Mr.

Tega, we are here for my committee's present along with two other council feet.

Yeah, Miss Uh Chair Affa.

Yes.

Ms.

Smota?

Here.

Emma Santos.

Here.

Madam Chair, you're all here.

Okay.

Actually, you want to read the bill?

Yep.

So Bill 42 amends the 2026 general fund budget to provide for 136, 319 dollars from the general fund unappropriated balance to the fire department operating budget for additional cost to support a second fire academy in 2026.

All right.

Chief, do you have anything to add to this?

All right, so I'll make this brief.

Uh first and foremost, I want to thank Frank Cain and the city administration.

They recognize that this is also EMS week.

Um they're being recognized on the website and throughout the entire United States for their work that they do on a regular basis here in the city of Allentown.

Um as far as Bill 42, this is we're asking uh for a transfer of 136,319 dollars.

As we each and every year that we continue to do uh um this academy, we find ourselves like towards the middle of the year or close to this time of the year or into the into the second half of the year with um with vacancies that sometimes like this here is gonna be up to nine individuals.

So we typically only hold one academy um in the first half of the year, and then but what happens is we won't see another academy until January, so then we have a vacancy that'll occur from the beginning of the year sometimes, and this year for some reason we had more retirements early in the year, and we also had two resignations, so now we're up to nine positions.

Uh so we would like, I mean, that's a request that we were making was to be able to run a second academy to cover the overtime costs that are used that are used for this purpose.

Um all of our training is conducted by our members of the fire department, which is a reason why we have now Scranton, Chester, Wolfesbury, Lancaster talking about it.

We have multiple organizations outside of the city, City of Bethlehem, Easton also, which we've done over the years.

Uh but because we're bringing in so much on that end, we're asking that we are afforded the opportunity to be able to run a second academy to be able to fill that void towards the end of the year.

So we're now incurring the overtime at the end of the year for nine vacancies all the way up through until January when we have another academy again.

So that's the purpose of this request.

Okay.

Do I have any questions from my committee?

Seeing none.

Anything from the audience.

Okay, do I have a motion?

I would like to make a motion to move this forward favorably in front of whole council.

I'll second that motion.

Okay.

We have any uh I'll say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

No, real quick, just remember our paramedics.

Uh, if you see them out there, just from uh just recognize them, say hello, say thank you.

Uh we were a part of the uh Fiesta on Hamilton.

We did it.

Uh we had a group of individuals there between fire police and EMS.

We maintain um the safety of the resident, I mean you know anybody, other the visitors and residents throughout the uh um you know the fiesta itself, and it was it was well uh well maintained and well I the major everybody out there throughout the event was uh very well behaved.

There were no issues within the the actual event itself.

So I I take pride in being able to say that I think that between our EMA office, our fire police and EMS, and again we also had state police assisting, we got Leah County assisting, and it just turned out to be a really good event.

So thank you.

Okay, thank you, Chief.

That I agree, it was uh a group effort.

Thank you for all that you did because with 40,000 people, I mean, and no incident, um, and then the next day clean.

I mean, you guys, you guys did an amazing job, you know.

So so thank you for all that you guys do.

You know, the police department, you know, the fire fight.

I mean, I mean emt- I mean, you name it.

You guys did a great job.

Thank you.

Yeah, it was really impressive collaboration with all all the agencies that were there.

And that that I mean that's again, it's one of those things where we decided to stand up almost like an EOC for emergency management purposes.

And uh again, there's always things that we can do better, and that's what how we learn how to continue to do it.

I mean, we had air monitoring, uh air quality monitoring.

We had uh bomb techs going throughout just to make sure that the event was safe, that there was nothing out of the ordinary in the area, and that's uh and it was consistent.

We also have to thank the city of Bethlehem because they provided some of the equipment that afforded us the ability to do the air quality monitoring.

And the county also was like I said with the county sheriffs and some of their staff from the AMA office.

So it was a good great collaboration to all of us with those.

I really do appreciate that.

I want to make sure that the agencies that they're being thanked also.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um right now, uh, I'm gonna give an update on the uh quality of life ordinance review.

I was hoping there'd be more of the public here because this is our first update on the quality of life um task force.

Um I know this is the season where we're having a lot of quality of life issues with the noise the mufflers uh and I just want the public to know that we have created this task force for precisely this reason to help you with the quality of life issues.

So I'm gonna give you an update.

Uh, and the chief will also be here for an update on our very first meeting.

Uh, I want to provide a brief update on the quality of life task force that was recently established to address ongoing concerns across the city.

We officially held our first meeting, which brought together representatives from city council, the administration, the police department, DCR, and public works.

