City Council Hearing on Snow Program Revival - May 6, 2026
City Council Hearing on Snow Program Revival - May 6, 2026
The City Council held a hearing on the evening of May 6, 2026, to gather testimony on past snow removal assistance programs in Allentown. The meeting focused on the historical 'Snow Angels' program and similar initiatives, aiming to inform potential revival efforts. Former Councilwoman Pam Barconi and Rick Doherty from Lehigh Valley Active Life provided key testimony, and council members discussed logistics, volunteer recruitment, and collaboration with the school district.
Testimony of Former Councilwoman Pam Barconi
- Pam Barconi described the original snow removal program she helped create during her tenure, which was a cooperative effort between the city and Lehigh County. The program used nonviolent juvenile offenders on probation from the county as laborers to fulfill community service hours.
- The program was largely funded through donations: a pickup truck valued at $15,000 from Out in Chevrolet and shovels, salt, and equipment from Home Depot, minimizing taxpayer expense.
- Residents called City Hall, which coordinated with the police department and the county to deploy crews. Barconi emphasized the program was a 'win-win,' providing needed service to residents and positive affirmation to the youth, who often received thanks and hugs from homeowners.
- The only drawback was that the number of calls overwhelmed available labor—there were not enough juveniles on probation to meet demand. The program ran for several years after she left council.
Testimony of Rick Doherty (Lehigh Valley Active Life)
- Rick Doherty recalled that former Mayor Palawski revived a similar program, which ran for about four to six years until approximately 2018. At that time, the Allentown School District had a 40-hour community service requirement for graduation, providing student volunteers. When that requirement ended, volunteer numbers dropped, and the program ceased.
- Doherty stated that Lehigh Valley Active Life handled coordination: they would collect lists of seniors and students, match them, and follow up. The organization is willing to resume that coordinating role if a solid core of volunteers is identified first.
- He noted practical challenges: the program focused on sidewalk compliance with code, but sometimes requests expanded to clearing around cars, which he considered dangerous. He recommended limiting the scope to public sidewalks.
- There were no income requirements; the program also assisted residents with disabilities. It was citywide, but landlords could not request service—only tenants or homeowners. Coordination with the city's code enforcement (Sweep) to avoid ticketing before service was not done previously but was suggested.
Discussion Items
- Council members asked about the juvenile offender program and whether it could be restarted. The distinction was made between the county–city program using probationary youth and the school-based student volunteer program. The student community service requirement for graduation no longer exists, but council members expressed interest in partnering with school clubs or teams (e.g., wrestling, soccer) for volunteer labor.
- Council President mentioned that a workshop with the Allentown School District is already scheduled for June 23, 2026 (a Tuesday), and the snow program revival will be added to that agenda. He cited a comment from Ms. Ortega about the potential for football teams to adopt blocks for elderly residents.
- The Director of Public Works, Mr. Shatter, voiced full support and noted the department's willingness to assist, but stressed that committed volunteers are critical for long-term success.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken.
- A workshop with the Allentown School District is scheduled for June 23, 2026, and the snow program revival will be discussed.
- Lehigh Valley Active Life offered to handle coordination of volunteers and homeowners if a stable volunteer base is established.
- Council members and staff expressed enthusiasm for reviving the program, with an emphasis on finding reliable volunteers and defining clear scope (sidewalk clearing only, not driveways or cars).
Note: No agenda or minutes were available for this meeting; the summary is based solely on the raw transcript.
Meeting Transcript
Mr. Hanlon, you can do a roll call. Ms. Moda here. Mr. Pungo. Here. And Ms. Appa. Here. You are all here. Awesome. Good evening, everyone. The purpose of this meeting is to hear testimony of previous snow program in the city. And uh before we move into uh this discussion, I just want to take a moment to recognize someone really, really special who's who is with us tonight. We're lucky to have former councilwoman Pam Barconi here with us. I'm so excited. It is amazing meeting you. I heard so many wonderful things about you, by the way. Pam has been a big part of Valentine's story. During her time on council, she brought a real sense of care, thoughtfulness, and commitment to the to the work, especially when it came to making sure people weren't falling through the cracks. A lot of the conversation we're having tonight, especially around programs like Snow Angels, built off of the kind of uh groundwork that Pam helped put in place. And I think it's really important that as we look at how to improve and grow these efforts, we also take the time to learn from the people who help shape them in the first place. Pam has always led with heart, but also with a clear understanding of how to turn ideas into something that actually works for residents. And that is exactly the perspective we need right now. So, Pam, thank you for everything you're giving us to this city. And thank you for being here with us tonight. We really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. And um we decided that we try and put together a cooperative effort with the county. So I went to then county executive Jane Baker and explained the general concept to her. She approved the county's cooperation, so it became a joint effort between the city and the county, which I think quite frankly is a wonderful model for uh cooperation and joint effort. And what we did was we started to use the juvenile offenders, nonviolent offenders from the county as the laborer because they needed to work off their community service hours. And this was a way for them to do it. The program came together with the help of uh then police officer, and I'm sorry, I don't remember his exact title, but he was a member of the police force. Michael, do you remember his community relations person? Yeah, community liaison officer or something, and by the way, Michael Hanlon was also very instrumental in putting this together. I'm sure all of you who have worked with him know how important Michael is to making this city run. So we um we got in touch with uh with Mal Mollinotti, and he got in touch with his counterpart in the county, and they handled the the kids who were going to be doing the labor, and they you know qualified them, and who was you know behaving well enough to be part of this program because it was like an honor to be part of this program. So that was a wonderful motivation for the kids to you know do what they were told to do. We um we were able to get uh there was a lot of momentum behind this, and uh I was a pretty good salesperson, if I do say so myself. So uh we got a uh pickup truck donated by Out in Chevrolet. Uh at that time it was valued at $15,000, and uh they donated a pickup truck to us and Home Depot donated all of our shovels and salt and equipment. Uh so the program did not require very much input from taxpayer dollars at all. Uh it was pretty much a free program. And the people would call into City Hall, Allentown handled the um the calls, and then those I Michael, was it your office that took the calls? We took the calls, yeah. And uh put the list together, had a spreadsheet uh of where the people were located, what they needed, and that information went to Al Malinotti and the Allentown police department, then he coordinated with his counterpart in the county, and they would go out with the kids and they'd chaperone them and they'd set up a you know a map, they'd take on a certain area and they'd go out that day and cover that area. Um it was extremely successful because it was such a win-win for everybody. The city looked like they were giving this free service to the citizens. Uh the county looked good because they were providing the labor, and what was the biggest winner out of it all were the kids.
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