The Lehigh Valley mayors panel luncheon Feb. 10 lacked half the invited members and took a sour turn in its second hour. Held at Lehigh University’s Iacocca Hall, the topic was municipal sustainability, but after presentations the discussion ranged widely.

Ed Pawlowski and Sal Panto, of Allentown and Easton, respectively, were game for looking at sustainability in the abstract and the meeting ran long. Each identified efforts his city has made in recent years, from doubling down on recycling to replacing all city lighting with low-energy LEDs, to refurbishing old buildings for ultra-efficiency rather than knocking them down.

Yet many topics came around to the same point: Education.

Pawlowski and Panto agreed one problem was global economics and lack of local jobs – specifically those recalling the area’s manufacturing past rather than those in the service industry, which cannot alone sustain an economy, the former said.

Panto said he’d prefer jobs at the industrial parks – as they originally used – that use high technology for manufacturing purposes. Pawlowski segued from that, saying those high-tech manufacturing workers could best be trained here if the local high schools, colleges and trade schools were directed toward doing so, and if schools and politicians could work together for community betterment.

Bethlehem Fire Chief Bob Novatnack gave a presentation on local fire safety and the importance of residents and businesses having an emergency plan – going so far as to explain that doing so lessens collateral damage when disasters strike and insurance helps tenants rebound and keeps business healthy.

But when Novatnack explained the importance of cross-community cooperation to share resources and save money – as the fire departments do – both mayors heartily agreed.

In fact, Pawlowski and Panto said big improvements to the Lehigh Valley economy and governments would include a reopened passenger train line from Philadelphia to New York to support a younger generation no longer fixated on automobiles and, importantly, increased regionalization.

Pawlowski in particular was adamant his city pays exorbitantly for emergency response services to nearby municipalities that lack them, such as Lower Macungie, which despite having a larger population than Easton lacks a police department. He said the distribution of money and services is unbalanced.

Panto said, “Our level of efficiency at the local government is horrible.” He said he’d like to see a valley-wide planning commission overseeing all water, waste, recycling, trash, emergency services, planning and zoning.

“In Easton, we have four ladder trucks in our immediate 10-square miles. I have one – Wilson Borough – Palmer Township – Forks Township … $4.8 million in equipment that’s mostly used in high rises. That’s wrong. Why not put one in the middle of that geographic area and you just call for it? But instead we have $5 million of one type of equipment because everybody has to have their own.”

The meeting turned to still more frustrated condemnation when the mayors were asked what challenges are hampering what they want for their cities.

Pawlowski said their hands as mayors are tied regarding some of their biggest expenses - pension and education reform, for instance – because they are focused on their communities when nobody else is.

Panto explained, “I think the biggest problem in the country right now is the lack of commitment by the federal government to communities … the state and federal governments have become so politically lethargic for the sake of partisanship that nothing’s getting done in Harrisburg or Washington.”

The meeting ended after running late, but the mayors were unified in their support for sustainability, education and regionalization, and in their frustration with government beyond the county level.

Novatnack stood in for Mayor Bob Donchez, who was absent with a dental emergency.