435 Hamilton Street

Allentown, Pa. 18101

Allentown

Minutes - Final

City Council

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

6:00 PM

Council Chambers

A Special Council Meeting for the purpose of discussing and acting on Bill 10, An

ordinance authorizing an investigation by an outside agency under Section 210,

Investigations, of the Home Rule Charter approving the engagement of Duane Morris to

conduct such investigation and make such recommendations set forth in bill and that

City Council’s Solicitor and the City of Allentown Solicitor’s Office coordinate to take all

necessary action to implement this ordinance.

Roll Call

7 -

Present:

Cynthia Mota, Daryl Hendricks, Ed Zucal, Natalie Santos, Ce-Ce Gerlach, Candida

Affa, and Santo Napoli

15-7451

Bill 10

Authorizing an investigation by an outside agency under Section 210,

Investigations, of the Home Rule Charter: :Allentown City Council hereby

approves the engagement of Duane Morris to conduct such investigation

and make such recommendations set forth and that City Council’s Solicitor

work with the solicitor’s office to take all necessary action to implement this

ordinance.

Affa, Hendricks, Mota and Napoli

Sponsors:

Attachments: Bill 10 Investigation.doc

Ordinance #16094

Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Mr. Hanlon and stated now, Solicitor Montero,

if you would, please explain how we got here and lay out the general scope

of the Duane Morris proposal.

Attorney Maria Montero stated thank you Council President. On December

4, 2024, a motion was made by Councilman Napoli to Suspend litigation

between Council and the city on the FLEO contract. The motion directed

Mary K. Brown, the attorney that was engaged to represent Council in the

pending litigation and herself as Council Solicitor to work, develop and

expedite independent investigation. Both Attorney Brown and herself

created a legal rubric to access skillsets of law firms to conduct such

investigations. The firms were interviewed. An Executive Session was

held by City Council who met with Attorney Brown and herself for the status

update of the litigation and then during separate sessions, two of the law

firms who advanced met with Council members and Council was provided

the rubric which they then evaluated the firms skillsets and assign a point

value to their skills. Duane Morris received the highest point value. An

ordinance Bill 10 was advanced to appoint Duane Morris as the

independent investigator who will conduct a thorough investigation of the

Personnel Policies of the city of Allentown, conduct interviews of individuals

who have filed any claims and also making recommendations for the city

moving forward. She stated thank you Council President.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Attorney Montero and stated that at this time,

he will accept any comments from the dais.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated thank you President Hendricks. He stated that his first

question will be directed to our Solicitor. He asked Attorney Montero if she

cold possibly tell him what was not independent about the current

investigation going on FLEO.

Attorney Maria Montero stated that their job is to go through the motion that

was presented by Mr. Napoli. She stated that their job is presented by

Councilman Napoli was to move forward i making sure they have an

expedited independent investigation. She stated that she didn't do an

analysis of whether the FLEO was independent or not. She stated that she

was moving forward on a motion and stated that's it Councilman Zucal.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated he thinks they all forgot why they all started this

