The city council meeting on Tuesday started at 8:44 p.m., rather than its usual 7 p.m. meeting time, due to the public safety committee meeting running over its set meeting time. The committee discussed and invited public comment about the ongoing Fire, EMS and Emergency Management Assessment and Efficiency Study.
Police education requirements
The Bethlehem Police Department proposed to amend their civil service police education requirements by removing the requirement for applicants to have an associate’s degree or 60 college credits.
Michelle Kott, chief of police at the Bethlehem Police Department, said the department has been very focused on filling their 11 vacancies through hiring and retention bonuses, internship programs, flyers and the police explorer program.
Kott said these efforts haven’t proven to be enough.
Councilman Michael Colón said he has seen the Bethlehem Police Department recruitment flyers around town, in the town hall and on the highways.
“We have been working so incredibly hard to try to attract individuals to come work for the city of Bethlehem Police Department,” Kott said. “The applicant pool is now a puddle.”
Kott said the goal is to be competitive with law enforcement agencies like Pennsylvania State Police and Allentown Police Department who have already discontinued their college education requirements.
“I am still concerned with the idea of eliminating entirely the requirement of either an associate’s degree or 60 credits at no more than two institutions of higher education,” Councilwoman Hillary Kwiatek said.
She referenced when the New York City department did this last year, they didn’t remove the post-secondary education requirement, they lowered the credit requirement from 60 to 24 credits.
Kwiatek said the Governor has started to “downplay” the importance of a college education in many ways.
Colleen Laird, city council’s vice president said this idea sounds like the standards are being lowered for potential officers, who she said are going to be doing some of the most important community work.
Kott said the department also has a tuition reimbursement program to encourage officers to return to school.
“I do share the sentiment that education is important, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we have a lot of our police officers that don’t have a college education that are amazing and do a fantastic job serving the citizens of this community,” Kott said.
Kott said she is confident this change will help hire strong candidates.
She said she is envisioning a man she met who moved to Bethlehem from Puerto Rico when he was 15 years old will be the first person to apply. She said this requirement change will allow him to pursue his dream to be a police officer.
The resolution to change the civil service police education requirements passed 5-2, with Laird and Kwiatek voting against the change.
Kott said she is planning to return to council after the next hiring cycle to share any progress or findings in hiring and physical fitness and written exam scores.
“I don’t see it as lowering the bar,” Kott said. “I see it as widening the net.”
The Complete Streets Plan
A Bethlehem business owner said changes on Stefko Boulevard, as part of the Complete Streets Plan, will affect his 40-year-old business.
“They completely block off my business 100%,” he said. “There’s no way in and there’s no way out anymore. That’s why I’m here begging for your help. It’s the only property on the whole boulevard where you’ve taken my access to my business.”
Mayor J. William Reynolds said unsafe streets are an inequity he won’t let continue. He said he would like to explain to residents with similar perspectives that the plan is to do a “systemic public good.”
“There are going to be trade-offs to make sure people don’t die on our streets anymore,” Reynolds said.
He said the Complete Streets Plan is to be revealed on Thursday.
Zoning ordinance amendments
Amendments to part 13 of the zoning ordinance were passed in a 6-1 vote, with Daniels voting against the amendments.
City Solicitor John Spirk said all data center proposals submitted after 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday must comply with these new zoning ordinance amendments.
Funding for the city’s cameras
Kott said the department is requesting $16,711 from the 2026 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant to fix, replace and expand the city’s camera network.
She said the city has over 125 cameras and many need to be replaced. She said these cameras have been very beneficial in accident and violent crime investigations.
The council held a public hearing on the proposed use of this grant and no community members approached the microphone to speak on this matter.
Councilman Bryan Callahan asked if these city cameras included Flock cameras. Kott said it doesn’t.
“This camera network does not have correlation to any type of automated license plate reading (ALPR) camera technology being utilized by our department,” the memorandum said.
The council will vote on this grant at their next meeting.
The next city council meeting on Tuesday, Nov 3 is rescheduled to Wednesday, Nov. 4 due to the midterm election.
Comment Policy
Comments posted to The Brown and White website are reviewed by a moderator before being approved. Incendiary speech or harassing language, including comments targeted at individuals, may be deemed unacceptable and not published. Spam and other soliciting will also be declined.
The Brown and White also reserves the right to refuse the publication of entirely anonymous comments.