Okay, we're gonna kick off this uh city council meeting uh May 20th, 2026.

And uh we're gonna start with uh our normal invocation.

I wanted uh I would like to include first a moment of silence for um for the tragic death of a young man last Friday.

And I would also like to mention we lost uh Hal Warner, who uh made an impact at the Allentown Rescue Mission and the Lehab Alley Humane Society.

Um so just a moment of silence, and we'll start that now.

Thank you.

Okay.

She's already what was she saying?

Okay, we'll start with a roll call.

Uh Ms.

Gerlock.

Here, Miss Santos, here, Mr.

Bender, President, Miss Moda, Mr.

Napoli.

Here, Mr.

Pungo.

Here, Miss Affa?

Here.

Mr.

President, you're all here.

Okay.

Um, we're gonna move the courtesy of the floor.

Um, this is for um pub members of the public to for comments that are not on the agenda.

And um we got any cards?

Yeah, Jeannie Garcia.

Okay.

Hi, everyone.

Jeannie Garcia, 208 South 13th Street.

Good evening, President and members, City Council, I would say mayor, but he's not here.

Community members and neighbors.

My name is Jeannie Garcia, and tonight I stand before you not only as a resident of Allentown and someone who works alongside our community every day, but as someone who understands personally what it means to lose a child to gun violence and what that means to turn pain into purpose.

Before I speak about policy or funding, I want to speak about a young man, Simel Mason, who was brutally murdered on Friday at the McDonald's on East Side in the 22nd District.

This weekend, we lost Timel Mason to gun violence.

And while we honor his life tonight, I also have to acknowledge a difficult truth.

That night could have resulted in even more loss.

Nearby eighth graders, eighth grade students from Lincoln Leadership Charter School had just attended their eighth grade dance.

Like so many young people do after celebrating with friends, they gathered at a nearby McDonald's, laughing, spending time together, and simply being kids.

But in a matter of moments, what should have been a normal excuse me, what should have been a normal sorry, in a matter of moments, which should have been a normal childhood memory became someone something much heavier.

Children who who should have been talking about music friendships the summer and moving on to high school instead found themselves exposed to fear, chaos, and trauma.

That should have stopped all of us in our tracks right now.

Because when our youth cannot safely enjoy something as ordinary as spending time with friends after a school dance, we have to ask ourselves harder questions.

It's not about blame, but about responsibility.

What are we doing collectively to create communities where young people feel safe?

Because public safety is not only about what happens after violence.

And that night, community showed us what prevention and care could look like.

I want to recognize Priscilla Reyes.

She's from the city's events department.

While shopping at Hair World with her own children, and her mother parked outside in the car.

As she came outside, she saw a bunch of eighth grade students dressed in formal wear, running outside of McDonald's in fear of their life.

She gathered those kids very heroically without even thinking of herself or her own child inside and got those students safely inside Hairworld and got them safely into the back of the store with the door locked for them, stayed with them while they called their family to pick them up.

Not only did she do that, she then went outside again to retrieve her mother that was still in the car.

She heard a young man saying, Help me.

His name again is Time Mel Mason, an 18-year-old senior student who is not graduating this year because he lost himself his life to gun violence.

That's not in her job description.

That was humanity.

That was community, and that's public safety.

I also want to recognize Lieutenant Leonard for answering the phone that night, helping guide Priscilla through an unimaginable unimaginable moment and making sure that those children remain safe.

And I want to also recognize Officer Manaya who responded to Time Mel and continuously performed CPR while waiting for EMS.

Those moments matter and those people matter.

But we cannot continue acting as individuals with heroism, asking acts of individuals with heroism to carry the weight of the system challenges.

That is why I'm here tonight.

Province Neighborhood of the Lehigh Valley was proud to be named as a collaborator and partner in the City of Allentown's Recompete application and award process.

What is now known as Allentown Works, where an approximately 20 million dollar investment through the United States Economic Development Administration.

We collaborated, we planned, and we believed in a shared vision with the city of Allentown.

That investment was designed to strengthen workforce development, improve transportation access, transportation access, expand child care access, and remove barriers that prevent families from accessing opportunity.

And I supported that vision.

We did.

But I'm asking tonight how are we making sure implementation reflects what families are experiencing right now?

Because workforce development and violence prevention are connected.

Economic mobility and public safety are connected.

