Allentown Council to seek residents' input on 2024 budget after likely violating Sunshine Act

• Allentown City Council held three committee meetings Oct. 25 on the 2024 budget before inviting any residents to speak
• That likely violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, which requires local agencies “provide a meaningful opportunity for public comment at every public meeting,” a legal expert said 
• The body initially planned to only hear from residents at its final budget review meeting Saturday morning, but agendas for upcoming sessions now include public-comment periods

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Residents will be invited to speak at a series of 2024 budget meetings this week after Allentown City Council almost excluded them from their first review sessions.

Agendas show Tuesday’s budget and finance committee meeting and two committee meetings on Wednesday will include public-comment periods, unlike three sessions that were held Oct. 25.

Councilwomen Ce-Ce Gerlach and Cynthia Mota, who chaired two of those budget-review sessions, said they were not allowed to solicit residents’ input.

Mota initially told more than a dozen people they would have to wait until Nov. 4 to speak in support of city funding for two projects.

Council members eventually opened the floor for some after their committee meetings were finished, but that concession fell short of satisfying the Sunshine Act’s public-comment requirements.

Residents nearly excluded from Allentown’s first 2024 budget review meetings

Allentown News

Jason Addy

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The council plowed through three meetings about the 2024 budget without public comment before a member pushed to hear from some of the residents who showed up to speak.

‘Not the way it’s supposed to go’

The law requires local agencies, including municipal legislative committees, “to provide a meaningful opportunity for public comment at every public meeting,” according to Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.

Allentown City Council members should have given residents time to speak during each committee meeting, she said.

Council President Daryl Hendricks defended the decision to mostly sideline residents during the body’s first review sessions last week, saying people had a chance to speak about the proposal when it was introduced Oct. 18.

Hendricks said residents also would get time to speak at the same session where council plans is scheduled to pass the 2024 budget. That meeting starts at 9 a.m. Saturday.

His comments appeared to indicate residents would again be blocked from speaking at the council’s budget meetings this week.

“It sounds like they’re holding [many] meetings for discussion and deliberation purposes, but only one meeting for public-comment purposes," Melewsky said.

"And that’s not the way it’s supposed to go.”

Council to hear from residents this week

Hendricks suggested last week residents could also speak about the budget before Wednesday’s council’s meeting. The 2024 budget is not on the agenda for that meeting.

“That's less than ideal from a public access perspective,” Melewsky said. “You want the ears that are most interested in public comment to hear it at the most opportune moment.

“The reason that public comment is guaranteed by law is because the law recognizes that agencies function best when they are aided by an actively involved and informed citizenry."

The agenda for Tuesday’s budget and finance committee says city officials will present their budget requests and answer questions from council members before a public-comment period.

Agendas for the three committee meetings Wednesday also show each session will include an opportunity for public comment, as required by the Sunshine Act.

An agenda is not yet available for the Saturday morning meeting, at which council could pass the 2024 budget.