We heard if from the mayor when he used to “show up” to council meetings. Now we hear it from Frank Kane. The administration loves to talk about transparency, public engagement, and representative government. The mayor does the most on social media to proclaim his commitment to citizen participation. But is this nothing more than another element of his poorly crafted public mask? I am sure.
Many of the very boards and commissions that are supposed to provide that participation are sitting half-empty, functionally crippled, or completely vacant.
At what point does neglect become the Tuerk administration philosophy? Well, it should become clear that the issues with the staffing of the commissions and boards is directly at the feet of Mayor Tuerk’s five-time promoted and waste of space Manager of Civic Innovations, Michaela Boyer. It seems anything this person touches turns to shit and fails. Before reading on, I should point out that the information below is directly from the city website for Authorities, Boards, and Commissions so the information may be incorrect. It is possible that the website is also neglected.
A review of the city's boards and commissions reveals the sad level of vacancies across bodies that oversee everything from public health and historic preservation to homelessness, parks, nuisance enforcement, and youth representation.
The Council of Youth has 13 authorized seats and 13 vacancies. Not one member. Not a single voice representing Allentown's young people. The entire board will probably only ever exist on paper. Matt Tuerk paraded the Council of Youth around just a few months ago stating ‘"It's incredibly important to me that young people feel seen and listened to by Allentown's City government” …so important that you have no one chosen yet?
How does a city that constantly claims to care about the next generation allow its youth council to disappear entirely?
The problems don't stop there.
The Human Relations Commission, responsible for addressing discrimination and promoting fairness, has six vacancies out of thirteen positions. Nearly half the commission is empty. That works for Matt Tuerk because it has been alleged time and time again that his norm is to operate in a retaliatory, discriminatory and hostile way. The absence of this commission allows him to continue without being held accountable.
The Arts Commission has six vacancies out of fifteen seats. Probably too busy finalizing the sale of the 10th Street station to the Allentown Art Museum so JB Reilly can obtain yet another NIZ property.
The Disruptive Conduct Board of Appeals operates with five vacancies out of ten positions.
The Electricians Examining Board has five vacancies out of seven seats.
The Property Rehabilitation and Maintenance Code Board of Appeals has five vacancies out of five seats. That's not an understaffed board. That's a non-existent board.
The Noise Hearing Board has four vacancies out of five positions. The mayor probably doesn’t want this one staffed because he would have to do something about the noise violations in Allentown.
The Building Code Board of Appeals has four vacancies out of seven positions.
The Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) has four vacancies out of eleven positions.
The Commission on Homelessness has four vacancies out of fifteen positions. Where are you, Cece Gerlach?
The Planning Commission has 1 vacancy out of seven positions. Ah yes, the Planning Commission. The board of much debate at Wednesday’s council meeting. This is the same board that the favored and anointed person in the mayor’s office tried to push her partner on to serving. Claiming that there is “nothing to see here” regarding nepotism, favoritism, or impropriety. Not possible.
What we learned from the City Council this week is that this same person runs the selection and nomination process for these boards and if you can’t pass her quality check which probably involved discriminatory qualifiers, you will never be considered. If you pass her test, you will be expedited ahead of filling any other vacancy. Frank Kane indicated that this person will no longer be working on these boards as they shift duties. I bet Frank realized that she can only be counted on failing and collecting her check and removed the duties. He is not a dumb man at all, and I have grown quite fond of him and his sassiness.
I was pleased to see that the Ethics Board which Councilman Binder mentioned was non-existent does exist and has 5 members; only 4 listed (Maria Canon-Tjeltveit, Ed Yarrish, Carol Halper, Sarah Hernandez ) and one vacancy.
Does anyone at City Hall think this it is acceptable to ignore these vacancies?
These aren't ceremonial committees created to make people feel involved. Government functions better when citizens, subject-matter experts, and community members participate in decision-making. They provide oversight, expertise, and accountability.
The administration continues to speak about engagement while failing to fill the seats where engagement happens.
The mayor cannot claim to represent the community well while leaving dozens of community seats empty. Citizens cannot participate in institutions that no longer function. Accountability cannot exist where there are no people left to provide it.
Citizen voices matter in Allentown right up until there's an actual seat available for them.
And in Allentown, far too many of those seats are sitting empty. If these were airline seats Matt would have had them filled a long time ago, that is for sure.
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