Thank you, Mike.

This is for the uh human relationship.

I'm sorry, Human Resources Administration and Appointments Committee.

Um just wanted to know all members are present.

Yes, okay.

Um, as well as uh actually all council is present.

So if you could read on bill 44.

Bill 44 advanced part one and state legislation, chapter 12, I've already supports the conditions of article 15 council meeting by the administration, did you want to comment on it?

No, no, I'm like we reapproved.

Okay.

Did you want to talk about what what you're trying to do with the the scope of it?

The changes.

I'm not really prepared.

I have these other mentioned agenda.

Okay, not a problem.

Um I I know that uh we are gonna be doing, or we're in the process, I think you of doing a review of all of the authorities boards and commissions throughout the city.

So I know that um there's some of these changes are going to be in that, but um I'm I'm open to moving it favorably, but in the same token I know that we're going through and we're actually uh looking to review them all.

So other than that, um, on the dias, does anyone on the committee have any questions related to Bill 44?

No.

Um could I get a motion to move that forward?

I'll second that motion.

All right, all those in favor?

Aye.

Perfect.

Um the personal uh personnel policy manual update.

I know that um director of lesquez wasn't able to make it.

He let me know ahead of time, but I want to know if you had any updates on that.

Yes, sir.

I'm happy to make uh I'm happy to uh to relay his report.

So so the pause so the PPM, the personal policy manual, the personnel policy manual is we hope that we are hopeful we'll be we'll be able to present it to you by the second meeting of July, July 15th.

That might that may be a little later than you had been expecting, and there are a few reasons why.

Um the time between drafts presented to us by the vendor took more time than expected.

The time that we needed to review and vet recommendations by the vendor also took more time than originally inspected.

Um multiple reviews by by clients also serve to delay the process.

I know that I provided my final review review of this document a week or two ago.

And we want to make sure that we are aligned with other policies and codes.

That's that's actually the final uh that's actually the final piece of agreement that we have to make sure that we're in agreement with the charter and with all other city language so that we don't present you with something that has a conflict between other places in the city code and and this uh and this code.

Thank you.

And I would I guess my only request as when we do receive it since it is going to be a lengthy document, is that we have some space to review it between you know when it comes to the committee and then actually goes up to a vote.

So that'd be my horse.

My only ask in that.

Um next item on the agenda is related to the mayor's uh office travel expenses.

Would you care to provide uh sure?

I I uh I apologize for the for the uh recent arrival of this document, but you know, it took us a while.

Took a while to get all of the different sources, Munis, Eden, you know, the the different ways that we have accounting.

But the bottom line is these are all expenses that were approved by this body that were properly audited and reviewed by the controller.

Um they amount to, as I've said in the exact amount to a good one, just 12 cents per capita per resident of Allentown, and this is this is all travel and public advocacy advocacy related to the mayor, the mayor's office.

There were a few department heads that went to some of these events, and you know, I listed the the that we that we got out of them.

Uh and it's pretty straightforward.

Um I know just to to couch on what you had said, we received the report about an hour ago.

So um we haven't had an opportunity to extensively go through that, which I which I understand the things take time to compile.

Um I do know that there was a number of questions that uh several council people were asking for that weren't included in that document.

So um I do I do acknowledge that I would like to uh schedule another uh HR meeting, committee meeting, so we can go through once we've had some time to review that document to propose some questions.

Um I would just I think ask if if at all possible for on the on the council if those questions um could be submitted a little bit ahead of time.

I know a lot of them have been outlined, but uh based on the information that we received.

Um because I know I I still have some stuff that you know wasn't included there, so that would be really really helpful.

I assume that would submit this, and then you would just ask whatever questions you have and we'll provide whatever else you would like to see.

One of the other things which I think is important in this, because so there's a there's a there's a governing body, I'm sorry, governing document within the city, the the aims is the way I'm understanding it, that that manages what travel and what that process looks like.

Now am I under the understanding of that?

Sorry, what's the one?

So the I my and I'm you know, I'm I'm learning these things too, but my understanding is that the aims is the way that we codify, not really codify, but the way that we organize our administrative and executive orders.

