To the Wyomissing Borough Council,

We, the undersigned who live or work in Wyomissing, ask that the Wyomissing borough council immediately change the public meeting schedule so all public meetings are held at or after 6pm on weekdays.

Holding meetings after normal working hours would allow more community voices to be present. This will let Wyomissing borough council learn what is important to the community, and what we need.

After massive public turnout about the budget and use of funds at an evening borough council meeting, Wyomissing Borough Council has returned to form and scheduled a follow-up meeting at 1pm on a Monday, when most people cannot attend.

Local government is held to transparency and accountability standards by the Sunshine Act. This includes holding public meetings. Best practice is to hold public meetings in the evenings, so that people can attend after work. Many municipalities, including West Reading, do this - in West Reading, public meetings are held at 6pm or 7pm. However, in Wyomissing, almost all public meetings are held during work hours, preventing community participation.

On Tuesday, December 9, dozens attended the borough council meeting after becoming aware of votes on a 2026 budget with a proposed 22% tax hike, as well as bonuses and pay raises for administrative staff. Public comment was successful in tabling the decision on the 2026 budget. Community members raised issues with accessing information about council’s decisions.

Instead of heeding the feedback, the council returned to form, scheduling a follow-up meeting on the budget for Monday, December 15 at 1pm - when most people won’t be able to attend.

Currently, Wyomissing borough council conducts all business in committee meetings. Then, committee decisions are approved in borough council meetings with little discussion. As of now, only the borough council and recreation committee meetings are held in the evenings when most people can attend. The current Wyomissing monthly committee meeting schedule is:

• Council Meetings: 2nd Tuesday at 7pm
• Economic Development Committee: last Thursday at 8am
• Finance & Administration Committee: Thursday before Council meeting at 8am
• Fire & Police Committee: last Monday at 12pm
• Infrastructure Committee: 3rd Monday at 12pm
• Personnel Committee: 3rd Tuesday at 11am
• Planning Commission: 1st Monday at 3:30pm
• Recreation Board: 3rd Tuesday at 7pm
• Refuse and Recycling Committee: quarterly meeting on 3rd Wednesday at 3pm
• Park & Shade Tree Commission: bimonthly meeting on 4th Wednesday at 1pm

Several of the Wyomissing borough council members, including the three newly elected council members, are working parents who understand how the current meeting schedule limits community participation and transparency. We, the undersigned, ask that the Wyomissing borough council immediately change the schedule so all public meetings are held at or after 6pm on weekdays.