Mayor Jack Allen recognized local volunteers and community organizations at the Oct. 13 council meeting.

The mayor presented a plaque dated Oct. 13, 2025, to the Friends of the Montour Trail in Bethel Park in recognition of their volunteer maintenance of trail sections in the municipality. A Friends representative reported volunteers logged 823 hours this summer and that roughly 1,500 tons of crushed limestone were laid on the Bethel branch of the trail; volunteers provided labor and equipment and no municipal funds were used for those materials or wages, the representative said. The group asked for occasional police presence at parking lots for security and voiced support for a PennDOT plan to add a roundabout at the Logan Road trail terminus with a trail bridge to extend the trail into Bethel Park.

Mayor Allen also presented the 2025 Bethel Park citizen of the year award to Christopher (Chris) Van Dyke. The mayor read excerpts from nomination letters crediting Van Dyke with starting a small business five years earlier and volunteering with the Blackhawk Relief Fund and Bethel Park Family Relief Fund after the 2018 flood. The nominations described Van Dyke's assistance to residents in need — helping restore power, arranging donations and transportation for medically needy families, and providing repairs and holiday assistance — and council presented a plaque recognizing his service.

The mayor also noted recent and upcoming community events, including a 90-plus luncheon and fall neighborhood events; Council members later highlighted a rededication of Molly Hill Park and restoration of a World War II memorial.