Allentown City Council: Members, Committees, and Ordinances

The Allentown City Council is the seven-member legislative branch of Pennsylvania’s third-largest city, responsible for passing local ordinances, adopting the annual budget, setting tax rates, and confirming the mayor’s appointments. It operates under the Home Rule Charter that Allentown voters adopted in 1996, which replaced the prior statutory form of government with a Mayor-Council structure that separates executive and legislative authority.¹

Who Serves on the Council

All seven members are elected at large. Every registered voter in Allentown votes on every seat, and every member represents the whole city rather than a ward or district. The members choose one of their own as President of Council, who presides over meetings and can call special sessions.²

Terms run four years and are staggered. Four seats are on the ballot in the same municipal year as the mayor; the other three come up two years later. New terms begin at noon on the first Monday of January after the election.²

A candidate must be a qualified voter of the city, and every sitting member must keep residence in Allentown for the full term. Moving out of the city requires resignation. Members earn an annual salary of $15,000, with an extra $1,000 for the Council President. That pay can only be changed through a public referendum, not by a council vote. Members may buy into the city’s employee health plan at their own expense, but there are no other benefits beyond reimbursement of legitimate office costs.²

What the Council Does

The council’s core job is passing the ordinances and resolutions that govern city life, from zoning rules to public safety regulations. Its financial powers are where the practical weight sits. Each year the council must adopt a municipal budget, set the local property tax millage, and set the earned income tax rate. It also authorizes any new city debt, such as municipal bonds for infrastructure.

Beyond money, the council holds advice-and-consent authority over the mayor’s appointments to city authorities, boards, and commissions. The mayor cannot unilaterally staff bodies like the Allentown Parking Authority or the Zoning Hearing Board; those names go through council confirmation.³

How an Ordinance Becomes Law

A bill is introduced at a regular council meeting and then assigned to the relevant standing committee. The committee reviews the legal language, the fiscal impact, and the public feedback, and decides whether to recommend the measure to the full council. Certain categories, including zoning changes, require a formal public hearing before a final vote, and zoning matters also draw input from the Allentown City Planning Commission and, where regional, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.⁴

Once council passes a bill, it goes to the mayor, who may sign it or veto it. A veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote, meaning at least five of the seven members must agree to enact the law without the mayor’s signature.

The Seven Standing Committees

Most proposals move through one of seven standing committees before reaching the full council:³

Budget and Finance, covering taxes, bonds, capital programs, and overall financial strategy.
Community and Economic Development, covering zoning, planning, building permits, health, and redevelopment.
Human Resources, Administration, and Appointments, covering the personnel code, wages and benefits, and confirmations to authorities, boards, and commissions.
Parks and Recreation, covering park facilities and the Environmental Advisory Council.
Public Safety, covering police, fire, EMS, and the communications center.
Public Works, covering streets, sewer and water systems, engineering, solid waste, and city facility maintenance.
Rules, Chambers, Intergovernmental Relations, and Strategy, covering council procedures, intergovernmental affairs, and long-term strategy.

When Seats Open Up

A seat becomes vacant when a member dies, resigns, is removed, or forfeits the office. Forfeiture is automatic under the charter if a member no longer meets the qualifications for office, violates an express prohibition in the charter, is convicted of a misdemeanor of the second degree or higher under state or federal law, or misses three consecutive regular meetings without being excused by the Council President or a majority of the remaining members. Chronic absence alone can cost a member the seat.²

The remaining members have 30 days to appoint a replacement by majority vote, and the appointee must be a registered voter from the same political party as the departing member. If the council cannot agree within that window, the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas fills the seat upon petition from three council members or ten qualified voters. The appointee serves until the first Monday in January after the next municipal election, when voters pick someone to finish the original term.²

How Residents Can Take Part

Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act requires that council deliberations and votes happen in meetings open to the public, with a reasonable opportunity to comment before action is taken.⁵ Allentown’s charter goes further, granting the public the right to comment at council meetings without time limits by default. The Council President may impose a reasonable time limit, but a majority-plus-one vote of the other members can override it.²

Meetings are held in the Council Chambers at City Hall, typically on Wednesdays beginning at 6:30 p.m. Agendas, minutes, meeting recordings, and the upcoming calendar are posted through the city’s Legistar portal.⁶⁷

Lawmaking is not limited to the council. Allentown voters have the right to propose new laws through initiative and to challenge existing ordinances through referendum.⁸ The charter’s rule that any raise in council salaries must go to voters is one example of that principle built directly into the city’s governing document.²

1
eCode360. City of Allentown Code – Chapter C Home Rule Charter
2
eCode360. City of Allentown Code – Article II The Legislative Branch
3
City of Allentown. Committee Assignments – City Council
4
City of Allentown. Zone Allentown
5
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. 65 Pa. C.S. 701 et seq. – Sunshine Act
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Allentown. Allentown City Council
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Allentown. Allentown City Council – Calendar
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City of Allentown. Allentown Government