If youth do not feel safe in their neighborhoods, participating in programs, getting jobs, getting to jobs, and simply being young, then workforce outcomes become harder to achieve.

At Promised Neighborhood, through our Department of Labor Workforce Development Investment, we have graduated three cohorts.

And what made that work was transformational and believing in credible messengers and violence interrupters.

People with lived experience, people with lived experience, people who reflect our neighborhoods, people who build trust because representation matters, restorative practice matters, and long-term impact matters.

And as implementation of this five-year investment continues, many of us are still asking, where is the violence prevention strategy that was promised?

How are the community organizations being engaged?

How are the youth helping shape implementation?

I also want to acknowledge something really important tonight.

The city of Allentown has reported meaningful reductions in violent crime and recorded four homicides in 2024, the lowest homicide total in decades, and the lowest since 1989.

That progress deserves recognition, but progress does not mean the work is finished.

Because for families who have lost someone, numbers do not tell the whole story.

For them, it's an empty chair, a missed graduation, a birthday that never comes, and this weekend reminded us that our work is not done here.

I understand and support, I understand and support making sure officers have a safe and functional facility.

But funding decisions, but funding decisions.

Sorry.

But funding decisions reflect values.

And when millions are invested into buildings, we should ask, what are we, what are we investing into the people?

Can we invest in facilities and prevention?

Can we invest in youth workforce pathways, mentoring, credible messengers, restorative practices, and community organizations doing this work every single day because prevention is infrastructure too.

Relationship saves lives, opportunity saves lives.

Tonight I want to say something personal.

So my ask tonight is simple.

Honor the collaborative work that brought this opportunity to Allentown.

Bring community organizations, youth and families back to the table.

Create and communicate a violence prevention strategy that complements economic investment and make funding decisions with the community, not just for the community.

We all time out more than condolences.

We owe our children action.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Jose Rivera.

Hello, hello, good afternoon.

My name is Jose.

I'm gonna keep it shorter than Jeannie.

I love Jeannie, but my name's Jose Rivera, 219, North Ninth Street.

I'm here today to talk about the rise in violence, like Genie is in our communities, especially among the youth and many, I said, especially among the youth.

Many of you stood at the press conference when the numbers were down and spoke proudly about the progress.

But now the violence has increased.

Where are those same voices?

Where's where's the urgency now?

We are watching violence move from our schools to park takeovers and now the tragic loss of a life at McDonald's.

This should be a season where we are celebrating graduations, prompts, summer opportunities, and the futures of our young people.

Instead, families are grieving, communities are traumatized, and yet another young life is gone.

And while response continues to be focused on security cameras, surveillance, and technology, I need everyone to understand one thing.

Technology cannot love a child.

Technology cannot mentor a teenager.

A system cannot replace a human connection.

These tools only respond after violence has happened, and they only document the pain.

They don't prevent it.

Prevention starts long before the police tape goes up.

It starts with relationships and trusted adults with mentors, outreach workers, counselors, coaches, and community members, willing to show up before a child feels abandoned, angry, and hopeless.

So I have to ask, where's the investment in prevention, like Ms.

Jeannie said?

Where's the funding for community programs, mental health support, youth employment, trauma services, and safe spaces?

Where's the support for the people already on the ground doing the work each and every single day?

And I know because at one point I was one of those people out in the street each and every day.

My work has shifted, but I came back today to speak about it because these are still our kids.

As community members, they're ours.

And how many times do we just sit back and continue to watch this?

Like we've seen what we know what's going on in the schools.

We've seen the park takeovers.

What are we gonna wait for?

You think this summer is gonna be nice and calm?

It's not.

It's gonna be worse than before.

Um public safety is not just policing after a tragedy.

Public safety is making sure our children feel seen before they pick up anger, before they join violence, before they become just another headline.

We cannot arrest our way out of lack of hope.

We cannot surveil our way into healing.

If we truly want safer communities, then we must be willing to invest in people, the same energy we invest into technology.

Because every life that we lose is not just a statistic.

It's someone's child, someone's friend, someone who still had a future worth fighting for.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any others?

Can I can I say something?

Yes.

I just I just want to say, um, you know, I know that Priscilla's not here, but um, I I just want to thank Priscilla for all that she did.

Um I think got a lot of phone calls, and um this was really uh was this incident was very close to me because I I you know I I took my daughter to the prom you know you they get them all dressed up and um you know they look amazing.

