435 Hamilton Street  
Allentown, Pa. 18101  
Allentown  
Minutes - Final  
City Council  
Tuesday, June 13, 2023  
5:30 PM  
Council Chambers  
Roll Call  
5 - Candida Affa, Cynthia Mota, Daryl Hendricks, Ed Zucal, and Ce-Ce Gerlach  
Present:  
1 - Santo Napoli  
1 - Natalie Santos  
Excused:  
Absent:  
Council President Hendricks  
This evening is a Special Council meeting to review the initiative that has been  
introduced and must be acted on in the form submitted by City Council by June 19th. I  
would like to thank everyone for working with our office to set up this evening’s agenda.  
They have 45 minutes of prepared testimony. At 6:15 PM, the Public Works Committee  
meeting will start and that is followed by a City Council meeting at 6:30 PM. We will  
reconvene the Special Council Meeting on June 15th at 6:30 PM to further review and  
act on the initiative. At that time, we will take additional testimony and then public  
comment, prior to Council vote. Let us proceed with the first speaker on the agenda.  
1. WELCOME: Imogen Wirth, Lehigh County resident, canvasser for Petition for Bill 47  
2. INTRODUCTION: Susan Jordhamo, member of Petitioners' Committee for Bill 47,  
Allentown resident  
3. REVIEW OF 3 YEARS OF COMMUNITY & CITY ACTION LEADING TO THIS PETITION:  
Imogen Wirth  
4. REVIEW OF ORDINANCE & RATIONALE: Imogen Wirth  
5. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Chad Bruckner, retired Lansdale Police Department Detective,  
cadet instructor at Montgomery County Municipal Police Academy, former Army Infantry  
sergeant, certified Mental Health Peer Advocate, Lehigh County resident.  
6. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Alex Domingos, Senior Organizer, American Civil Liberties  
Union of Pennsylvania's Campaign for Smart Justice  
7. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Linda Mancenelli, retired nurse, Allentown resident  
8. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Dr. Jenna Jebitsch, clinical psychologist, Allentown resident  
9. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Ruby Cruz, Allentown resident, former corrections officer and  
former professional mental health advocate  
10. TESTIMONY: April Riddick, lifelong Allentown resident, community advocate  
11. TESTIMONY: Silvia Evangelista, Allentown resident, canvasser for Petition for Bill 47  
12. TESTIMONY: Matthew Ming Lo, lifelong Allentown resident, data science and finance  
technology professional, canvasser for Petition for Bill 47  
13. TESTIMONY: Johnathan Favini, canvasser for Petition for Bill 47, Lehigh Valley  
resident  
14. TESTIMONY: Jon Irons, Lehigh County resident, former caseworker in Allentown  
School District, data manager for Communities in Schools of Eastern Pennsylvania  
located in Allentown, canvasser for Petition for Bill 47  
15. CLOSING: Imogen Wirth  
15-5854  
Bill 47  
An ordinance introduced as an initiative pursuant to the Home Rule Charter  
of the City of Allentown approving the creation of a public health pilot  
program providing alternative first response to calls for service involving  
mental and behavioral health, substance use, welfare checks, and "quality  
of life" complaints such as family and neighbor disputes, issues related to  
unhoused persons, and calls about suspicious persons; authorizing the  
expenditure of four million, eighty two thousand dollars ($4,082,000.00) and  
calling for a Request for Proposals to be issued.  
Attachments: Bill 47 Public Health Pilot Program  
Bill Public Health Pilot Program  
Citizens' Rights and Participation (3)  
Sufficient Signatures for Petition  
Ms. Imogen Wirth stated good evening and thank you for inviting the  
Petitioner's Committee. She stated that Susan Jordhamo is here tonight  
and is a member of the Petitioner's Committee and will open the meeting  
on why she supports Bill 47 and she will resume with the history and  
ordinance itself.  
Ms. Susan Jordhamo stated why supports MCRT. She has lived in  
Allentown for seven years and currently retired, but worked as a public  
secondary school teacher and worked with people that have mental and  
behavior health challenges. She lived in Philadelphia for 15 years in the  
Black and Brown neighborhoods. She believes in a law-and-order  
response to many situations is completely appropriate. She imagines the  
training is focused on order. She talked about therapeutic staff support  
and dealing with people with mental health issues in a positive way. She  
stated that having a Mobile Community Response Team makes so much  
sense to her. She stated wouldn't it be better to have people trained to  
deal with troubled people than to only have police personnel with their  
uniforms, handcuffs, and tasers. Northampton County has a Crisis  
Intervention Unit and a Crisis Walk - in Center in the Human Services  
building and Lancaster County has a MCRT program.  
