Allentown committee forwards Bill 57 to full council to reclassify and add city positions

The Intergovernmental Relations and Strategy Committee on Tuesday voted to forward Bill 57 — a 2025 general-fund budget amendment to reclassify, retitle and add positions across multiple departments — to the full Allentown City Council with a favorable recommendation.

The measure, described during the meeting as covering 17 position changes, seeks pay-grade adjustments and retitling in finance and purchasing, reclassification of paralegals in the solicitor’s office, creation of a civilian community-advocate coordinator in the police department, and an upgraded operations supervisor role in public works.

The bill matters because city officials said the changes respond to sustained increases in workload and difficulty retaining staff. “Our p-card invoices increased from 2022 to 2025 by 62%. The volume has increased by 62%,” said Bina Patel, speaking for the finance department. Patel said purchasing, treasury and accounting staff are handling more projects — including ARPA-funded work — and that several positions carry pay grades set 10–17 years ago.

Patel told the committee the finance team processes payroll for more than 1,000 active employees every two weeks and pension payments to roughly 600 retirees, handles quarterly tax filings and federal/state reporting, and records entries for grants. She said the city has received ARPA funds of about $57,000,000 and that finance staff have recorded roughly $80,000,000 in grants and related journal entries. Patel said workload across her unit rose by about 40% over three years and that Governmental Accounting Standards Board changes have required frequent updates: “In last 3 years, there have been 7 changes that occurred.”

Sarah Rotz, assistant solicitor, and Adam Rosenthal, deputy solicitor, described requested changes in the law office that do not add net positions. Rotz said the office is small — “one part-time solicitor, Jack Rose” — and asked that three paralegals be reclassified to senior paralegals to place them on the same pay tier so they can back each other up. Rotz also said the right-to-know officer is being recommended for a grade change to the 9–11 range. Rosenthal added that some individual raises vary so the three paralegals can be moved onto the same track.

Chief Bridal of the Allentown Police Department asked the committee to add a civilian community-advocate coordinator to work with the department’s Community Intervention Specialist (CIS) program. The chief described the role as non-sworn, housed in community outreach, and tasked with coordinating non-enforcement interventions and interagency responses. Sergeant Leonard said the department had recorded more than 600 mental-health–related calls, with roughly 470 referred to CIS workers and 176 follow-ups, and that a coordinator would provide scheduling, case maintenance and burnout checks for CIS staff.

Public works representatives asked that the bureau’s office manager role be upgraded to public works operations supervisor to consolidate higher-level tasks across three bureaus — traffic, compliance and engineering — and to recognize responsibilities already assumed by existing staff. Megan Wells was cited by a public-works speaker as having taken on office-management duties for multiple units.

Committee members spoke in support. Councilmember Napoli, who moved the committee recommendation, said retaining experienced employees is cheaper than replacing them and urged action now rather than postponing. Chair Daryl Hendrix asked for public comment and none was offered. The motion to forward Bill 57 to the full council was seconded by Councilmember Motto and approved by voice vote.

At the meeting, committee members said a reclassification committee that included the council president, vice president, the solicitor and the mayor had reviewed job descriptions and was “favorably disposed” to the requested changes. No dollar totals tied to the 17 position changes were presented in this committee session; Council members and department leads discussed grades and workload but did not provide a final budget figure for the amendments.

If the full council approves the measure, departments said the changes are intended to reduce turnover, reduce reliance on outside counsel where possible, and improve program administration for grants and community programs. The committee record shows no public opposition and no amendments were proposed during the committee vote.

Votes at a glance: Motion to forward Bill 57, a 2025 general-fund amendment covering upgrades, retitlings and additions to positions in law, finance, police and public works — moved by Councilmember Napoli, seconded by Councilmember Motto; approved by voice vote in committee and forwarded to full council.