Dec. 1, 2025
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Bethlehem City Council will consider a $14,700 “strategic plan” for its Health Bureau on Tuesday.
The word “strategic” should set off mental alarms. It’s a big dramatic word or at least should be.
Invading Normandy in 1944 was strategic. Building railroads across the United States was strategic. The Eisenhower plan for the interstate highway system was strategic.
Putting together a plan for Bethlehem’s Health Bureau is not on that level, it’s not on 1,000th of that level.
The administration of Mayor J. William Reynolds has proposed spending $14,700 for “Capacity for Change” to work with the city to develop this “strategic” plan.
The name “Capacity for Change” alone raises more issues, and this description of the consultant from its website leans toward jargon:
Capacity for Change is a “public interest consulting firm based in West Chester, Pennsylvania that works regionally and nationally with public, philanthropic, and nonprofit organizations to create positive and lasting social impact through strategy, culture, and partnership design.”
Maybe it’s a good idea, maybe it isn’t, but I hope City Council will ask questions before spending taxpayers’ money on something that I, at least, have done just fine without.
Or perhaps I benefited and didn’t know it, because “Capacity for Change has facilitated the last two strategic planning processes for the Bethlehem Health Bureau and has developed a strong understanding of our operations, priorities, and community context.”
So, there you have it. They’ve done it before, they’ll probably do it again. Maybe it’s required. Whatever it is, I don’t want to read it.
The meeting otherwise looks pretty light, and I hope our Council members don’t have to sit through hours of talk about the Middle East, or how everything in the city has (according to some people) absolutely gone to H-E-double toothpicks, or religion or any of the other things that come up when anybody who wants to talk about anything can do that.
It’s the holiday season. Give them a break.
Bethlehem City Council will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, in Town Hall, the building between City Hall and the Bethlehem Area Public Library.
Here’s the agenda, which is subject to change, so maybe check it before heading downtown. The meeting will also be shown on the Internet, so if people talk about international affairs for an hour, you can wash dishes or do something useful while waiting to hear about City of Bethlehem business.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
Mayor Reynolds frequently does “studies” and has spent a lot of money on consultants.
Now he wants a study for the health department. The study will recommend exactly what the mayor wants. These “studies” are not independent science, they are advocacy, i.e. the study conclusions will recommend whatever the mayor wants as an outcome.
The Bethlehem Health Bureau has some very good people who did a good job during the covid problem. If you want a good set of recommendations the leadership in the Health Bureau could complete their own “study” in an afternoon meeting – just ask them.
The fear of the new study is that the mayor seeks to expand the health bureau staff and scope of work for the purpose of pandering for more votes.
With all the “studies” and consultants, the mayor cleverly manipulates the media with press releases that 1) announce the intent for a study, 2) announce the selection of the consultant, 3) announce a number of meetings to discuss the study and 4) announce the conclusions and recommendations of the study. Those reformations could have been announced on day 1.
For mayor Reynolds, it’s not about getting things done, it’s all about getting his media to write a number of news stories about studying things. Clever.
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