Ms. Imgen Wirth stated that she will talk about the three years of  
Community Action. She talked about the tool of the Ballot Referendum.  
Per the City Charter, if Council does not approve Bill 47, it will go to Lehigh  
County for inclusion on the ballot in November posed to the voters. Based  
on a city public meeting agenda, City Council intends to debate two  
potential ballot referendum later this week to raise the salary of the  
Controller and their own salaries. There has been dismay from the city  
administration on the process. She stated that the initiative was not taken  
lightly. This was three years worth of community organizing and action and  
discussion with the community and government. She spoke of May 25,  
2020, George Floyd was killed at the hands of the Police in Minnesota  
during Covid created a national and global movement of people being  
concerned on mental health crisis on drug use and other issues and the  
way that law enforcement handles this. There were many demonstrations  
held in Allentown and Mayor Matt Tuerk rode his bike in many of them.  
Shortly thereafter, July 11, 2020, an Allentown Police department officer  
restrained a man in crisis. Using his kneeling on his neck. The same way  
that Goerge Floyd was murdered. It was covered nationally. There was  
article by Mark Pinsley and The Morning Call calling for alternative crisis  
response as a result a method to respond to this. The Allentown Police  
Reform Resolution 94 passed on August 12, 2020. A lot of that Bill was the  
Eight Can't Wait Police Reforms. In June 2021, stakeholders attended a  
meeting with the County Executive, former Police Chief, now Council  
President Daryl Hendricks, Pinebrook Family Services as well as other city  
and county leaders. In 2021 at a City Council meeting, CAHOOTS was  
able to present. Later that year in October, the Deputy Police Chief Sam  
Castello and Anne Larson from Olympia Police Department presented  
during a City Council meeting. Numerous community leaders met with  
Chief Roca about this with Julie Thomases and Hasshan Batts. The  
reason they went to the Ballot is because they were not happening fast  
enough. In early 2023, the signature gathering phase there were  
representatives attending community meetings. Mayor Tuerk attended the  
1st and 6th Ward meetings and he let her know that he opposed the  
Ordinance. Sergeant Leonard presents it at Franklin Park Community  
Conversation and spoke of the number one crime in Allentown is theft of  
motor vehicles and 911 calls have been consistently been going up and  
talked about resources. In reviewing the mental health calls that the  
Allentown Police Department responded to in 2022, Sergeant Leonard  
said that there were 3,000 calls to 911 that the Police deemed as mental  
health calls, only 352 referred to Pinebrook and over 100 Allentown Police  
Department Officers have completed a 40 hour training for the Crisis  
Intervention Team. She spoke to Jordan Westerman who designed the  
City of Bethlehem's Co-Response Program and received $1 million in  
Department of Justice funds to be able to get that Program started in a  
smaller city. The Ordinance itself was authored by The Wren Collective - A  
Social Justice Law Firm and former Public Defender. She read the first  
paragraph of the Ordinance. Representative Schlossberg's Bill that just  
passed is going to have $100 million towards Mental Health in  
Pennsylvania and organization that fund and provide grants to these types  
of Programs. There are 85 Programs like this. She explained what is  
MCRT (Mobile Community Responder Team) which will be a 24/7  
program. She stated that data will be collected with quarterly data reports.  
She read Retired Detective Chad Bruckner's statement (Lansdale Polce  
Department and a Certified Mental Health Peer Advocate) on cities across  
the nation and Police Departments are facing a significant challenge in  
maintaining adequate staffing levels and the call center inundated with low  
level calls that do not necessary require an armed Police Officer's  
response and explained the LEAP Program.  
Mr. Alex Domingos, Advocacy and Policy Strategist - ACLU of  
Pennsylvania, speaking on behalf of the members, donors, and supporters.  
He stated that he resides in Allentown. They are proud to support this  
important Ballot Initiative and uplift the will of Allentown residents and  
increasing public safety via a Crisis Response Pilot Program. He  
discussed diverse jurisdictions across the country have implemented  
Crisis Response similar to the one being proposed here in addition to the  
CAHOOTS Program. Cities have seen successes with this model.  
According to a Right to Know Request filed by the ACLU nearly 100,000  
911 calls were made from Allentown last year. The six most frequent call  
was Check on Welfare, the 19th most frequent was Psych emergency.  
