There was a strong sense of urgency surrounding the change that the candidates feel is long overdue for the City of Pottsville. These candidates made a clear message: what is going on at City Hall is not working.
In this two-part series, we first sat down with Republican candidates Tom Smith (mayoral candidate), Scott Price (council candidate), and Jon Marsh (council candidate), who discussed a vision for Pottsville and their concerns about what they describe as chaos at city hall.
“For me, I really put down roots here,” Jon replied. “My wife was born and raised here, we have two children, we have a business here, a home, etc. When I hear from people about Pottsville, they always talk about the past tense and what it used to be, and how good things used to be. I really want to know that Pottsville, and I want to see it improve. Really, it’s for my children. I want Pottsville to be a better place for them. I was in the Marine Corps, and it was always you leave things better than the way you found them, and that is what I would like to do here.”
Tom echoed that sentiment, “I’ve been a Pottsville resident for over 40 years, and what I’ve seen in the last 8 years was a rapid decline. I’m not pleased with it, and I think I could make a change. I moved here in 1986, was a manager for Kinney shoes, my job was to go to the stores that weren’t doing well and rebuild it, move on to the next store and improve that. When we got here, though, it was different. People were nice, they were sincere, helpful, and we were impressed. We had a young daughter who was getting ready to start school, and we said – You know what, if we are going to settle down, here is the place. I already have a working relationship with Senator Argall’s office, Tim Twardzik’s office, Jamie Barton, and Dan Meuser’s office. They helped me spearhead the 2.2-million-dollar venture between Alvernia and the YMCA program. One of the most important things is having a relationship with the local government, state government, and federal government. I can bridge that gap.”
Scott revealed that the trio attended events with the republican party. “We decided at these meetings what the city needs were and who fits those roles, and I think that is why our ticket is so special. Everything that the city needs, we bring from experience. Tom’s a grant guru; he has a specialty in getting grants and having great connections. Jon is a great business owner and knows first-hand what it takes to run a business in town. I work with Toyota, having a business background, and building management systems, which we thought would be helpful with better budget analysis and analytics.”
Jon continued to express that “just putting a game plan together is beneficial because we don’t think that now the city has any type of game plan. We need to win collectively to make that happen. We should be more proactive than reactive.” Following that topic, the candidates were asked how they plan to be more proactive.
Scott was eager to answer by revealing, “We actually have formulated a couple of policies that we’re going to implement if we win. First thing is we must look at and evaluate the hierarchy and the structure of each city department. We must ensure that the leadership is in place, and effective leadership that can lead these departments. When that occurs, we are going to do more monthly tracking. Each city department will be required to report out at city council meetings, which currently does not happen. This is how we become more proactive, look at things monthly and not on an annual basis. We can zero in on those pinpoints and hit those weak spots before it becomes a larger issue,” Jon added, “we have good people already doing good things in these departments with the tools they have, but they need more from city leadership. These are passionate people who care deeply about Pottsville’s success, but they need more help from city leadership. The number 1 thing they need is more funding, and we have multiple examples of where current leadership has failed to secure meaningful funding for them. It is also a role of the city council to oversee committees, like the blight task force, which hasn’t met in over a year. We will bring that oversight back for the residents of Pottsville and make sure we have the right people in the right seats for these committees that are so important for the redevelopment of the city.”
In August, the trio wanted to understand better methods to fight blight and out-of-town landlords. During this time, they met with other municipalities outside of the area to share best practices and get advice on how to fight blight.
