10th and Hamilton uh on top of the site of the what will be the former, I guess it goes back to it was a fur retailer at some point, but they'll demolish the building at 10th and Hamilton and build something for the downtown.

Nice.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um any comments from the public on R52.

Okay.

Uh can you call the vote, please?

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Miss Gerlock, yes.

Miss Moda, yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos, yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have six years and no names.

Okay, thank you.

Uh, next up we have ordinance ordinances for introduction.

Uh, we will start with Bill 26.

Bill 26 amends Article 8, Allentown Parking Authority by removing the requirement that a member of the parking authority must also be a representative of the AEDC, allowing the mayor to designate and counsel to approve any resident of the city of Allentown.

Okay.

Any comments from the public on bill 26.

Okay.

What was the problem before?

That we're removing the requirement.

Oh, so current so currently um a board member of the parking authority must come from the AEDC board.

And this this bill removes that requirement that enables it to be any resident of the city of Allentown versus someone from the AEDC board.

Just me, I think uh it will make uh the board a little more uh diverse.

Definitely no, and uh a little more community-oriented.

But I just a note of appreciation to council for this is the original ordinance that created the Allentown Parking Authority in 1984 called for the members of the parking authority to be the director of finance for the city of Allentown, a representative from City Council, a representative from the Allentown Economic Development Corporation, and two members of the public at large.

Sort of a very different time in Allentown's history, and I appreciate council taking a look at some of those older ordinances to bring them more in line with where we are right now to Council of President Napoli's point.

This will allow us to not be constrained to a member of the Allentown Economic Development Corporation, but to look more broadly.

I would still take the opportunity to make the pitch.

There are vacancies on all of our boards and commissions.

If you are a member of the public, if you're out there listening, and you're a resident of the city of Allentown, I invite you to check out the board's authorities and commissions page on the Allentown PA.gov webpage and learn more about ways that you can contribute to uh public service here in the city of Allentown, whether it's as a member of the parking authority or the redevelopment authority or the Board of Parks and Recreation.

Dave Snyder served our city for decades as a member of that board, and it was a much appreciated contribution.

And I encourage everybody to get involved and do their part for the city.

Thank you for the background.

Thank you.

I think that is important.

For sure.

To know this information.

Okay.

Any any comments from the public?

Okay, we're gonna refer Bill 26 to Rules, Chambers, Intergovernmental Relations Committee.

That's uh my committee.

Uh moving along, Bill 27.

Bill 27 amends the 2026 Capital Fund Budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of 800,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to support construction of the MLK trail phase two.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the public on Bill 27?

Okay.

We're gonna refer this to a parks and rec committee that's Ms.

Santos Committee.

Thank you.

Uh Bill 28.

Bill 28 amends the 2026 general fund budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of $16,000 from Urban Sustainability Directors Network to conduct a pilot citizen science project with the City of Easton, Community Bikeworks, and Penn State University.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the public on Bill 28?

Okay, this will also be referred to Ms.

Anto's Committee Parks and Rec.

Thank you.

Um Bill 29.

Bill 29 amends the 2026 capital fund budget to provide for an increase of five million fifty thousand dollars to fund the approved public works capital projects as part of the 2026 capital borrowing.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the public?

Bill 29.

Okay, this will be referred to our public works committee that's Ms.

Moto's committee.

Thank you.

Welcome.

And last one is Bill 30.

Bill 30 amends the 2026 Trexler General and Gulf Funds to accommodate a change in grade title and FCD for the project coordinator position in parks and recreation to project manager to align with job duties and allow for consistent staffing and professional project management in parks and recreation.

The entirety of this increase will be covered by the Truxler fund in 2026 and all future years by way of increasing the portion of salary paid by Trexler.

Okay.

Um any questions or comments from the public on Bill 30?

Okay, we're gonna refer this to uh Miss Santos Committee, Parks and Recreation Committee.

Thank you.

And there are no resolutions for introduction.

Any good and welfare this evening?

That's all we have, so I'll adjourn this meeting.

Thank you.