ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Investigators leading a long-running probe into allegations of racism and discrimination with Allentown City Hall revealed their recommendations Thursday — but none of their findings.
Mayor Matt Tuerk should implement a data-management strategy and improve staffing levels to help fix the city’s human resources department, which has been “grossly mismanaged” in recent years, Duane Morris investigator Leigh Skipper said Thursday in City Council's chambers.
“The fact that they don't have such capabilities in the year of 2025 is stunning. The administration must rectify this.”Duane Morris investigator Leigh Skipper
“The fact that they don't have such capabilities in the year of 2025 is stunning,” Skipper said. “The administration must rectify this.”
Other recommendations from the investigation include requiring new employees to complete more training and all workers to undergo annual performance reviews.
But attorneys from Duane Morris LLC and Allentown City Council solicitor Maria Montero repeatedly said they could provide no further information about what investigators learned while interviewing more than 40 people and poring over tens of thousands of pages of documents.
“This was a confidential investigation involving personnel matters, and so we really can’t discuss the details of our investigation or its findings,” Duane Morris partner Mary Hansen said.
Mike Rinaldi, also a partner at Duane Morris, rejected an opportunity to say whether the investigation found a broad pattern of racism and discrimination within city government.
“That’s what we can’t answer because it’s confidential, and it’s a personnel matter, and I hope that you appreciate that,” Rinaldi told reporters who pressed for specifics.
Council — in a statement emailed to reporters after Montero ushered members Daryl Hendricks, Cynthia Mota and Candida Affa out of the room as reporters continued to ask questions — said the investigation found "isolated discriminatory conduct by individual city employees."
"City Council believes that those instances have been addressed, and there is no system issue of racial or other unlawful discrimination in city government," the statement reads.
Residents should not expect a public report.
“This is the public discussion,” Montero said.
Tuerk told LehighValleyNews.com on Thursday morning that he was not informed of the guidance nor any findings from the investigation.
He welcomed all seven recommendations and said city officials identified similar improvements and were working to implement them before the probe launched.
Stop-start investigation
Thursday’s release of recommendations was the culmination of an investigation that spanned almost two years and is set to cost taxpayers more than a half-million dollars.
Council in October 2023 approved an independent investigation into reported allegations of racism and discrimination by and against city employees in recent years.
Eight months later, council hired former FBI agent Scott Curtis to lead the probe.
He completed dozens of interviews — racking up about $68,000 in legal fees without being paid — before council suspended its contract with him in December 2024.
The body in January hired Duane Morris LLC to lead a somewhat-reined-in investigation.
Curtis interviewed city employees about specific allegations, but the Philadelphia-based law firm was tasked with analyzing Allentown's personnel and nondiscrimination policies — and whether they’ve been followed since Matt Tuerk became mayor in early 2022.
The long-running investigation — and a related legal battle — are set to cost the city at least $550,000, and more legal bills are expected to be submitted.
Allentown owes Curtis about $68,000 for his work during the second half of 2024.
Tuerk refused to honor his contract, calling it “defective” and “void” because council used a “flawed process” to hire him.
Council eschewed the city’s regular procurement process and established a three-member committee to select Curtis to lead the investigation.
Members also blocked administration officials from sitting on that selection committee.
Council’s committee — Ed Zucal, Ce-Ce Gerlach and Daryl Hendricks — shared no transcripts from their interviews with Curtis or other companies that bid for the contract, the mayor said.
'Under budget': Council solicitor
And Duane Morris is set to make more than $375,000 for five months of work on its policy probe.
Council on Wednesday introduced a measure to pay the company through July; Duane Morris attorneys still must submit bills for their work since the start of August.
Solicitor Montero said the investigation is still under the $500,000 budget council allocated for it.
That calculation does not include the $113,000 in legal fees run up by a power struggle over Curtis’ payment.
Council sued the mayor in September, accusing him of trying to prevent and obstruct its investigation by not paying Curtis.
Taxpayers footed the bill for council’s lawsuit and Tuerk’s defense of his administration — but the litigation was settled a day before its first court date.
Council President Daryl Hendricks, who led Thursday's news conference, said the investigation and its recommendations were “absolutely” worth the money the body paid for it.