Tom identified that he plans to utilize his relationships. “I’ve been involved with the chamber of commerce, been on the board for the Yuengling Mansion, I’m president of the Schuylkill County YMCA board, and with that, I’ve learned long ago that you have to have relationships with your political leaders, representatives, congressmen, senators. They’re the key. They handle the tax dollars you already paid in. They help you acquire the funds for your area to build. Dave Argall has a fund out there – Community Development Block Grants that we can use for blight. There is also city money available, but I have no clue why they aren’t using it. For instance, on the 300 block of W Market St, there is a building that used to be an antique store. This building was given to him, despite knowing that he had several other blighted properties. He was given a timeline for it, and now it’s been over 3 years, and they are doing nothing. Get the scaffolding out of the way, whatever you can do. I was a board member for different committees, and we were expected to present monthly to our board. There is no accountability with the city; it’s all just closed off. I went to the meeting when they appointed the new mayor, and I brought up questions about the CRIZ grant, and I was yelled at. They have taught people that you are not allowed to go in there and ask anything. There are two different programs for Blight, and we can get a jump on it and get it handled.
“There’s a state fund for our city streets that we’re not tapping into and utilizing. In the 40 years I’ve been here, these streets are the worst I’ve ever seen. I thought I was going to lose a tire due to an 8-inch hole that came down from the Trinity Episcopal church, looking at Farlow’s. There’s no reason for that. We bring in over 10,000 people for the Yuengling Lager Jogger. What do they do? They hit the streets, run past a dilapidated building on the 800 block that has been left that way for over 20 years, then they must contend with all the potholes. We have a great street department, but the city is not doing what needs to be done. I want accountability; there are grants for this, the money is there,” Tom exclaimed.
“The streets are a major topic for just about every person we speak with. Everyone can see and feel the current conditions of our streets. Funding is a big reason why we aren’t seeing the streets repaired/replaced at the rate they should be. Funding is out there for this. In the past 5 years, we’ve missed out on 8 funding opportunities for streets. Eight! Current leadership just didn’t apply for them. That simply can’t happen. When elected, we will proactively seek out this funding to help fix these roads and give our street department team the tools they need to succeed,” Jon stated.
Scott added, “By implementing better project management systems, we can better serve the community. Right now, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. We need better management of the projects, and we need to give our street department the tools to succeed.”
“We don’t have enough young firefighters getting involved. How can we give back? Going back to the parking, maybe offer free parking to volunteers in the city to entice more volunteers. We have low insurance in Pottsville because we have so many fire companies that do such a great job. We are going to lose that, and we need to incentivize these guys to get out there and volunteer. I want to pursue that; I want to help rebuild the fire departments. They do so much for our community, we need to build,” Tom indicated.
“There is just short of one million dollars in the pot at the parking authority. There is this whole expense of the app; where is that app fee going? Sometimes you end up paying it twice if you have run out of time. Here is what I want to do: I want to start with ages 62 and above. You go to the city hall, and you get something that designates you as a resident, and you don’t pay for parking. It must be policed no matter what. You have people in apartments parking in front of businesses, so at the end of the day, there will always be enforcement. Every year for the past six years the parking authority has raised their rates for the Mahantongo parking garage. Let’s give downtown people half-rate, whatever we can. We have the money.” Tom shared.
“An example, a recent example, there was a wedding out of state, this is what we want, people coming from out of state to spend money in Pottsville! We see one of the enforcement officers writing tickets, we tell the group Hey, this is how the meters work. We went to the officer to identify that we are going to take care of the issue by paying the meters, that the guests didn’t know. The officer never stopped; he just kept writing tickets, even though we were all standing there trying to take care of the problem. He couldn’t print faster, and that’s not the stigma we want. We have to clean up these things. Another part of this is that, the city needs money. The parking authority has a lot of money. They’re up close to a million dollars, so I’d like to know where that money is going. Is there a plan? Create the structure where everyone can thrive in” Jon acknowledged.
“You have to function in a manner that you’re building goodwill with businesses and citizens. Your annual parking pass for someone working downtown went up, you’re paying close to $1000 a year just to park to go to work. It’s the perception that we have to have a parking authority, but we also need to work together,” Scott continued. “There are ways you can invest that into other parking scenarios in the city. When the city’s downtown is creating more revenue, the city benefits from that. If you’re over-enforcing, are you going to be driving people out? That is the question, and I believe that is happening.”