I think that one of those items is a government is a managing document that covers governed travel.

So like there's a request that like employees submit, and then that has to be signed off on by your supervisor and so forth.

Yeah, and and I guess, and I'm uh also learning a lot about this process as well.

So my understanding, or at least I'm getting conflicting information on whether or not uh elected officials have to adhere to the aims or not.

And I think part of that it's not clear, and I don't know if you have any information or comment on that.

I don't know about elected officials, the the mayor wouldn't who would the the mayor wouldn't have to submit one of those, for example.

I and I don't think it's I think it's inaccurate to say aims.

I think it's called the travel.

Is it like a TER?

There's a there I'll find out for next time.

But there is a there is a document, there's a request that you submit to your supervisor, but the mayor doesn't have a supervisor, so who would who would they submit it to?

Yeah, no, I understand.

Um I believe the the clerk had sent me a couple of the documents.

Yeah, well, of of the the structure of how the f the processes that it gets uh that guidance that governs travel.

And unfortunately, Mr.

Hanlon stepped out for a second, so he could actually could have uh provide a little assistance on that.

But um, I do know that there's one that exists.

It is old.

Um it has not been updated in quite some time.

And I think in talking to I met with uh director of Velasquez this week to try and just understand what that process looks like.

And uh he was definitely open to us evaluating and updating.

I think part of that question comes into play is how do we frame it in such a way that it's it's clear both for though the though council doesn't travel that often, um, for us here as well as any elected official in the city that we know that we're adhering to a a clear document, so everyone has the same expectation.

I I know there's a financial component to it, but there's also just the overall process.

I would suggest that members of city council would have their own policy.

I would I would submit that it would make sense to me that that in other places where I've worked, members of the legislature didn't follow whatever the policy was for the executive branch they submitted their at the county county commissioners would submit their travel rey, I mean they wouldn't request either.

They would just they would they would travel uh you know, whatever the budget was was budgeted, they would travel and then they would submit their receipts to our county clerk.

I would assume that your process would be similar, but maybe it's not.

Yeah, I don't think that there's any governing uh again, there's confusion from from asking several people there's a governing document for anyone who's in elected role versus not.

So I think that's something I'd like to at least in exploring this process define, because I think whenever there's ambiguity, obviously it causes people to get frustrated and and not have uh a good path.

So if we can we can do that, that would be good.

So um I'll I'll pause for a second to see if uh anyone else in the dice has any more questions or comments.

I I just think that we should use all of us the same process because it's getting very confusing.

And if we use the same process, it wouldn't it will be no longer confusion for anyone.

So I think that we should look into that.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh thank you, uh Councilperson Um Mota.

So yes, that's one of the things that I definitely am going to be working on uh with uh director of Lesquez on that going forward.

Does anyone else on the dice have any questions related to to the travel?

And I know we just received it, so we haven't had a chance, but it for right now, and if not, we'll we'll pick it up once we actually have another meeting with I think that it will be important to have another meeting regarding this because some of the questions that I that I had was not it was not answered.

Yeah, understandable.

My a lot asked questions.

Are we I don't know, I've never been to one of these.

I apologize for interrupting.

Um I think these are updates, so we don't normally do public comment for updates.

Am I correct on that?

We can.

Yeah, we can see if it was actually more clear clarification on um I'm not what is the 12th sense.

Yeah, could you mind coming up to the I'm actually gonna hear I'm actually generally curious?

I got you.

Oh, okay.

Can you get every hearing?

Yeah.

Uh 12 cents per capita.

Like what is that used for?

I said travel, but what is that?

Could you state your name?

And then also just so you know it's sorry.

When you make comments, it's basically comments, it's not a question and answer.

Just giving you a heads up on that one.

But you're you're you can you can put your question in, but uh that doesn't necessarily need to be answered right away.

Which is a comment versus a question.

Uh how about it?

But if you can say your name first, sorry, it's Michael.

Sorry.

Uh it's Michael Stoller.

Uh the 12 cents per capita.

What does that go towards for travel specifically?

Is that all we're talking about?

I know that's a question.

