ALLENTOWN – The Borough Council’s plan to hire a part-time laborer who would work for the Allentown Department of Public Works drew questions from a former councilwoman during the Feb. 26 meeting of the governing body.
Margaret Rose, a former member of the council, asked why officials want to hire a 29-hour per week employee who would work 52 weeks per year.
According to an advertisement for the position, the job will pay $12.50 per hour with no benefits ($16,900 per year). Applicants for the position must be able to perform manual labor and have a valid New Jersey driver’s license.
Rose asked council members if there is a need for a year-round part-time employee, as opposed to hiring a part-time seasonal employee from May through October. She said the DPW has two full-time employees who perform a variety of tasks in the borough.
“I am asking you to be fiscally prudent,” Rose said.
Councilman Robert Strovinsky told Rose, “We understand your point. We have had a third person (in the DPW). There are a lot of things that will keep a third person busy. That person comes in handy during the winter – there are more parks to mow and we are doing a lot of pruning in Heritage Park.”
Council President Thomas Fritts said officials in other municipalities have had a difficult time filling seasonal positions.
In other business, council members announced that the borough’s new Senior Citizen Committee would hold its first meeting at 10 a.m. March 13 at Borough Hall. The committee is expected to offer programs and services to Allentown’s seniors.
The committee members are Melinda Brown, Linda Cottee, Kris Danch, Kathy Hamnett, Kelly Awyland, Isaac Meerwarth and Kelly Owens.
The new panel has replaced a previous ad hoc senior committee that had been offering programs and services to Allentown’s seniors.
Borough officials have said that in creating the new committee and doing away with the ad hoc panel, they were attempting to give a senior committee a level of permanency in the municipal code.
None of the members of the previous ad hoc panel have been appointed to the new senior committee, but Councilman Rob Schmitt said he is hoping members of the ad hoc group will consider joining the new committee.
On Feb. 12, when council members created the new senior committee, they determined that in order to vote on committee business, a committee member had to be at least 60 years old.
On Feb. 26, following a discussion of the matter, council members passed a resolution which states that the age requirement to vote on an item of business before the senior committee has been removed.