investigation anyway. First of all, they all know they had a ton of people

come up here, employees, citizens asking Council to do this investigation

for some who thought they were treated unfairly, not promoted properly,

harassed or dibrominated against. As a Council, they decided to take

steps to correct that problem. And, by doing an investigation, the purpose

of that investigation was to make right and make improvement down the

road. This particular Bill here, and in one of the statements in the Bill states

that the City Council Solicitor shall work with the city's Solicitor's office to

take all necessary action to complete the ordinance. Well, the city

Solicitor's office was one of the people the allegations were made against

as well among other departments. He stated that he found here and it is

quite interesting because the reason they got to where they are is because

they said the FLEO did not follow the proper procurement process. Well,

apparently, in the city of Allentown we have a double standard. If you are an

attorney, apparently there is a rule that the Procurement Process doesn't

apply to you and if you are another investigator outside of the attorney

status, you must go through the Procurement process. You stated that they

hired FLEO to do the same thing, basically you are now trying to hire

Duane Morris to do. He stated again, there i a double standard there. He

stated that they already agreed to spend $300,000 on FLEO to do an

investigation and that was passed, he believes 7 -0. n It could have been

6-1, but he believes 7 - 0. On June 5th, They voted 6 - 1 to hire FLEO to do

an investigation. The investigation started on June 7th. He stated that he

believes per Mr. Curtis' invoice that was sent to them up to June 4th until his

investigation was suspended. When here was a time that Mayor Tuerk

decided that he wasn't going to pay Mr. Curtis, obviously, their next steps

were to file a lawsuit. So they put together a Bill, he believes it was a

Resolution for $20,000 for Ms. Brown to do her part in this investigation.

He stated if they recall the Bill they got from Mr. Curtis, again, from June 7

to September 4. He stated that he looked over that Bill and he may be a

couple off because there was some fine print , but he came up with 108

interviews in that timeframe. A couple of those were follow up interviews,

but the ratio was 90/10. Now, that didn't take into account any background

investigations, any follow up phone calls or any other stuff that he did with

this investigation. He stated that he feels confident that he can express

what his fee was because it would be public anyway, but at this point it was

approximately $68,000. They are not even one third of the way to what the

even budgeted. Unfortunately, he will not be able to continue with the

investigation that he wanted to perform, but there was movement on this

investigation. Stopping it now or stopping him now is counterproductive.

He stated that he did a little research on Duane Morris' Firm and they

represented an organization back in 2022 where their rates at that

particular time were $960 for the Lead Investigator, $740 for the Backup

Litigator and never gave a price for the paralegals, the expert witnesses

and the other investigators. He stated and that was in 2022. Also, in their

contract they stated that every January their fees go up. This is now 2025.

He stated that it has been expressed to him that if they go this route, and

they do the same amount of work that Mr. Curtis did, they could be looking

at close to roughly $700,000 to $900,000. He stated that is a big

difference from $300,000. He suggested as much he stated that he hates

to say this, but he thinks the employees know where he stands. Is to

terminate the investigation at this point, pay Mr. Curtis and have him

produce a Report. He stated because he personally will not vote for any

money that is going to be anywhere near that amount of money to get the

same results. To be midway through an investigation and it stops to start

over just doesn't make sense to him. He stated that maybe it is him, but it

doesn't make sense to him. He stated that if they go this route with Bill 10,

he can surely tell them that he will be voting no.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Mr. Zucal and asked anybody else.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that Mr. Santo's suggestion and the purpose of

this is because we weren't going nowhere. She stated that all of them

sitting here on the dais and the people out there were frustrated about this.

She stated that she was impressed, she was there when they interviewed

Duane Morris. She stated that she was impressed with the fact that they

have done over 50 investigations. This type of investigation. She stated

that Scott Curtis has done none. He is an FBI Agent that investigated the

mafia, political corruption, so on and so forth. She stated to her

knowledge, his fresh company just started when Council hired him did none

of these investigations. She stated that she was herself at the time a little

concerned about hiring him to do this job. As time went on because of the

Procurement Process, and because the mayor not wanting to continue with

this. They were all frustrated. Everybody out there is frustrated. She stated

that she has to agree with Mr. Santo, they have a company now or a law

firm that the mayor is fine with. In fact, they don't even need the mayor. She

stated ok, you can laugh. It is important because you are talking about

money. What was happening is because the mayor didn't and the

Procurement was wrong now and they were going to sue the mayor. She

stated that cost them money. She stated that it was costing them money

left and right and nothing basically was being done. She stated that with

this company, she personally was really impressed that the fact that they

won't turnover no stone. All the stones will be turned over. They are going

to do everything they can and the fact that they have done so many of these

investigations ad she believes that in the long run it is going to cost them,

she is not saying it is not going to, but in the long run it is going to be a

good investigation. She thinks they are going to get to the bottom and she

thinks it is going to go a lot faster then if they continued with Curtis and the

problems with the administration not wanting to give anything because the

Procurement process was not done the right way. She stated that this way,

Mr. Santo and a lot of them on the committee here believes, let's get this

done. She stated that they want it done. She stated that they interviewed

other companies, but this one came out with the highest marks. If you want

something done in the city, you want this finally over. She believes that this

is the company that will do it for them.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Ms. Affa and asked anybody else.

