READING — Reading officials were late to convene a citizen-led commission that can propose major changes to city government, violating the home rule charter and blowing past a City Council deadline.
The mayor and Council each recommended most of their appointees to serve on the group, called the Charter Review Commission, late last year, according to emails from city employees. However, no one within the city government organized the commission’s first meeting until August. The commission now is set to meet Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in City Council chambers.
Records obtained by Spotlight PA show months of confusion among city employees, including questions about who had been appointed to the commission, the possible legal timeline the commission faced, and who would bring everyone together.
The delay affects when Reading residents can vote on changes to their government. The more time that passes before the commission convenes, the longer it will take to put proposals to the ballot.
The charter itself is the governing document of the city, comparable to Reading’s version of the U.S. Constitution. It is separate from the city’s Code of Ordinances, which City Council and the mayor add to regularly. For example, Reading City Council in July approved a proposal decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana. That change will be reflected in the ordinance code.
The commission, however, has the rare ability to propose structural changes that elected officials may not choose to make themselves. Those proposals then are taken to all residents in the next election for approval, regardless of how elected officials may feel about them. Only citizen-led petitions offer the same power.
In 2019, the commission voted to put on the ballot an amendment to establish term limits for some local elected offices. According to the Reading Eagle, city officials were skeptical of, or outright against, the proposal at the time. Regardless, voters approved it in 2020.
The commission is required to meet every three to five years, according to the city’s charter, but there is no penalty listed if the city fails to bring the body together. Many home rule charters in the state do not have a mandatory commission meeting, said Paul Janssen, director of Albright College’s Center for Excellence in Local Government. He was a facilitator for the review commission in 2015.
“Unless you have citizens that are demanding a change, then it's up to the government to decide whether they see enough initiative to cause the commission to come together or not,” he said.
Citizens had two options if they wanted to force the city to convene the review commission: take the issue to court or file a complaint with the Charter Board.
The Charter Board, which is separate from the commission, is supposed to meet year-round to enforce the document’s provisions and handle complaints about possible violations. If a resident wanted to complain about the commission not meeting, going to the board would be simpler than going to court. However, the board has been vacant since April.
The Charter Board’s solicitor can still do the early work to process any charter complaints submitted, but cannot issue opinions, said Jack Gombach, the city’s managing director. Mayor Eddie Morán has the responsibility of nominating people to the board, but Gombach said the administration has had a difficult time getting residents to apply for the volunteer positions.
Evelyn Morrison, a Reading native who served on the commission in 2019 and has been nominated to serve again this year, said she threatened to go to court after she learned the Charter Board was empty because the commission was not convened on time.
“Our government is not working,” Morrison said, referencing the vacant board that is supposed to take resident complaints. “Is there something that’s going on that we don’t understand?”
Managing director cites breakdown in communication
The Charter Review Commission’s job is to review the home rule document and recommend changes to the mayor and City Council that are then sent to voters.
The commission must deliver these recommendations within six months of being appointed. The Council appointed its nominees in September 2024 via a city resolution and gave the commission an April 1, 2025, deadline.
Emails obtained through a Right-to-Know request show that last September, City Clerk Linda Kelleher asked Reading Solicitor Fred Lachat; Morán’s chief of staff, English Bradley; and others when the commission would be convened. She did not have the names of the mayor’s nominations. The council solicitor, Mike Gombar, told her all nominations needed to be approved by October, she said at the time.
According to the emails, she did not receive a written response until the following January.
A short series of messages followed regarding who had been tapped to serve. Gombar asked for contact information for the mayor’s selections, but none was provided via email. In February, Kelleher asked Lachat if he had convened the commission, but never received a written response.
Kelleher told Spotlight PA she asked the mayor’s office and Lachat repeatedly for information without success. Finding contacts for some of the names provided was like “a needle in a haystack.”
Morrison, the former Charter Review commissioner, shared with Spotlight PA an email she received July 10 from Kelleher, apologizing for the “long communication blackout.” Kelleher still did not have the contact information for the mayor’s nominations, she said in the email, but the managing director’s office would reach out with more information about the first meeting.
Gombach, whose position acts as the city’s chief administrative officer under the mayor, told Spotlight PA that he did not know until recently that there had been a lapse in communication. He believed Kelleher’s office had the responsibility of convening the first meeting.
Neither the charter nor the City Council handbook dictates who has the authority or responsibility to get the commission together, only how many members the Council and mayor must appoint.
Gombach said he thought the law and clerk offices each “dug in” and believed the other should convene the meeting, creating a personal issue instead of solving the professional problem.
“I think it's disappointing, really, to our community,” Gombach said. “The expectation is that we're all able to work together and communicate and serve the public interest, but when these little typical work issues come up, the answer isn't to escalate. It's deescalate.”
Kelleher scheduled the first 2019 commission meeting, she said, but she did not attend others after the commission elected its own officers. Lachat attended most meetings as legal counsel, she said.
She told Spotlight PA that her attempts to gain contact information or assist with the current commission went unanswered. Now, she said, the situation boils down to people “sitting around pointing fingers.”
What’s next?
The managing director’s office scheduled the first meeting of the new commission for Aug. 28, according to public meeting notices. The commissioners now will choose officers to lead each meeting and have a small budget available.
Will Cinfici, the chair in 2019, told Spotlight PA he recommended the commission decide on a structure as quickly as possible. It can then get on to the business of hosting public hearings and issuing surveys to get more public input on what changes residents think are necessary.
He also hoped the mayor would be able to fill the full-time Charter Board quickly. Not only does the board serve residents, but it provides guidance to the commission.
“It is a very useful tool, and the citizens on there were very dedicated, very thorough,” Cinfici said. “Reading their decisions, they read like legal opinions. They were reasonable and well cited.”
Morrison told Spotlight PA she looks forward to more people being involved with the commission and the board. She anticipates ideas will come primarily from the community when the former starts meeting.
“Review is always important when it comes to our government because it's always an ever-changing document,” she said.