By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN – Two three-year terms on the Allentown Borough Council will be up for grabs on Election Day, Nov. 8.
There are seven residents seeking the two seats: Republicans Phyllis M. Dutko and Stacymarie T. Falotico; Democrat Robert H. Schmitt Jr.; and independents Madeline Gavin, Thomas Fritts, John A. Elder III and Jessica Fitzgerald.
Schmitt and Gavin are currently serving on the council.
Falotico and Dutko could not be reached for comment for this article.
Elder moved to Allentown with his wife and daughter in 1974. His daughter and her husband, and their children, live in the borough, and as Elder said, “Three generations are invested in Allentown.”
Fitzgerald has lived in Allentown for almost 10 years. She said, “the small-town, close-knit community really drew my husband and I in and we are not going anywhere soon. Everyone is so friendly and it is a great place to raise kids. There really is nowhere else like it.”
Fitzgerald is an executive administrative assistant to the president of the technology firm within The Mercadien Group in Hamilton. She works with sales and marketing, manages meetings and travel, manages accounts receivable and payable and tie-out finances. She assists in managing the database for the firm’s software system.
“As a rather young candidate, I am trying to learn everything as quickly as possible in regard to how the Borough Council works, everything that is involved,” she said.
“I believe my background in positions I have held with my honor society in college (Rowan University, treasurer) and current involvement in the Associate Advisory Committee (AAC) where I work will greatly help with my understanding of how the governing body runs in Allentown.
“The purpose of the AAC is to create an advisory committee to Mercadien’s Board of Directors that provides a forum to discuss employee concerns and opportunities to enhance the Mercadien culture.
“One of my main goals is to work on obtaining more grants and funding to revitalize and continue the upkeep on Main Street and our businesses. I would love to see more business come in and have a thriving economic downtown, while also preserving and showcasing Allentown’s amazing history,” Fitzgerald said.
Fritts has lived in Allentown for seven years and is the director of Community News Service, a local publishing firm. He lost a bid for a council seat in 2015 by about 40 votes.
He said his volunteer efforts in the borough include writing support letters for future grants, serving on the 100 percent grant-funded streetscape project, researching new technologies for future tax savings, and working on community park cleanups.
“My primary objectives over the next three years will concentrate on saving money while improving quality of life. First, I will reduce spending and protect all residents, especially our senior community, many of whom are on fixed incomes,” Fritts said.
“Strengthening shared service agreements and continuing to add new technologies through grants is key. Identifying and securing future grants will lower costs for continued streetscape expansion. Streamlining current committees to undertake projects together could reduce engineer and attorney fees and eliminate overlap.
“Traffic and pedestrian safety can be improved by supporting police, fire and rescue services and listening to the needs of the community. Securing a tractor-trailer ban, adding crosswalks and performing parking studies using our own committees instead of needless spending on outside resources are some of my goals.
“Finally, I will protect our fringes, like Indian Run Dam and the Stein property, from future development. One recommendation has been to drain the dam. This would impact the wetlands on Stein. Upper Freehold wants to build a sewer plant and traffic light for hundreds of homes and offices on Stein. By protecting our wetlands, we can stop another high density Upper Freehold development from getting built,” Fritts said.
Gavin has been a resident of Allentown for 32 years and a member of the council since 2013. She is a retired educator, having worked for more than 40 years as a teacher, principal, interim superintendent and superintendent of schools.
Gavin said all of the skills she used during her professional career – communication, listening, organizing, planning, budget development and working cooperatively with all community groups – can be applied to local government.
She said she is ready “to continue to serve Allentown as a councilwoman for another term. There needs to be continuity in the progress of our ongoing projects – a five-year plan of action for the budget and capital improvements, waste water treatment plant, traffic studies. I have been very involved in all of the projects and will continue to give 100 percent to see these projects through to their completion.”
Gavin chaired the Historic Streetscape Committee Phase I, which she said was a challenge, “however, with the efforts and talents of many volunteers we completed the challenge. Now there is a beautiful downtown historic streetscape that everyone can appreciate.
“Phase II, the parking lot, will be the next challenge. This and having safe streets with traffic being better controlled is a huge challenge, however, with everyone working together it all can happen. I will continue to keep Allentown green in supporting open space acquisitions,” she said.
Gavin said it is important, especially in a small town, for people to know what is happening and what is being done with their tax dollars.
“It is our tax dollars that are being expended and the accountability for expenditures is a must,” she said.
Schmitt is a lifelong resident of Allentown and lives with his wife and daughters on Broad Street. His two daughters are fourth generation Allentown residents.
In seeking re-election, Schmitt said that when he ran for office three years ago, “I ran because from the failing sewer plant to the water facility that had become a desperate patchwork of leaky band-aids, to the broken sidewalks that led to vacant stores, it was obvious that loving care of this village was absent.
“It was clear that virtually every system we have was about to fail from age and lack of proper maintenance and that taxes would skyrocket due to neglect and the resulting costs of temporary ‘fixes.’ We successfully removed the do-nothing borough professionals who charged us for nothing. They were replaced with professionals who want to see us succeed as an historic town.
“We have succeeded in establishing greater transparency in the governance of the borough. The result is that more people are speaking up. Councilwoman Angela Anthony and I, who serve on the Public Safety Committee, forged a new police contract that came in under the 2 percent cap.