Mr. Santo Napoli stated a few things. First, a couple misconceptions. He

stated that he really wouldn't call it a double standard. He would call it and

believe that law firms are excluded from Procurement because they have

confidentially. It is more of an opportunity to share personnel records and

to share documents a little bit more easily. Unfortunately, FLEO, Mr. Curtis

doesn't have that and that's why they have to go through a Procurement

process. He stated a couple of things, over the last couple of weeks he

has heard a lot from folks who has reached out to him and there are a lot of

misconceptions. He stated very quickly, there is a misconception that they

blocked the investigation. He stated that they didn't. They all know that the

administration blocked it. The mayor's office and the City Solicitor. He

stated that people ask him all the time, you guys need to restart the

investigation. He stated that they can't. That's why the litigation has been

lengthy and costly to the city. That's is the only way they could restart it.

When litigation was paused, there was a Hearing scheduled for the next

day. That is correct, but folks thought that was the end all and be all. It was

a Preliminary Hearing. It was a Hearing that would determine if this case is

going forward. One thing that he wants to make clear is there is still a very

long and costly path to get to a finally verdict to see if this thing could

actually be resolved. Lastly, there are some misconceptions about the new

Ordinance, but that Ordinance was written and mirrors the original

Ordinance that Mr. Zucal and Ms. Gerlach introduced, Ordinance #15948.

This Ordinance that they are voting on tonight is not different, it is not

watered down. It is the same thing. He stated that he was quoted as

saying it is not going anywhere. It is not going anywhere fast. His concern

is that this litigation and the way it plays out, it would take the rest of this

year to get to a final verdict. He stated to him, it is unacceptable. He has

spoken about it September 20, 2023. When all the folks came to the

podium and said we need your help. He stated that he can't sit here and

say they are going to be ok waiting to the end of the year to see what

happens. He stated that when folks asking him how he is rationalizing this.

He stated that he will give them his thought process with full transparency.

There are three scenarios that happens if they let this go the way it is

currently going. The first scenario, it goes through fourth quarter, a judge

rules against them and says Procurement wasn't followed properly, start

over. He stated that is worse case scenario. He stated that they spend a

ton of money to get a you guys screwed up. Option 2: the judge decides

that their actions were just and they can move forward with FLEO. Ok, but

there is still an issue with confidentiality. He (Scott Curtis) doesn't have

access to the personnel records. He asked how do we handle that issue.

At the end of the day those personnel records have to be covered under

confidentiality. He stated three and it happens all the time in courts, a

judge says guys figure this out and mediate it out. It happens all the time.

Divorces, business issues, where they say you guys got to get in a room

and figure this out. He stated well, that is what we did last month. They

figured it out. He stated he thinks it is going to cost, he knows it is going to

cost a lot less money. He stated listen, as Mr. Zucal mentioned they

authorized a budget of $20,000. As they learned that money and they knew

this when they did it. He was quoted in WFMZ article, that they were going

to blow through that pretty quickly and they did. He stated so far they spent

$113,000. He stated $68,000 for Council's attorney, Ms. Mary K. Brown

and the administration has spent $45,000 for their attorney to counter. He

stated that a total of $113,000 and didn't make it to the Preliminary

Hearing. He stated that he is going to call that he will call the appetizer.