They also have a a great um a great party, you know what I mean?

Something that they can remember and with true honesty, a lot of those kids uh have trauma, including my children.

They don't want to go to school, put it that way.

Um you go to the schools, you know, you you you get to uh you know, you you get to talk to so many different kids, you know what I mean?

And uh, and they all know each other.

And um I really believe that they need a lot of counseling, and uh something has to happen.

You know, something has to happen to help those kids, you know.

I mean, this shouldn't happen during prom.

Um I do understand that um it didn't happen, you know, in the school, but it did happen across the street, you know, and uh people need to talk about this, you know.

I understand that people are concerned because he gave like a rap.

But I mean we think it'll be people's lives.

You know, this shouldn't happen, this should never happen.

And when we talk about prom, we talk we we are talking about you know, eighth graders.

We're not even talking about high school students.

You know, we're talking about eighth graders.

So eighth graders are kids who are you know, 13, 14, 12.

This is this is heavy duty.

And we should we should address this, you know.

Um, I have the opportunity to speak with you know with the chief, and and I know that he has a lot of things that you know he's he's planning to move forward.

He wants to collaborate, and and I believe that you know, hopefully there's gonna be you know a plan, you know, something needs to happen.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Moda.

Go ahead, Mr.

I just wanted to note um because I think there was some questions about the Ontown Works.

Um, I'm I'm working with uh Council Person Gerlach and Napoli to do a quarterly um presentation for that uh because it's it's it's it's a huge grant, it's a huge opportunity for the city.

So um I would just encourage if you have questions when we do that, it'll it'll be at a CED meeting um coming up.

Um so feel free to attend and ask questions.

So thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Um onward to contract approvals.

Um we'll start with R65.

R65 author authorization of cooperative contracts in an amount greater than 40,000 to provide the city with various goods services for HT Lions, Miller Flooring Company, and Chivniski Electric Inc.

Okay.

Uh any questions or comments from the Dais on R65 or the public.

Uh any questions or comments.

Okay, can you please call that?

Miss Affa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Ms.

Girlock?

Yes.

Miss Moda?

Yes.

Mr.

Pongo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Uh Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

All right, Mr.

President, seven years and no names.

Okay.

Uh, moving on to minutes of previous meeting.

Uh Ms.

Safa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Ms.

Gerlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Uh, yes.

Mr.

President has seven years and no nays.

And to be clear, those minutes were for May 6th City Council meeting.

Um, regarding visitors to city council, we encourage you to park in the parking deck next door to and to see our city clerk for a voucher to pay for your parking.

Any old business from the daisy.

Okay.

Uh we'll move on to reports.

Um, first, uh council is continuing to meet with our local partners.

So far, we have met with uh Lehigh County, uh, Allentown Parking Authority, Allentown Economic Development Corporation, and Anisda to learn more about their initiative serving Allentown interests, and um looking for potential opportunities for collaboration.

Our next two, uh Allentown Housing Authority, that's gonna be May 27th, uh, 630.

It was originally scheduled for 6, but it was moved to 6.30 on May 27th.

And then Allentown School District Workshop is um June 25th at 6 p.m.

And that's a Thursday, just calling it out.

Um, also public hearing uh has been scheduled for June 3rd at 6 p.m.

on Bill 20, which adds regulations on data center use.

Council will consider for possible adoption the legislation at the council meeting that follows.

Uh next up is budget and finance.

Uh Chair Pongo.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um the committee has not met since the last council meeting.

Uh and the next meeting is currently scheduled for June 3rd at 5 30.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um next community in economic development, Chair Gerlach.

Uh, yes, thank you.

This committee met on May 14th and forwarded a couple of items on this evening's agenda.

There's no future meetings scheduled at this time.

Uh there is a bill relating to vacant property registration that's still being considered by the committee.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Uh human resources, administration and appointments, Chair Bender.

Thank you, President Napoli.

Uh the committee has not been since the last council meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 27th at 5 30 p.m.

to review legislation being introduced this evening.

The mayor's travel expenses, um, options related to creating rules for tra uh city travel and an update on the development of the personnel manual manual.

Thank you.

Okay.

And next up is parks and recreation.

Chair Santos.

Thank you.

This committee met this evening.