Scott added, “The authority has functioned in a manner that negatively impacts the city. The parking camera sticks were a disaster, and it cost the taxpayers money. The parking authority is charging the flea market for parking when parking is free on weekends. My opponent, Mike Weres, was the driver behind some of these ideas. I haven’t seen anything from the parking authority that benefits the city, and it needs to change.”
“There’s no law enforcement present downtown,” Tom voiced. “You may have 20 police officers employed, but there may only be 14 actively working because we have injuries, and also officers out for disciplinary action while still being paid. We have a very young force —under 25 —working 12-hour shifts in a stressful environment. We have detectives out patrolling the streets, only to be pulled from what they are supposed to be doing. We don’t see police officers walking down the street anymore. We need to build a tax base, but how do we do that? By bringing more revenue into the city, and through all these empty buildings we have. We are not looking to raise taxes; we need to bring in new business that will pay the taxes through their business.”
Scott went on to express his concerns, identifying “plain and simple. 10-15 years ago, we had almost 30 police officers. Every time there is a budget crunch it is consistently the police department that suffers. We have lost almost 10 officers in the past 15 years. There is also a high turnover rate. This is all capped last December – they raised taxes 3 mils, and then the same budget, they cut three officers. You now have the city in a position where officers are short-staffed, and they’re stretched thin. They are in a position where they don’t have coverage in the middle of the day due to vacation, sick time, etc., and they are not getting coverage, worse than a skeleton crew. In early January, there was an attempted homicide on the east side of Pottsville, and one cop was chasing the gunman. Imagine you’re that officer, who is your backup? There are state grants that the city isn’t pursuing. For example, there are grants for gun violence through the state; it may not be much, but every little bit helps.”
Tom identified, “We have high turnover and low morale in our Police Department. That is a dangerous mix. We also have the recent mishandling of the promoted, then demoted officer, that will likely bring about a lawsuit; something we cannot afford to happen. Communication between PD leadership and the city council needs to improve and be more frequent.”
Scott, in addition, stated, “We can just look at the data. The average length of service for our police department is 9 years and 3 months; if you exclude the top 2, it's only 7 years. We have seven cops under two years. The turnover in our department creates costs. Turnover is one of the highest costs associated with running a business. If we can understand the plight officers face and why morale is so low, we can make changes to retain officers and improve length of service. If cops are staying longer, the city is saving money, and we can solve this by understanding and attacking the data. Data is one thing the current administration fails to use, and it costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Tom conveyed that “We need to streamline bringing new businesses into Pottsville. Jon Marsh knows how to do this inside and out, to make it less of a hassle. That’s what makes a city stronger, the businesses downtown. Look at what we already have: the business privilege tax, a major reason businesses don't come here. We are going to find a way to eliminate that. Scranton was able to do it, and we want to know the path they took to eliminate that.”
“I just had a successful expansion to my business upstairs (the Chopping Block). We have to lower barriers to business and be more consultative as a city and be more helpful. There is so much that goes into starting a business. I just went through it. You have people risking everything to start a business, only to stumble upon things they don’t know or understand. We have to have a mechanism that is consultative for that individual or team,” Jon voiced.
“I’ve spoken to a business downtown that was weeks away from opening, and code came in right before their opening date. They found it very frivolous, which ended up costing them thousands of dollars. Their point was, we’ve been doing this for over a year, where were you throughout this whole process? I want to create process mapping to lay out the process and visuals for a standard process to open a business, and know step by step what you’ll need. We want to make that transition smoother. Everything we do needs to be in support of each other,” Scott added.
We wanted clarification on what a CRIZ (City Revitalization Improvement Zone) is, and when asked, the trio gave us a quick rundown to paint a picture of what the grant would entail. “This grant was called the Golden Ticket. This was supposed to take Pottsville to what it is now, to anything the citizens ever dreamed of. The program was a tax-reimbursement program (tax-incentive funding). You have an area in your city where the business tax is rerouted from the state back to the local government. Tamaqua has this grant, and they draw from the state 1 to 1.5 million dollars every year. You see a downtown building that needs a lot of renovations. You take money from this grant, and the grant can help ensure those renovations get completed. Now the business pays it back, but once you hit a timeframe of being in business, you only pay back 20% of the money given. So, if you’re opening a business and we are drawing tax revenue off you, there’s your paved road. We have a hotel coming in that is going to do great things, but unfortunately, five other businesses have left. In Pottsville, it would have affected over 100 acres, which would have been your redevelopment zone,” Scott and Jon explained.