The main entrée they haven't even gotten to that yet. He stated that

$113,000 could double or triple by the time you get to the end. When you

start dealing with depositions, discovery, motions, appeals, it adds up very

quickly. He looked at it and just telling them how he is thinking, he

rationalized it like they can move forward with a new vendor. Get this thing

going in two weeks, they can start February 15th and actually start getting

this moving forward and investigated or they can stay on the current route

and wait until the end of the year and not know what is going to happen. He

can't sit here and actually think that is ok. He stated that's why he voted to

move Duane Morris forward to see if they can be voted on. He stated that

he hopes they can figure out if there are issues with our Policies and

Procedures and Discipline and Terminations and Hiring. They all need to

be resolved as soon as possible and that is what folks wanted and voting

on this tonight is what they are going to get. He stated that he just wants to

put it out there where his thoughts were. He thanked Mr. Hendricks.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Mr. Napoli.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated that she has several comments, questions, and

some statements. She stated that to her knowledge, they as a body

collectively agreed to go the law firm route. The original RFP had language

that was inclusive of law firms, attorneys, but it also stated organizations

and individuals. She stated that if that conversation happened, maybe she

wasn't part of it. She doesn't ever recall that conversation where they said

hey, let's go the law firm route. She stated that she never recalls directing

the attorneys to say let's go the law firm route. The attorneys - the law firms

that they interviewed, the two were selected by attorneys. Attorneys picked

attorneys. They were selected because they knew of them. They worked,

they knew of them. They weren't necessarily selected because they are the

most qualified, civil rights investigators because it is Philly and there are a

lot of law firms that specialize in civil rights investigations. These two do

not. She stated they still haven't paid the previous investigator. They are

about to vote to hire a new investigator when they still have an invoice that

is unpaid to the previous investigator. She stated that it doesn't seem to be

good practice, fiscally. She stated that this law firm, if you are running for

office, get the money. They make a lot of donations, democrats,

republicans. In 2022, they made $532,226.00 in federal donations. In

2024, they made $568,423 donations to federal candidates. They gave

$10K to the Organization of Governor's Association, democrats and

republicans. They are very politically involved. She stated that as far as they

know, they might attend the Municipal League of Cities with the mayor.

She stated that they don't know. She stated that is a concern. It was

disclosed to them that they also made a PAC donation to one of our city

employees stating that is a concern. She stated that they have contracted

with them in the past. For the last 10 years, upwards of $400,000. She

stated that they have contracted with them and now they are going to

investigate us. She stated that is a concern. To summarize that aspect,

she stated that she is concerned with the process on how this law firm was

selected and how the two law firms were selected and how the three law

firms were even considered. She stated that she has serious concerns ad

stated it is not to say that she doesn't trust the individuals. It is the process

itself. Because if there was concern, that there are people on Council who

were a part of the original selection committee that maybe have a

relationship or a friendship with the investigator that was chosen, wouldn't

this situation parallel that on how these law firms were selected. She

stated to follow up on Mr. Zucal when he brought up a previous organization

that this law firm did a pretty large scale investigation with. It is public, so

she stated that she will say it. It is the Bucks County School District. They

were brought in there because there was a Department of Education filed

an investigation against them because of concerns with the LGBTQ

community. There were a lot of allegations of a lot of bullying. Allegations

of teachers not being treated correctly in the LGBTQ community and those

who were advocating for the LGBTQ community, books bans, Pride Flags

weren't being allowed to be put in classrooms so people filed complaints.

The ACLU was a part of this and the Department of Education got involved.

Duane Morris was hired by Bucks County School District to do its own kind

of separate investigation to see if there were any issues and that is great,

just like we are doing, right. She stated that they are saying, let's see if

there are any issues. Well, at the conclusion, not only did Bucks County

School District which she would say it is similar to what we got going on.