Um, the next meeting is not yet scheduled, but we do have quite a few bills forwarded to tonight's meeting.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Uh public safety, Chair Affa.

Yes, we met this evening and we went over the uh quality of life task force um meeting, and we don't have another meeting until uh June 3rd.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Public Works, Vice President Mota.

Thank you, Mr.

Prison.

The committee met this evening in the next meeting is not yet scheduled.

Okay.

And rules, chambers, intergovernmental relations, and strategy.

The committee has not met since the last council meeting, and there are no meetings scheduled at this time.

Moving on to controllers report, um, our controller was unable to attend this evening, but he has submitted an accounts payable report, which is attached to our city council meeting schedule uh in Granicus, which you can find online.

If anyone has any difficulty accessing this report, please reach out to us.

Um moving on to ordinances for final passage.

Uh, we'll start with Bill 32.

Bill go ahead.

Sorry.

No, mayor report.

Nothing was submitted.

Yeah.

Bill 32 amends the section of the code on alcoholic beverages, controlled dangerous substances, solicitation and gambling by prohibiting smoking or vaping any substance within 25 feet of playgrounds, recreational fields and courts, including but not limited to baseball, basketball, football, handball, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball fields.

Okay.

And this was Vice President Motors' legislation.

Yes, um I'm excited, please vote for this.

This will be very um, this will be great for our community, especially our children who do not deserve um you know um being in danger because of uh second hand smoke.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions or comments from the dais on Bill 32?

I agree.

Great legislation, thank you.

Uh, any questions or comments from the public?

Uh good evening, everybody.

Kyravsky, 528th North Burke Street.

I'm chair of Allen Town's Environmental Advisory Council.

Um, I'm not speaking on behalf of the board here tonight, but I will share when Blue Zones first got here and they released their alcohol and tobacco policy.

I did have some informal discussions with some of my uh fellow board members about smoking in the park specifically.

Uh we in our discussions we spoke on how it could be a public health concern, obviously, from smoking, but we also discussed the value of our parks and natural spaces and their ability to filter the air and how removing the ability to smoke in those spaces could actually also raise a public health concern.

So seeing this uh sort of compromise here tonight in eliminating its proximity to the parks, I think is an excellent compromise.

And as a community member myself, I I support it.

But I just wanted to say that.

So thank you.

Yeah, thank you to the blue zone.

I mean, Roberto, thank you so much and your team for doing such a you know great work and collaborating.

Thank you.

Okay, any other public comment.

Okay, Mr.

Bender.

Yes, Ms.

Gerloch.

Yes, Miss Mota, yes, Mr.

Pongo.

Yes, Ms.

Santos, yes, Mr.

Napoli?

Yes.

And Ms.

Safa.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven days and no names.

Okay.

Moving along, Bill 34.

Bill 34 amends the 2026 general fund budget to amend the fixed cost distribution for two employees within DCED to change the portions of their salary and benefits expense to the grant fund recompete program budget to reflect work performed under the grant.

Okay, thank you.

And this came out of Chair Gerloch's committee.

Uh yes, it did, and it was uh forwarded favorably.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions or comments from the dias?

Um, Mr.

Bender, go ahead.

Yeah, so just a quick question, and first off, I I submitted a couple questions.

Um I thank I appreciate that we got the information back.

Um I guess specific to it, I my understanding is that the two positions that are being changed are moving from a 25% to a 50% utilization from the standpoint of the of the funding.

So I guess one of my questions is um how is that change since the funding's changing being reflected in the day-to-day responsibilities of those two positions.

I believe the funding is changing for it's hard to explain.

We had a 7525 and we had a 50.

We analyze the work that was done by the individuals within this grant, and we have administrative folks in this grant, so that our senior planner will be amended from 75% of his salary in the general fund and 25% in the grant fund.

He's doing more work in the Allentown Works grant.

So we adjusted it to be able to bill more of his time.

The assistant planner was 50% general fund and 50% grant fund.

They're doing more work on the general fund side, they're doing more work and work outside the recompete Allentown Works grant.

So what we're doing is being honest and clear in our accounting to our Allentown Works grant who's doing how much work in which grant.

Um, we have to be very careful with grant funds that we only bill to a grant the work that is specific to the grant, and that we bill to the general fund work that is done when council asks us for an analysis out of a data collection out of planning, or we're doing a community engagement for work that's not connected to the grant.