So the the presentation right now is just on there were questions related to the mayor's travel process and expenses.

Um that was what the administration just just forwarded to say that the costs for travel for the for the mayor's office is coming out to be about 12 cents uh per person.

Okay, that's that's actually thank you for our clarifying.

Yeah, because the clerk also has like their own person who answers and responds to emails and stuff, probably like the mayor does.

Anyway, I appreciate guys.

Yep, that was terrible.

No worries, no worries.

No welcome, by the way.

Thank you for coming.

Councilperson.

Uh yeah, so Mike, again, I haven't got a chance to go through this either.

My thing, uh, my big takeaway is that if we've got the leader of the city who is going to all these different events, uh, not events, but more so conferences and learning opportunities, and he's getting information about housing.

I would like to see within a couple of years that's that there's been some takeaways from that, that because of going to conferences and networking with all these wonderful folks, that now we have more opportunities when it comes to housing, specifically affordable housing.

If he's networking with, I don't know, um the mayor of Baltimore.

I mean, we've got a violence issue.

Perhaps we should have, you know, like a phone call, like with the mayor of Baltimore since he's done all this networking.

I guess that's my thing.

I mean, if he's gonna travel, let him do his traveling.

It's more so what are we getting from it and to have some very tangible things where I don't think we should have an affordable housing crisis when he's going to like all these different housing conferences.

I think we should have you know began to tackle it by now because he's gone to all these different places and met all these wonderful people who are experts in the field.

So that's my thing.

That's what I would like to see.

And maybe it's in here and I just haven't seen it.

Okay, Councilperson Girl, I I actually thought you must have seen it.

He the so one of the one of the things in there out of the US conference of mayors travel is he has met the mayor of Baltimore tomorrow.

Present uh tomorrow, I think you're gonna be in the meeting to that that we've invited you to tomorrow.

He's gonna show the strategic plan on gun viol on gun violence that we're you know that we've formulated in Brayley our violence coordinator, our you know, violence reform coordinator has worked closely with that office in Baltimore.

So we could definitely set up a call if that's interesting to you.

That's actually the one example that was in the report, funny enough.

Yeah, I mean, and well, just beyond the violence prevention, just in general, because a lot of these I I'm assuming uh these conferences either are housing related or he's uh perhaps attending uh breakout sessions concerning housing, homelessness, whatnot.

And it's sometimes troubling to wait, hold up.

You just we as a city, I won't say you, we as a city just had an opportunity to with a mayor or a leader who has drastically decreased homelessness.

What's up with us?

Like why are we still in this situation when we have all it's sometimes frustrating?

I understand.

Uh look, I will commit to working to try to get a briefing after every after every you know, after every travel, right?

After every conference.

And I gotta tell you, you know, world that I see on the horizon, maybe we involve some in some of that and some of that uh some of that can because some of it's like continuing education.

And you know, when I was at the county, commissioners would go to CAT.

I mean, they all everybody worked together on those things.

Um and there can be value in those things.

I think our department heads have found value in the things that they've learned at Bloomberg and other places.

I think the same could be true for members of council who were interested.

And I think everyone would benefit hopefully.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Anyone else on the dice?

So when will this meeting be?

So when will be the next meeting regarding to the travel instance?

When will this take place?

Um the clerk to get that scheduled within the next I we I know we have a bit of a break in July, but I would say towards end of June, earlier or mid-July.

Um I know with the with the other things, the personnel manual, um, as well as I have some IT questions I was gonna come up, so I was hoping to put that together into one meeting.

So um I can try and expedite that though.

But thank you.

Yeah, but definitely questions if we can get them in thrown over, that'd be great.

Council Perspongo.

All right, thank you.

I was gonna say I just I feel I want to go through this before asking any more in-depth questions, and it sounds like we'll have that opportunity.

Um but I guess one of the the big things that I guess I would like to kind of see addresses dirt, you know.

Uh our imaginary director, of course, is is fairly new, and you're probably not familiar with the process beforehand, but I would like to see the the process of establishing this travel beforehand.

I feel like oftentimes it kind of feels like we find out after the fact.

