Reading doesn’t allow people with overdue parking tickets to serve on influential city boards. There’s a push to change that.

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READING — Reading City Council wants to brainstorm ways to get more residents involved with volunteer boards and commissions that can make influential, lasting decisions for the city. One such commissioner says to help accomplish the goal, the Council should revoke a “discriminatory tool” that limits participation from low-income residents.

Residents who owe back taxes, late utility fees, fines, or have active code violations cannot serve on the city’s boards and commissions. Given Reading’s poverty rate, Commissioner Sheila Perez told Spotlight PA the city could have more engagement if the Council removed these barriers, especially since overdue parking tickets are among the disqualifiers.

Perez served on the Charter Review Commission in 2019 and was appointed to the position again late last year. The commission has the unique ability to propose changes to Reading’s governing document without City Council approval, and Perez plans to discuss removing the requirement when the commission begins meeting later this year.

“Being poor and not being able to pay your bills doesn’t keep you from being active within your community to make changes happen,” Perez said.

The City Council began brainstorming ways to encourage more participation during a committee meeting on Aug. 11, because the city’s Charter Board has been vacant since April. The board acts as a quasi-judicial body of five Reading citizens that handles citizen complaints of violations against the charter, the governing document of the city.

The board is separate from the Charter Review Commission that Perez will serve on. The commission is a temporary body of 11 citizens that meets every three to five years to discuss possible changes to the charter.

Potential board members and commissioners have to apply for open positions, pass a background check, and be approved by the mayor and City Council. Some groups, such as the Stadium Commission, rarely have vacancies. Others, such as the Ethics Board, have a more difficult time finding members: It currently has two empty seats out of five total.

Jack Gombach, the city’s managing director, told Spotlight PA before the Council’s discussion that a lack of volunteers is not a problem unique to Reading, but is an urgent issue for the city.

“City government only works when people are engaged, are involved, are part of the decision-making process, and it is getting harder and harder to fill those positions,” he said.

Volunteers can serve on only one board or commission at a time under the city’s charter, but council members discussed proposing an amendment to nix that constraint. They also discussed merging the Charter and Ethics Boards. Either proposal would necessitate a voter referendum, which would not take place until November 2026 at the earliest.

The provision blocking people with fines from serving on boards is not part of the city’s charter, but instead is part of Reading’s internal practices listed in the Council handbook. That means the Council could change the policy without having to ask voters.

City Council President Donna Reed said the city has considered changing the requirements multiple times, but she thinks the current system is fair to commissioners. Reed said the city would not want a board or commission member’s personal debts to influence their interaction with entities such as the water authority or school district.

In other situations, such as with overdue parking tickets, Reed said she understands that sometimes residents have a hard time keeping up with payments. However, there are payment options available to them to help, she noted.

Still, the boards need to be activated for the sake of Reading residents, Reed said. The Charter Board, for example, has outstanding complaints to review but lacks members to rule on them. Spotlight PA made a Right-to-Know request to the city for the complaints submitted to the board through 2024, but it was denied.

The Charter Review Commission will be able to propose changes when it begins meeting later this year. Perez said she plans to ask the commission to discuss the requirements. However, proposals from the commission alone must be put to voters.

In the meantime, council members and Gombach agreed that Reading needs to do more outreach to get people involved.

“There’s ways for people to express their passion in a way that’s supportive of the community,” Gombach said. “And I do think it’s on us, collectively, the clerk, Council, the mayor, all of us, to help people understand.”

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