So after looking at these salaries, we're trying to make these salaries match the work being done.

Thank you.

So then just so I'm understanding.

So the seniors planner is doing more work with the grant and the juniors doing less work with the grant.

Correct.

So from the seniors current, and and I appreciate asked for the I got the job descriptions because I wanted to read through and just kind of see.

Um, and my question more comes into what's happening with the current workload.

So is is is for the senior planners, is their workload like being displaced or reallocated, or are we just adding to the workload of that person, or in honesty, we're always adding to the workload of both, but we're tracking better the work that's responsibly done for the grants.

Right now we're in the startup phase of the Allentown Works Grant, which is a grant that is extremely specific to a geography and extremely specific to an age group, and is extreme extremely specific to a non-working age group within a geography.

So there's a lot of data connection, data analysis, and we're setting up all of the partner agencies who rose up and said, I can handle this part of this grant.

So that work needed to be done by the by the level of individual classified as our senior planner.

Now, we could come back to council a year from now and say that we're up and running, things are going smoothly, we're gonna shift again.

We are in constant communication with the EDA who is our grant funder.

We also are cognizant and have been encouraged by council before to bill as much as we possibly can to a grant and reduce the burden on the general fund when possible.

So this is also another attempt to do that.

Yeah, I think more specifically, and I appreciate that.

Uh, it was just trying to understand if from a senior perspective perspective, if the workload exists and now 25% of that is being leveraged used somewhere else, presumably that my concern is any city services that would utilize that role are not gonna are having 25% less of the access to that services because that person's being over over, I don't say overburdened, but over-allocated.

So I don't I don't think it's going that way.

In the very beginning of our planning grant, we needed the assistant planner position to do a lot more of here's the contracts, here's the templates, here's the processing.

We're now at the point where we need the senior level to administer and the startup.

Um I don't think we're I think we're shifting back and forth between who's doing what work, but I don't think we're piling work on to anyone.

Okay.

All right, that's all the questions I have.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from the dais?

Any questions or comments from members of the public on bill 34?

Okay.

Ms.

Girlock.

Yes, Miss Moda.

Yes, Mr.

Pongo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos, yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

Safa.

Yes.

And Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Thank you.

On to Bill 35.

Bill 35 amends the 2026 general fund budget to accommodate the upgrade of the part-time clerk three in the Office of Compliance and the upgrade of the two part-time MW1 custodial positions and building maintenance within the Department of Public Works.

The part-time clerk three, currently M8 would be upgraded to an administrative assistant at a proposed pay grade of S7 to better align the job duties and responsibilities of this position.

The two part-time MW1 custodial positions will remain in the same pay grade, but be upgraded to full-time positions to better align job duties and allow for consistent staffing in building maintenance.

Okay.

And this was in Vice President Mota's committee this evening.

Yes, and it was two to zero favorably.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the dais?

Or the public on bill 35.

Uh Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pongo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Miss Sappha.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

And Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Next up, Bill 36.

Bill 36 amends the 2026 capital fund budget to provide for an increase of $1,650,000 to fund the reconstruction on Lehigh and Union Street as part of the congressionally directed spending grant the city was awarded.

This grant is partially reimbursable and requires match funding.

Okay.

And this was also in Vice President Motha's committee?

Yes, and it was two to zero favorably.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions or comments from the dias?

Or the public on Bill 36?

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Miss Safa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Miss Skerlock.

Yes.

And Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Next up, Bill 37.

Bill 37 amends the 2026 Capital Fund and General Fund operating budgets to provide for a supplemental appropriation of 100,000 from the Allentown Partnership to support improvements to Ithaca Park and Recreational Programming.

This is a reimbursement from the partnership.

Okay.

And this was in Miss Santos committee this evening?

Yes, and it was forwarded favorably.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions or comments from my colleagues?

Bill 37.

Or the public.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

Affa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Miss Skurlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

And Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Bill 38.

Bill 38 amends the 2026 capital fund budget to provide for a transfer of 50, 841 dollars and 45 cents from accounts associated with the completed Dixon Street Pedestrian Bridge and Parks Master Plan projects to the Bogertz Bridge Rehabilitation Project.

Okay.

And this was also in Miss Santos committee this evening?

Yes.

This one was also forwarded favorably.

Great.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments from the dais?

Or the members of the public?

Bill 38.