The goal of this task force is to create solution or oriented approach to the quality of life issues that residents consistently raise.

All of us on council here from hear from residents across the city who continue to express frustration regarding loud music, modified vehicle mufflers, fireworks, and other nuisance noise issues that impact daily quality of life in our neighborhoods.

One thing that has become very clear is that residents want action, consistency, and accountability when it comes to these concerns.

This is why our that is why our first meeting focused heavily on noise related issues.

The discussion focused not only on enforcement challenges, but also identifying practical tools, reviewing best practices and from other missionalities and improving coordination between departments moving forward.

I appreciate the product the practical I'm sorry, today I'm having a problem.

I appreciate the uh product the productivity dialogue from everyone involved.

Our second meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, which I believe is tomorrow.

We'll focus on DCR reviews, enforcement mechanisms, and identifying areas where processes can be strengthened.

This task force is not intended to be a committee that simply discusses problems.

The objective is to develop to develop practical, enforceable, long-term solutions that improve quality of life for it for residents in every neighborhood throughout the city.

I look forward to continuing this work and providing future updates as the task force progresses.

At this time, I'd like to invite Chief Charles Roca to provide additional insight into discussions surrounding noise concerns.

Chief Oka.

Good evening, Council, and thank you.

Before I begin my talk about the quality of life, I also want to just bring up that this past weekend we experienced the loss of life.

And I just want to acknowledge the life of the person that lived.

And I want the community to know that we are nonstop seeking justice.

Part of addressing crime of that magnitude is for our whole community to be involved, the police, the nonprofits, and everyone.

So I invite people that want to get involved to do so, and that leads in to our quality of life task force.

I want to thank counsel uh person Candida Affa, chair of the public safety committee, for her summary of the quality of life task force.

Like our residents, I share a deep frustration caused by disruptive behaviors in our community.

Loud music, excessive vehicle noise, unauthorized fireworks, illegal dirt bikes on our roadways.

They have a negative impact on everyone's peace of mind.

Our quality of life task force has created a dedicated working group that has representation from the police department, parks, community economic development, public works, and city council.

Together we are analyzing data to address these issues effectively and to come up with solutions through legislation.

During our first meeting, I shared a detailed noise complaint analysis spanning from 2022 through April of 2026.

I want to share some of the findings.

The peak hours of noise complaints occur between 7 p.m.

and 2 a.m.

The days of the week where we see the most activity is during Saturday and Sunday.

The most cited violations for sweep tickets or citations are issued for loud music coming from our residents from our homes, followed by amplified sound from vehicles.

That could be anything with a vehicle playing loud music, things of that nature.

The G an interesting one, geographic mapping showed us exactly which neighbors neighborhoods have seen shifts in noise complaints over the last few years.

So you can really see in what sections of the city the noise complaints have reduced or dropped by more than 10%, and also others where it has risen above 10%.

We as a police department want to make sure that the quality of life enjoyed by people is increased throughout our neighborhoods.

Active enforcement remains a top priority for the police department.

However, we do need the help of our community.

I encourage residents to report what they see and hear.

Please call our communication center directly or use our TIP 411 platform to report ongoing repetitive issues.

Having said that, the Allentown Police Department is exploring new technology which we would want to leverage to utilize modern tools to better identify and sanction motorists who operate disruptive vehicles to our roads on our roads.

During these collaborative sessions, we're which are ongoing, we are partnering with City Council to develop legislation that empowers our department to effectively resolve community quality of life concerns.

And with that, I thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Are any uh comments from my colleagues on the task force?

Any questions?

Any questions from the um public.

Thank you, Chief.

And I'm hoping to after tomorrow, we will uh tomorrow is going to be uh DCR and noise abatement, and uh we I hopefully every month we'll have an update on and we may revisit uh if we feel that the noise problem we're having problems you have to understand this isn't this is not a committee where we're just we are trying to solve these problems if we have to create new laws.

We look at municipalities, we look at every corner of every law that we can use, every tool the police department can use to try because I believe this is our number one problem is quality of life and uh noise.

The noise is the top the top part of it.

So um every month I'm hoping that um we can have a lot more, and we may uh have a report on the nuisance abatement, but uh we may have more reports on the the noise also.

Okay, so thank you, Chief.

And I just want to acknowledge and thank council for being present at the various events for police week that we had last week with our first annual flag raising of the national law enforcement memorial flag, our groundbreaking police accommodation ceremony and memorial service as well as the promotion ceremony.

So thank you.

Okay.

Um moving on.

What do we have next?

Um approval of the minutes of January 21st public safety meeting.

Any questions on the minutes?

No.

Okay.

Um thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Council starts at 6 30.