Even diverting a fraction of these calls to trained mental health  
professionals could reduce police use of force, violence against people  
with disabilities, and de-escalate situations and prevent unnecessary arrest  
and involvement in a criminal legal system. He emphasized that this  
measure has no effect on Police Budgets, Programming, Staffing, or  
Initiatives. This program is simply adding another tool to Allentown's Public  
Safety Toolkit to increase effectiveness and promote the health and safety  
of our community members. In places across the country they have seen  
measures like this work and enhance public safety and don't want to be left  
behind in doing what's best for the average everyday people that you all  
serve. He sincerely hopes for the support of Council.  
Ms. Linda Mancenelli, Allentown resident, stated that she has lived here  
since 1975. She is a Registered Nurse and attended Sacred Heart  
Hospital School of Nursing. The reason she brought up that she is an RN is  
because she is a mandated reporter. If she feels that there is abuse or the  
possibility of abuse happening to a child, it is her responsibility to tell  
someone. She lives on S. 10th Street in Allentown and had occasion to  
hear certain arguments from families. One incident she heard a woman  
talking about the fact she was choked, and she heard her say, you are not  
going to choke my little girl. As soon as she heard this, she called 911.  
The woman left the house before the police arrived and pulled up in her car.  
The other incident was with the same family and she felt the need to call  
911. She did not know if the adult involved had mental health issues. This  
is why she feels that this type of initiative is very much needed in Allentown.  
Dealing with families, you might have one person that has mental health  
issues. Because if they do, they may or may not be receiving treatment. If  
there are children involved, they are certainly being put at risk. Her two  
daughters are involved in the mental health arena. Her oldest daughter is  
Dr. Jenna Jebitsch is a Psychologist. However, she was not able to be  
here, but supports this as well. Her youngest daughter is a Mental Health  
Peer Counselor that does home visits and also supports this.  
Mr. Ronald Bryan Johnson stated that she is speaking on behalf of Sylvia  
Evangelista who was not able to make it because she was not able to get  
out of work. She is a hardworking mother of three and help them collect  
signatures in the bilingual regions of Allentown. She is a notable and  
honorable civic leader in the Latino community in Allentown. He made Ms.  
Evangelista's comment in Spanish. She stated that they need to invest in  
mental health resources and social work. When there are nonviolent  
situations arises where there are a homeless person involved or someone  
suffering from a mental health crisis, the city of Allentown should have a  
Response Team with Social Workers and Mental Health Professionals  
because these are professional who are best equipped to address these  
issues do to their extensive training. A Social Worker studies years in  
order to adequately be prepared to solve those problems in our community  
which is facing. The professionals with the relevant preparation and  
training should be the candidates the city of Allentown uses to resolve  
these problems.  
Mr. Matthew Ming Lo, born and raised in Allentown, stated that he works in  
IT at a bank. He referred to Denver's Pilot Program for their Community  
Response Team called the STAR Program (Support Team Assisted  
Response) for six months in 2020. It occurred in eight of the 36 precincts  
with a 14 percent reduction in overall crimes. He went over the findings  
with 34 reductions in STAR related offenses. The leading cause of death  
in young people between the ages of 18 and 45 in this country is fentanyl  
overdoses. The second leading cause of death is suicide. The despair  
could be more adequately addressed by Crisis Response Teams. He  
talked about cost savings. Allentown has some of the highest property  
taxes in Lehigh County. He stated that 20 percent of the 911 calls could be  
addressed by this team. In the city of Denver, this did not lead to defunding  
the Police.  
Ms. Imogen Wirth stated that some of the members that were not able to  
speak today, will be able to join them on Thursday for the second meeting.  
She knows there will be a public comment period.  
Mr. Daryl Hendricks stated that there will be a comment period.  
Ms. Imogen Wirth stated that they look forward to that and to continue the  
conversation with all of them and the public. She hopes that Council was  
able to learn more of how these programs have been enacted in other  
places, why Allentown really needs this and why this group of Allentown  
voters and residents came together to use the democratic ballot  
referendum as a tool to bring this Ordinance to Council today and  
potentially on the ballot in November.  
Mr. Daryl Hendricks thanked Ms. Wirth and stated that this meeting will be  
continued for those who has concerns about it on Thursday, on June 15,  
2023 at 6:30 PM in the evening.  
ADJOURNED: 6:14 PM