Bullshit excuses for Raises

I went back after a couple drinks and rewatched the special meeting this past week.  The CED introduced yet another upgrade to the Health Director with a salary increase from $110,426 to $117,267. The justification is that the Health Director is in a cabinet level position. Well, according to the Home Rule Charter, the Health Director is not considered cabinet, and the Council has not approved adding the Health Director to the cabinet. So, this raise shouldn’t be approved

They are also promoting the Opioid Prevention Manager – they seem to be doing a great job, we have Narcan vending machines.

Their salary will increase from $70,070 to $74,695. Justification for this promotion is to “better align with duties”. What does that even mean? Such a bullshit explanation. Show some results. There are people overdosing every day, yet is a vending machine your solution?

Civics Innovation Manager – although not on the agenda for promotion, yet. Councilman Binder asked recently about the mayor’s office Data Analyst to assist with some of the concerns from the CED committee meeting and Frank stated there is no data analyst in the mayor’s office. Newsflash Burgundy, the data analysis, is a duty of the Civics Innovations Manager. The most recent vacancy report shows the position was filled in March 2026. 

It is very well known that Ms. Boyer was promoted to the new Civics Innovation Manager. To my knowledge, there has not been a request to reorganize that job that was approved by the council. Similarly, there has not been a single CHATT since Ms. Balek-Cole left the position last year. It appears that the position duties have been converted to doing nothing but getting paid very well, a gold standard for Boyer.  The vacancy report also indicates that the city has a Communications Manager?? But do we?? There has been zero from this individual and no announcement from the administration regarding who they are.

The city keeps doing this thing where they hand out raises and change job titles and then act like it’s all fine because it “better aligns with their duties.”

Like… seriously? That phrase means nothing. It’s just a go‑to excuse whenever they want to give someone more money without explaining why. Or if Bina is there the response is "I do not have that answer."

The city paid for an expensive pay study — a big fancy report that’s supposed to show what jobs should really earn and which should be eliminated. But the second the study didn’t say “yes, give this person a raise,” it was tossed aside like it never existed. Crybabies.

So why even pay for the study? Just to pretend they care about fairness? Because they sure don’t use it.

Instead, they keep doing these “realignments” that magically bump people up pay grades. No posting the job. No letting anyone else apply. No proof that the work has changed. 

Just poof — new title, new salary. It really shows that the Tuerk administration thinks they are above following any rules. I blame this on the inexperienced mayor and incompetence in all levels of management.

Meanwhile, regular employees in the city are out here trying to stretch every dollar. When will Council start paying attention to the game that is being played with promotions? The administration presents promotions during the budget season and then brings more changes during the budget year and claim that they “found cost savings” or try to justify the change because it is “grant funded”. As if grant money doesn’t matter at all..I mean it is free money from the state and federal government, not taxpayers, right?   

Council has tried for years to force the administration to follow a process for promotions, new positions, and upgrades during normal budget approval. They are simply weak when it comes to follow-through and paying attention to their own concerns.  

The administration has said for four years “we can do that next year” and then the mayor asks for changes outside the budget and council allows it again.  

If these raises are so important, then show the proof! Show the numbers. Show the workload. Show literally anything besides the same four‑word excuse they keep repeating like a broken record. Show that there is a process and follow it with no exceptions or special considerations.

It looks like the city can’t say no to itself…it keeps saying yes to spending our money. #getthemallout

And honestly? I am tired of it.

Also, this week’s agenda shows a proposed police pension ordinance Bill 55. The bill allows officers to buyback prior police time as credits for their retirement.  For example, an officer who worked in the city of Tuerk for 3 years could buy that time.  So once the officer had 17 years of service completed, they could buy the prior three years and retire with 20 years of total service.   They will not be eligible to purchase post-employment healthcare unless they completed 20 full years serving Allentown alone.  Officers may buy up to five years.  Mayor O'Connell agreed to this bill in 2021, but the bill didn’t pass until 2024.

This bill is supposed to entice experienced officers to come to work for the city.  Yet it allows them to retire earlier.  Not sure where the benefit exactly is.  

Next on the agenda is the sick time legislation.  This is an overreach of authority in my opinion for the city government.  Pennsylvania has no statewide mandate for sick leave.   Some PA municipalities have decided to try and force employers to provide sick leave minimums for local employers.   Allentown is following their precedence and claiming it is a public health issue. 

Trying to put this authorization under the local health authority is a weak attempt to fill the gap.  The Allentown health department is stretching “public health” beyond its intended scope.  Employers will be forced to provide sick leave just because they have a business in Allentown.  Small businesses will most likely leave Allentown for places in the Valley with less regulation.  Tuerk just keeps trying to ruin Allentown.

Finally, I want to take a moment to look at the contracts that are being presented this week.   Am I the only one who notices that the city usual cast of vendors (Michael Baker, Telco, Johnson Controls, etc) continually have change orders that increase the cost of the contract? 

Example: The Bogarts Bridge project was originally $2,258,522.18 and now there is an increase of $156,084.66 to bring the new contract pricing to $2,414,605.84.  The justification is that they discovered wood that was damaged and wasn’t included in the original pricing.

Hmmm?  The question is – was there not a visual inspection of the bridge prior to the bid announcement to ensure a better scope of work was presented?  Is the city negligent in presenting a proper bid document? Do vendors know the city is unable to forecast the actual work required?  This happens repeatedly with the city contracts.  It does seem that the usual vendors bid low to secure the contract and then have a change order to add more money. I don’t blame the vendors; the city has been unable to write a proper bid document that minimizes the chance for contract cost inflation.

All I want for Christmas is a functioning Allentown city government.

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