And so if is this something where Facebook is there, you know, uh and I know this is in a budget meeting, so it's not like I'm asking you for how much travel you have allotted for next year and and what have you, but if there is some understanding of these and and knowing beforehand and and having some more interaction there.

I'm not again I'm not trying to say I'm I'm trying to get involved in the approval process, just more so understanding how do we come to this or do these just pop up and we just send them every so often wherever the opportunity arises.

And again, if you don't have that answer right now, I get it.

Well, I think the part of the answer uh uh council person pungo is you know, there's there's the rules for employees who you know report to someone at the city, and every and there's a process that that can be followed.

I don't want to pull my phone out now, but uh if I looked at my phone, I guess the name of the form.

Um but they follow a form that goes through it goes through approvals with their supervisor, the you know, and and that's and that's a standard item.

But for a mayor, there's no process to be followed.

No who would approve who would approve his travel, he would approve his own travel.

I maybe that's I'm wondering if um, and I think part of the uh I I can resonate with that.

Maybe even if it's something as simple as like the the planned like a calendar of like, hey, these are the the things that we're looking to do.

These are this is what the the focus is of them because it helps I think it would help when questions come up to understand, you know, this is the plan for the for 2026 of events that we're we're looking to do continue education on or you know to be able to focus on because then there's not as much question coming up of of what's happening.

It's clear it's transparent to everyone ahead of time, and it's not you know, I think that would be helpful.

And I that was one of the things I think I was gonna put in in one of the requests.

So uh, but yeah, I I support what counselor said.

Travel schedule in advance and reports and follow-up after.

It's fiscal responsible.

Yeah, yeah, because I think uh and agreed kind of back to my comment.

I don't know that I'm trying to say necessarily I'm trying to become the approval process, but I think sure there is some level of transparency that that helps, you know.

Everybody appreciates that.

So um if there's anything else here, um I think we'll move to the um the review for the authorities boards and commissions.

Do you have anything for that?

Yeah, I mean, we along with uh at that you know it uh in part of your suggestion and in part of in part we have recognized that the uh authorities, boards and commissions process the process of appointment, the process of staffing the boards, the just taking a look at what boards haven't met in a in a in a period of time, what what boards need to exist, what boards maybe no longer have a need.

We're gonna undertake a comprehensive review of all of those items uh with the help of city council.

Okay, yeah, and I'm looking forward to to getting that consolidated down and updating.

Um doing doing some house cleaning on that one.

So yeah.

Um anyone have any questions related to that?

I'm not on the committee, but is there going to be an attempt to dissolve the commission on homelessness?

I don't know.

I'd be I don't think so, no.

Just wanted that on the record.

No, no, no, no.

There's some there's some fear over that.

No one should be afraid.

I attend those meetings.

We want to what it's you know, we have we have authorities and board, we have boards that haven't met in years here.

It's it's it's a review to to see what's not active more than anything else.

If if I can speak to just uh assist with that one, it is one of the things I'm trying to I'm trying to focus on things that are not either we we struggle to get anyone on or things that have not had anyone meet for like a year or two that are this is not in any way, shape, or form to try to adjust or impact active boards and commissions.

It's really to figure out if are some could they be consolidated into a larger one that addresses multiple things, or if it's something that just hasn't ever caught on, maybe you know that's something that uh we need to you know evaluate whether or not it's valuable.

It's really to figure out if are some could they be consolidated into a larger one that addresses multiple things or if it's something that just hasn't ever caught on maybe you know that's something that uh we need to you know evaluate whether or not it's valuable but no I mean I'm not I don't think anyone's driving for that so but I appreciate one of them put it out there and get it on the record.

So if it happens it's on the record.

Appreciate the question.

Anyone else related to the um authorities boards and commissions on the DIS has questions.

Is there anything else the administration wanted to add from an HR perspective or uh administration perspective?

I just want to reiterate I we find value in the commission no one's no one's looking into anything.

I just needed to ask there's always been concern from day one this from day one all right with that um going to adjourn this the this meeting um and then we'll we're a little bit early for the next meeting so uh just I guess bear with us.

So I can see