Allentown HR chief, the job no one wants: Official blames lawsuit, conflict for long-term vacancy

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The long-running feud between Allentown’s mayor and city council — and the lawsuit their lawyers are duking out in court — is making it almost impossible to hire a permanent city human resources director, officials said.

Vicky Kistler, who runs the city’s department of community and economic development, told city council last week that no “consummate HR professional [would] want to step into this position now.”

“Think about the optics right now," Kistler said. "We talk about an investigation constantly. We have a situation where we have a lawsuit against our mayor, and we have conflict between … the mayor and council."

Those “optics” — along with the position’s residency requirement and the potential for a new mayor to change the role in 2026 — have created “a very difficult situation,” she said.

“Our optics are not good to say, ‘Leave your current job, leave your current home, leave your current school district, and come into this situation," Kistler said.

"Knowing that in a year and a half, you can have a different mayor, a different city council, and you don't know what you're going to be held to do within that department.”

Interims indefinitely?

City Deputy Finance Jessica Baraket unsuccessfully lobbied for council to at least let the mayor extend an interim appointment by 30 days.

Interim managers are “making decisions at a cabinet level that affect the entire city and all of the employees of the city,” Baraket said.

She noted she led the finance department for more than a year from 2020-21.

She also served as interim HR director from August 2022 to January 2023.

“Those things can't just happen in 90 days,” she said. “You can’t do anything or be effective or develop any type of relationships in that short period of time.”

Kistler made those comments Oct. 16 before council passed a measure to limit interim mayoral appointments to 90 days — a cap that already is part of the city’s code.

The mayor can only extend interim appointments past that mark with council’s approval. Only current city employees can be appointed as interim department managers.

A widening rift

Allentown’s HR department has been led by interim managers for more than a year since the most recent permanent director left under a cloud of controversy.

Nadeem Shahzad was hired in late June 2023 to lead the department but left that job after less than two months.

Tuerk appointed Associate Health Bureau Director Garry Ritter to take over for Shahzad on an interim basis.

He served several months until the mayor named his executive assistant and project manager, Michaela Boyer, to take over the department in January.

Risk and Safety Manager John Ferry's interim stint as HR director ended recently ended, and Tuerk has yet to name a new interim chief.

Shahzad filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying Mayor Matt Tuerk forced him to resign in August for not firing an HR employee.

Karen Ocasio’s axing — and Shahzad’s exit shortly after — added fuel to a growing public rift between council and the mayor.

Council members already were considering an investigation into claims of racism and workplace discrimination within city government after an explosive public letter from Allentown’s NAACP branch.

Councilman Ed Zucal pushed his colleagues to publicly rebuke Tuerk after Shahzad left and Ocasio — and two other HR employees — were canned.

Tuerk last year said he fired those employees after an 18-month investigation into complaints within the HR department.

Council by a 4-3 vote on Dec. 6 approved a resolution that declared the body had no confidence in Tuerk’s leadership

The rift has widened ever further since that vote 10 months ago, and city officials now are locked in a legal tangle.

Council last month sued Tuerk and Finance Director Bina Patel, alleging they are trying to block the investigation it approved by not paying the investigator.

But lawyers for the administration say former FBI agent Scott Curtis has never filed an invoice and argue council has no case.

Lawyers for both sides are scheduled to meet for a virtual status conference Jan. 27, the first official court date related to the litigation.