They got allegations from the LGBT Community. We got allegations some

from the LGBT, but also a lot of racial complaints. After it is all said and

done, and after Central Bucks County School District and stated let her be

specific, hired them, they only had to pay them $1.7 million. As part of their

Report, they said that the Bucks County School District or Central Bucks

County School District was ahead of the curve. The ACLU found a lot of

challenge in the Report. They stated that it was a sham. One of the lead

investigators, a Republican candidate for Governor back when Mastriano

was running. Mr. Bill McSwain she guesses at some point he posted a

picture of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club and said that it ends when he is

Governor. He was one of the Lead Investigators on the concerns of

LGBTQ issues and the school district. There was allegations from the

ACLU that the law firm didn't actually interview any students that were

alleging the complaints or the staff that were involved. At the end of the

Report. the law firm stated that the larger issue is not discrimination, but a

partisan dispute. This was all in an article. She stated that she sent them

all to them and that the larger issue is not over discrimination, but a

partisan dispute over district policies. They say "democrats are

weaponizing federal investigatory resources to achieve what they could not

achieve at the ballot box." The law firm then goes on to blame activist,

ACLU., parents, the board member that was on the board at the time for

instigating the investigation. She asked what are the recommendations at

the conclusion of this law firms report was to suspend a teacher without

pay. She stated oops, that teacher then settled with the school district,

costing the school district another $100,000. He got his job back and part

of the settlement was that the Report had to be removed from the district's

website. She stated that she will move in to some of the cost concerns.

She stated that when the ACLU and the Solicitor for the School District

expressed concerns about the cost from this law firm that they are

considering to vote on tonight. The law firm stated accordingly, they have

made no commitment to you concerning the max fees or costs. If there is

an effort tonight to put a cap, she doesn't think it is going to work with them.

Some of the concerns from the Solicitor at Bucks County School District,

Mr. Edward Diasio, is that the bills were seriously inflated. Some of the

work could have been done by a less costly attorney, like an associate or

para, but instead they had their top senior level attorneys doing more

technical work that could have been handled by someone else. The

Solicitor was concerned because they didn't follow through with the

promise legal service strategy. She stated that it took them five months

and she believes in the interview it was about the same amount of time that

was stated to them. She stated probably about the same cost for them too.

The Bucks County Solicitor, School District Solicitor was also concerned

abut the staggering amount of time that it took time to review doc. She

stated that she guesses it was some 1.5 page policy that took them a little

bit longer. Not just a couple of minutes. A lot of their efforts were

duplicative. Where they would have according to the Solicitor of Bucks

County School District. They would have attorneys performing the same

tasks and sometimes having multiple high level, high paid attorneys all at

the same room at the same time or interviewing the same people. She

stated that her last concern is this law firm seems to be awesome when it

comes to what they are designed to do. They are not designed and do not

specialized in the type of investigation that the city needs. They are more

than qualified to perform other roles. She thinks, right there on their

website, it says "we capitalize on the decades of experience of our lawyers

have conducting internal corporate investigations and navigating regulatory

and criminals investigations with the goal of securing the best possible

result. No action or enforcement by the government. She stated that their

goal is to make sure that their client, the institution or the corporation that

there is no action. That there is no action or enforcement. That is their

goal. She stated when you look at their website and she cannot deny that

they are good at what they do in terms of defending institutions against

allegations, clearly. She stated Enron, you all remember that, Counsel to a

number of Arthur Anderson partners in the US v Enron investigation and

ongoing related civil proceedings. That kinds of represents what this law

firm does. This is what they are good at. She stated that is not what they

need. Just because they are good at representing corporations to have

allegations of misconduct being fiscal or what a certain community of

demographic. That is not what we need. If that is what you think we need,

send $1.75 million and we still going to have the same problems. She

stated that they are going to have the same problems without solutions.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Ms. Gerlach.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that she would like to speak about what Ms.

Gerlach just said. She stated that she finds it interesting that you made the

statement that this law firm had no experience. Yet, they claim they had

over 50 lawsuits on discrimination. She stated that yet, you were on a

committee that voted to hire a company that had no experience in this

whatsoever. She stated that she did admit that several people on the

committee were friendly with Scott Curtis. Scott Curtis didn't even have a

company before this entire thing started. She stated that her question is

what experience does this new company has as opposed to this law firm

that claims that have done 5 discrimination. She stated that she finds it

interesting and wonder where a conflict of interest may come in here at

some point. How do you have a committee of three people and two of

them are very friendly with Scott Curtis. She stated that now, he has no

experience in this. His company was brand new and yet we are going to

say you are claiming this company has no experience whatsoever. Yet you

voted to let A Company, a brand new company with no experience and say

this is a lot better. With absolutely no proof that the other company had no

experience when they claim they have done at least 50 cases

discrimination.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated that you may have misheard. She stated that

she did not say they did not have any experience. She said that they are

not experts in civil rights cases.

