435 Hamilton Street  
Allentown, Pa. 18101  
Allentown  
Minutes - Final  
Recreation Board  
Thursday, October 2, 2025  
8:00 AM  
Bucky Boyle Recreation Building  
Roll Call  
Board Members & City Administration:  
x
x
Nancy Witt - Chair  
Julie Ambrose-Secretary  
Ana Tiburcio  
Zaleeae Sierra  
Mike Comick  
Josh Novak  
x
x
x
x
Ray Nunez  
Dave Snyder  
VACANT  
Rebecca Kiss  
City Council  
x
William Rhoades  
Mike Hanlon (City Clerk)  
___ Dave Edinger  
____ Mayor  
Parks and Recreation Staff in Attendance:  
Chris Hendricks, Brynne Heffner-Bair, Priscilla Reyes (online), Lucinda Wright  
Minutes  
September 4, 2025, Minutes Approval  
Dave Snyder made the motion, William Rhoades seconded. All approved. Motion  
passed.  
Attachments: BOR Sept 4 2025 Minutes  
Communications  
Nancy thanked the staff for all work over the summer - many activities and parks  
improvements.  
P&R Reports  
Various Project Updates  
Brynne Heffner-Bair - Trout creek work started yesterday. Dixon St bridge  
opened - lots of people using it including the Human Society volunteers.  
Big impact! Jordan Mini-pitch will be added as soon as permits approved;  
donated by US Soccer; will be installed in Spring. Master Plan 30 day  
review period will start very soon - awaiting revisions from team meeting  
last week. Will be posted on MyRec and City website. Please provide  
feedback. Rose Garden Pavilion #1 will be installed next week, completing  
that project. Tree Inventory is underway - 2400 in the first week! Tree  
planting will be happening soon via a grant. City will notify property  
owners if there are problem trees that need to be addressed.  
Nancy asked about residents who are pushing for a south  
Allentown skate park. At the moment there are no plans within Parks &  
Recreation to build that, but community input can drive projects.  
Recreation Updates  
Chris Hendricks - wrapping up movies and 3 more Monday Fundays.  
Halloween movie will be at Arts Park. Fishing in the Park attracted over 200  
people; medical helicopter landed. Very successful. Soccer skills and drills  
had 75 kids on Saturday; 200 are registered for the Friday Night program  
over the next few weeks at Jordan Park. Talking to Special Olympics about a  
potential World Cup type of festival in November. Basketball going well -  
skills & drills at ESYC; middle/high school at WAHS. Winter volleyball  
registration open - starting sooner due to planned gym renovations at Trexler  
in the winter. Rec Specialist position is open, and they are currently  
interviewing. Kyle was promoted to one of those roles, the second remains.  
Dept is evaluating growth opportunities in partnership with other  
departments.  
Special Events Updates  
Lucinda Wright - Discussion of memorials for Ed Stinner.  
Department is recognizing it and supporting youth and staff who  
worked with him.  
Priscilla Reyes: Walking Halloween Parade - looking for candy  
sponsors, participants and volunteers. Email Lucinda for any  
volunteers and sponsors. DJ, drum line, face painting, etc. is all set  
up - lots of fun planned for the kids. Lights in the Parkway preview -  
November 20 from 6-8pm. Preview and offer feedback. Early bird  
pricing will be available. 7 volunteer groups are signed up. Planning  
Walking Mondays plus the Tuesday, January 6 (last day of lights).  
Will be celebrating many cultural holidays in addition to traditional  
Christmas.  
Send any marketing to Nancy Wilt, Pete Schweyer sends an eblast  
every week and will include it in her communications.  
Director/Deputy Director Updates  
N/A  
Old Business  
Nancy thanked Becky for speaking at City Council about the renaming of  
Valania Park and acknowledged that it was partly contentious meeting, and  
regretfully Becky was in that situation.  
There was discussion around how to improve communications between the  
board and the city.  
Lucinda suggested that the commission put questions in writing.  
In the case of Valania Park, the commission did put it in writing and sent it to  
Mandy Tolino, Mike Hanlon, the three City Council Reps on the Board of  
Recreation and Mayor Tuerk. Nobody responded.  
Board members expressed frustration around the board’s value due to the lack  
of response from the city. Numerous examples were shared that revealed  
lapses in the city following its own processes (for example permitting for  
murals) that were not appropriately including Parks and Recreation. Lucinda  
reports that the city is working to follow its own processes.  
Dedications of parks - the board members pointed out that the fact that a park  
was renamed without input from the parks department (as was reported to the  
board in September) seems incongruent. The board asks whether the city  
followed its own process with the renaming and dedication or not.  
We continued to discuss signage for Bosket Park. Lucinda shared that she and  
Mandy met to discuss and that they are gathering feedback from various  
committee members. She shared that the final concept will be provided to the  
board for review prior to final approval.  
Nancy offered the suggestion of adding a qr code to the sign for people to learn  
more about any one particular topic listed on the signage.  
There was talk about the possibility of scheduling a secondary meeting to  
discuss concerns (in general) directly with the administration. Nancy will send  
out an email to the full board, but it was suggested that we send a specific invite  
to the administration for the November meeting.  
Dave Snyder asked about the island on Wyoming Street. He shared that trees  
and lights were damaged when hit by a car. And now there are just cones over  
the live wires where the lights used to be. He wanted to know what would be  
done there and who is in charge of maintaining that area. It was stated that  
Public Works is typically in charge.  
Dave also asked about tree inventory. Bryne shared that they are inventorying  
15,000 trees. And that it will be part of the master plan which will allow for  
public feedback.  
Nancy shared that Rep. Schweyer took Ruffian Tittman and Mandy Tolino out  
on his boat on the Lehigh River to share with them concerns about the erosion  
of Eve’s Island and the subsequent silt that impacts the depth of the river. And  
also the silt that makes Kimmet’s Lock impossible for boats other than flat  
bottom boats/Kayaks/Canoes, etc to launch. Limiting access to the river above  
the dam.  
New Business  
Adjourn  
N/A  
Meeting was adjourned at 9:02 Becki and Bill Rhoads made motion