ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown has its third human resources director in less than six months, after the mayor appointed one of his inner staff members to lead the office.
Michaela Boyer, project manager for Mayor Matt Tuerk's office, also will hold the title of interim HR director through March.
Allentown ordinances prohibit interim directors from serving more than 90 days without City Council approval.
Boyer succeeds Garry Ritter, whom the mayor appointed on an interim basis after the previous director left his job in August under a cloud of controversy.
Ritter works in the city’s Health Bureau.
“We anticipate this to be a smooth transition.”Allentown Communications Manager Genesis Ortega
“We anticipate this to be a smooth transition,” Allentown Communications Manager Genesis Ortega told City Council last week.
Ortega said Boyer shadowed the former interim director for a short time before recently stepping into the role.
“We appreciate Garry Ritter for his leadership in HR for the past three months and are even more appreciative of his willingness to assist Michaela Boyer,” Ortega said.
Boyer will focus on “facilitating communication and collaboration” between Allentown’s HR, law and finance departments while helping to find a permanent HR director, Ortega said.
Boyer graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2020 before interning with U.S. Rep. Susan Wild. She now serves as Tuerk’s executive assistant and project manager after running his successful 2021 mayoral campaign.
Turnover in HR
The city has been without a permanent human resources director since August.
Nadeem Shahzad was hired to run Allentown’s HR department in late June on a $128,000 salary, but he lasted less than two months in the role.
Shahzad alleges Tuerk forced him to resign, and he has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about his departure from his city job.
About three months later, Mayor Matt Tuerk fired HR employee Karen Ocasio, who helped spark an impending investigation into racism and discrimination at City Hall.
The city in 2022 hired an independent counsel who investigated "multiple complaints" involving employees within the city’s human resources department.”Allentown Communications Manager Genesis Ortega
Her termination came after she repeatedly urged Allentown City Council to investigate numerous claims of workplace discrimination and racism in city government.
That firing prompted Councilman Ed Zucal to push for a vote of no-confidence in Tuerk, which council passed by a 4-3 vote Dec. 6.
Tuerk is the second mayor in the past eight years to lose the confidence of council. Members unanimously voted in January 2016 that they had no confidence in then-Mayor Ed Pawlowski in the wake of an FBI investigation into pay-to-play contracting at City Hall.
Ocasio was among three HR employees fired in November, Ortega revealed last year.
The city in 2022 hired an independent counsel who investigated "multiple complaints involving employees within the city’s human resources department,” Ortega said.
Those investigators recommended Tuerk fire three employees, which he did 18 months after the investigation started, Ortega said.