Ms. Candida Affa asked if Scott Curtis is.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach stated to Ms. Affa stated she is still speaking.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that you keep speaking.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach asked Ms. Affa do you want to listen or keep

interrupting her.

Ms. Candida Affa stated that no, she doesn't want to listen anymore to tell

her the truth.

Ms. Ce Ce Gerlach asked so you are just done. That is very mature. Thank

you so much.

Ms. Candida Affa stated you are welcome.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that he would like to speak at this point.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated to Mr. Hendricks that he would like his second bite at

the apple.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated sure, if he can take one.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated oh yeah.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that one of the things that he is going to

recommend is that they merge this investigation with the results so far with

the results obtained by Scott Curtis.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated to Mr. Hendricks that he would like his second bite at

the apple.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated sure, if he can take one.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated oh yeah.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that one of the things that he is going to

recommend is that they merge this investigation with the results so far with

the results obtained by Scott Curtis, FLEO and Mr. Curtis be duly

compensated for his efforts. He state that he felt personally this

investigation was getting bogged down in the courts and it was going to be

endlessly wrapped into the courts. He stated that he has confidentiality

concerns with FLEO and do not believe Mr. Curtis would be able to

overcome this as he is not an attorney. In interviews with the Morris

Agency, he too asked them specifically about experiencing racial

discrimination of cases. They have indicated that they have had very much

experience with such cases. He feels confident that they would do an

adequate job and reach a conclusion.

Mr. Ed Zucal stated that is one of the points that he wants to focus on is the

confidentiality. Confidentiality is kind of like a two part thing and that's why

the mayor wants the attorney part of it is because it is an attorney client

privilege and nothing will be exposed. Whereas Mr. Curtis, he may

interview you and what you say to him will be in a Report, but he will not

known that you said it. There are different types of confidentiality. He

stated that he would understand why the mayor would want it because the

purpose of this investigation, again, as he said in the beginning was to fix

things, uncover things. Fix things and get them right. That is not going to

happen if you can't expose the problem.

Mr. Santo Napoli stated a couple of things and Ms. Montero, you are going

to have to jump in because you had a lot of these conversations with the

firm. He asked if they are going to give them a Report, a public Report. He

asked is that something that is being discussed.

Attorney Maria Montero stated so that is in the determination of Council of

what the Reports are and the deliverables are. It has been stated and

asked that since this is taxpayers money that a public report should be

available and that is something that they can't deliver. Different options of

deliverables would also be executive presentations. At the length of the

Report out could vary on what Council requests and confidentiality would

mean the same thing as what Councilman Zucal stated that individuals

names wouldn't be reported. One of the other important features of the

investigation is how it could be a culture change in the city of Allentown and

part of a public report out would include what the suggestions are moving

forward to make sure that Allentown is a safe, productive, environment for

our employees and that takes a lot of work. It is a team effort.

Mr. Santo Napoli stated that also a point that was brought up was costs.

He stated that he read the same articles and had the same concerns. He

asked Attorney Montero was she able to work on the firm on understanding

the scope and the pricing of what this entails.

Attorney Maria Montero stated when Duane Morris met with the

Councilmembers, Councilmembers asked for a range. They gave a range

from $450,000 and they stated up to a million. From that, they were asking

for things of an investigation and a report. They were also requesting

training and so $450 is what they will charge for an investigation. She

stated that she shared with Duane Morris that since money has been

already expended in this and this is taxpayer money, the $450,000 was the

city's ceiling and they stated that not only would they conduct an

investigation for $450,000. She stated other deliverables she asked was

that the investigation be completed by the end of the summer of 2025.