Okay.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Miss Safa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

And Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Next is Bill 39.

Bill 39 amends the 2026 Capital Fund Budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of 100 3,003 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to support construction of the Dixon Street sidewalks.

Okay.

And this was also Miss Santos committee this evening?

Yes, this was forwarded favorably to full council.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from my colleagues?

I do agree with Ms.

Tolino.

I think this from an accessibility standpoint, and I think Vice President Mota mentioned it, it's going to be uh a great asset for that neighborhood.

Um questions or comments from members of the public?

Bill 39.

Okay.

Miss Safa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Next up, Bill 40.

Bill 40 amends the 2026 Capital Fund Budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of $800,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development LSA grant to support construction of the MLK Trail Extension Phase One.

Okay, great.

And this is uh also Ms.

Santos Committee this evening?

Yes, this was forwarded favorably to tonight's meeting.

Thank you.

And any questions or comments from colleagues?

Bill 40.

Or from the public.

Okay.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Ms.

Gurlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

And Miss Affa.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Thank you.

Next up is Bill 41.

Bill 41 amends the 2026 Capital Fund Budget to provide for an increase of $1,905,000 to fund the approved parks capital projects as part of the 2026 capital borrowing.

Okay.

And this was also in your committee this evening, Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

And this was forwarded favorably to full council.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from colleagues on Bill 41?

Or from the public?

Okay.

Miss Girlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Miss Affa?

Yes.

And Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Next is Bill 42.

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

Okay.

And this was a Miss Alpha's committee this evening?

Yes, and just move forward favorably.

All right, thank you.

Any questions or comments from colleagues on Bill 42?

Or from the public?

Okay.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Miss Affa?

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

And Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Mr.

President of seven years and no nays.

Okay, thank you.

Uh moving on to consent agenda.

We don't have any items for this evening.

Uh next up is resolutions for final passage.

Uh we'll start with R66.

R66 approves the submission of the action plan to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from colleagues on R66?

Any comments from the public?

Okay.

Ms.

Affa.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

Miss Gerlock.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Santos.

Yes.

And Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

And next is R67.

R67 appoints Bryn Hefner Bear to the Arts Commission with a term ending May 21st, 2031.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from colleagues?

Or the public.

Okay, can you call the vote?

Mr.

Napoli.

Yes.

Ms.

Santos.

Yes.

Mr.

Pungo.

Yes.

Miss Moda.

Yes.

Miss Gurloch.

Yes.

Mr.

Bender.

Yes.

And Miss Affa.

Yes.

Mr.

President, I have seven years and no nays.

Okay.

Moving along to ordinances for introduction.

First one is Bill 43.

Bill 43 amends the 2026 general fund budget to provide for a supplemental appropriation of $50,000 from Bluebird Philanthropies to administer a third round of the Youth Climate Action Fund.

Okay.

Any uh comments from the public on Bill 43?

Okay.

We're going to refer this to uh Chair Bender's committee.

Thank you, Ms.

President.

And Bill 44.

Bill 44 amends part one administrative legislation chapter 12 on authorities, boards, and commissions, Article 15 Council of Youth by updating its purpose and practices.

Okay.

Any comments on the public?

Bill 44.

Okay.

This will also be referred to Chair Bender's committee.

Thank you, Ms.

President.

And Bill 45?

Bill 45 amends chapter 19, Civil Service Board of the Codified Ordinances titled Rules of the City of Allentown Civil Service Board Governing the Appointment and Promotion of Police Officers and Firefighters by removing fail to register with the selective service system as a disqualifier for the civil service test.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from the public.

This will be referred to uh Chair AFA's committee, public safety.

You're welcome.

And we're res we do not have any resolutions for introduction this evening.

Uh any new business from colleagues.

Any good in welfare?

Uh Chair Binder, go ahead.

Thank you.

Just real quick.

Um I just wanted to do a shout out to a program that a local organization is running, which is uh Cohesion Network.

They're running a civic leadership academy.

This is a nine month program that's designed for Allentown residents that are focused on doing what we do here, um being on school boards, being on committees, being on um anything that is impacting civic uh leadership.

So I'd encourage anyone who's even if you're remotely interested in in engaging in civics, um, it's it it's a great program.

Um it's getting startup, and uh, if you go to cohesion network.org slash C L A, you can get more information.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um, with that, we will adjourn this meeting.

Thank you, everyone.