ALLENTOWN, Pa. — As an advisory board, the city’s Environmental Advisory Council can’t introduce legislation — but the group had two “giant legislative wins” last month.
“We had two giant legislative wins at the end of last year, in early December,” said Kyle Ropski, chair of the EAC, during its monthly meeting Monday evening. “We cannot introduce legislation, but we can recommend that our city council members introduce legislation.
“And they did exactly that.”
The city’s EAC accomplished a lot in the past year, including successfully lobbying for two pieces of legislation — one to open up the EAC to those who live outside the city and another that requires covers for dumpsters in the public-right-of-way.
The city’s sustainability coordinator position was also renewed for a second year, and funds were allocated to draft a climate action plan for the city.
“If you are not a current resident of the city of Allentown, you can still apply to be a member of the EAC,” Ropski said. “So, big win for that.”
$200K for a climate action plan
City Council on Dec. 4 passed both Bill 107 and 108 unanimously, 7-0.
The former allows nonresidents who have a significant property or business interest in the city to serve on the EAC, at the discretion of City Council. The latter requires dumpsters in the public-right-of-way be covered when not in use to prevent unauthorized use or trash from falling out and becoming litter.
The city’s 2025 budget, passed in mid-December, included a sustainability coordinator, a position the EAC successfully fought for and was included in the budget for the first time for 2024.
The 2025 budget shows a salary increase from $66,976 to $71,630 for the position, held by Veronika Vostinak. A graduate of Parkland High School and then Temple University, where she studied linguistics, Vostinak was hired by the city in early 2024.
“... They also included an allocation for us to procure out a climate action plan, which is something that we expect to be working on during this year.”Kyle Ropski, chair of the EAC
The position was also shifted on the budget — moved from the Parks & Recreation Department’s grounds maintenance program to its new sustainability program.
“Part of the stipulation when the sustainability coordinator was added was Councilman [Daryl] Hendricks was very adamant that we had a one year review and that they would readdress whether or not they were going to include the sustainability coordinator in the 2025 budget,” Ropski said. “Ultimately they did. And furthermore, they actually expanded the sustainability budget to be its own sort of section in the Parks' budget.
“And, not only did they include funding for Veronica's position, but they also included an allocation for us to procure out a climate action plan, which is something that we expect to be working on during this year.”
The budget includes $200,000 to develop a climate action plan.
Currently, Allentown is the Lehigh Valley’s only major city without a climate action plan already in place.
Bethlehem’s climate action plan was published in April 2021; Easton’s climate action plan was published in Oct. 2021. However, Allentown’s Environmental Advisory Council in July 2021 submitted to council a climate action report.
Allentown reporter Jason Addy contributed to this report.