Also, if she is the individual who will be the point of contact for the

investigation, is that with billing. Billing should be done and shared monthly

and that is how we can monitor what the costs are to make sure they don't

go above our budget and they stay within their perimeters. She stated that

items that Councilwoman Gerlach brought up were fair because if

individuals were double charging, that's why it is important for someone to

review those bills monthly to make sure that everything is on point and that

our costs of the taxpayer money are being spent efficaciously

Mr. Santo Napoli thanked Attorney Montero. He stated a lot of other things

he heard was about corporate. He stated when they did interview Duane

Morris, they did mention a couple of cases they worked on. He stated that

one was a state institution, one was a church, and one was a private

school. Their investigations and findings have ensured that if you had any

wrongdoings, that you are not going to let it happen again going forward

due to better policies and procedures. That's really the crux of what they

are trying to accomplish. When you read the ordinance, he stated that he is

not going to read it because it is long and he is not going to continue going

too far on this. It was always about our policies, our procedures regarding

termination, regarding promotions, regarding discipline. It is making sure

that the city of Allentown has the proper procedures in place and that they

are being followed properly. He stated that is the crux of this investigation.

Whether it was the original one that Mr. Zucal and Ms. Gerlach proposed

back in September 2023 or this one. It is the same thing. That is what they

really trying to accomplish. And, again, a colleague brought up that it was

picked up by attorneys. He stated that he is ok with that because he asked

if Attorney Montero work with Ms. Mary K Brown on selecting the law firms.

Attorney Maria Montero stated yes, Mary K Brown was the attorney that

Council hired to move forward with the litigation against the city. She

stated that Mary K and her were the ones who thought about the skillsets

that law firms or any investigator needs to proper conduct an investigation

and offer remedial measures.

Mr. Santo Napoli thanked Attorney Montero. He stated that another thing

he heard was a lot about corporate. He stated when they did interview

Duane Morris, they did mention a couple of cases that they worked on.

One was a state institution, one was a church, and one was a private

school. There investigations and findings had ensured that if there have

been in wrongdoing, it is not going to happen again going forward due to

better policies and procedures. That is really the crucks of what they are

trying to accomplish. He stated when you read the ordinance and stated

that he is not going to read it because it is long and he is not going too far

with this, but it was always about

A motion was made by Ed Zucal, seconded by Ce Ce Gerlach, to completely

suspend the investigation with Scott Curtis and also, not to approve Bill 10.

Enactment No: 16094

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that a Motion was made by Ms. Gerlach.

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated not to muddy the issue, but the intent was to

come later with an appropriation Bill with the cost. He stated that the Bill

right now does not contain the costs.

Dr. Cynthia Mota asked Mike to repeat that again. She stated go ahead.

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated that this Bill will just authorize the Engagement of

Duane Morris to do the investigation. There will be a second Ordinance to

appropriate the cost for the Bill which will for this which will be introduced at

a future date.

Dr. Cynthia Mota asked what do you mean with a future date. What does

that entails, again?

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated so it would mean whenever Ms. Patel gives

them the bill and directs them where to take the money from. He stated that

this is a Motion to Table the Bill until February 5th or whenever you have a

clear picture of the cost.

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated now, you have the Bill in front of you.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated ok, on the Bill. He asked Mr. Hanlon if he

wanted to read the Bill again.

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated that the Bill itself is, Bill 10 and it just authorizes

the investigation.

A motion was made by Ce-Ce Gerlach, seconded by Ed Zucal to Table voting on

the contract, Bill 10 - The Contract with Duane Morris until February 5th. Once

they can get a clearer picture of cost and any concerns addressed and alleviated,

perhaps another Executive Session.

3 - Ed Zucal, Natalie Santos, and Ce-Ce Gerlach

Yes:

No:

4 - Cynthia Mota, Daryl Hendricks, Candida Affa, and Santo Napoli

Enactment No: 16094

Mr. Michael Hanlon stated Mr. President, it passes 4 - 3.

Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that concludes the work of this committee and

thanked them all.