“This issue is what got me off the couch, being active and proactive, so we are ready for this. Success is when opportunity meets preparation. That is exactly what we failed to do here. We are the only city of our size that applied for it. If the application was submitted and completed correctly, we would be on the receiving end of $1.5 to $2 million/year for the next 30 years. By not being prepared for this opportunity, Pottsville has missed out on over $45 million that could have been used to improve city infrastructure. This money would have been felt by every Pottsville resident. Again, we had no competition for this grant. All we had to do was satisfy the application and create a CRIZ committee to govern the funds. Other agencies in the area offered to help out, and they were turned down,” Jon outlined.
“The money is there, they’re begging us to take it, utilize resources, take advantage of the programs that are there. I’m confused as to why they refuse to take advantage of these grants and make it a priority. City hall is not a welcoming atmosphere or an open discussion. They are very defensive, closed off, but they work for us! Why don’t we take advantage of these grants? The money is there waiting for us to tap into it. CRIZ was hand-carried and delivered to our council. They were not prepared for this, despite knowing that in July they had to submit the paperwork by October. They didn’t want to put the work into it, break other people off or bring outside people in. When it was submitted, it was bounced back; they sent it in again, it was bounced back, and the city never turned it back in. Tamaqua took advantage of this grant, and they’re doing great, especially for bringing business into the area. We had no competition in applying for this grant; we were the only third-class city to put in for it, and we missed the golden ticket,” Tom explained.
Scott asserted that “the current party has not talked about CRIZ until we started bringing it up and making it our focus. The first policy we made was our accountability, the second policy we made was that we would sign an ordinance, we would immediately put together a CRIZ authority, and immediately have it in place in case we ever can apply for it again. The next city council meeting, the other party announced their policy, which was our policy verbatim. Now, to help the city out because we want to work in a bipartisan way, to this day, we have not heard anything. People begged to help the current administration, but they turned them down. We have seen the emails, the communication; this is all factual. Its to the point where Andy is actively telling voters to forget about the CRIZ, move on, and stop worrying. That’s wrong. The grant will come around again, and the city needs to be ready. Andy is actually on video laughing about the criz. His lack of urgency is astonishing.”
Jon added, “Grants can be complicated, and if you don’t know who to ask or where to go, it complicates things. We have a wealth of information, and we do know where to go, who to ask, and when we don’t know, we can turn to those people for help. That is the big difference with our ticket.”
“It’s like the old boys club, if you’re not a part of their party, then you’re not getting in. They get indoctrinated into how things are and get complacent with that. We need a clean sweep with fresh faces and new ideas. Right now, we should be the shining star of the county, and we are falling behind everyone. We are the county seat; usually, how the seat goes is how the county goes! We are not leading by example; we are falling way behind. It has been the same regime since 1994,” Tom expressed with his concern.
Scott added, “The same party has been in power for 15 plus years. You get into a manner of complacency, we have nothing to worry about, we are going to win. They’re probably nice people, but as far as running a city goes, they are completely incompetent. There is leadership in place that is just complacent, and they don’t know what they are doing. There have been party lines drawn, where this group of people has siloed themselves from the state legislature. This current administration has brought us three things: the 3 C’s: cost, chaos, and corruption. We need a change of names, fresh blood, and a change of pace.”
“It seems like every month its the same thing. Mistakes, lies, and cover-ups. From the police promotion to the council turning on the city administrator. Now we know for a fact the redevelopment authority wasn't even tracking its funds, and they were coming out of a city-controlled account! Mike Weres is the city controller, and he hasn’t tracked or controlled any finances. I sometimes wonder what they do with all their time,” Scott continued.
“There has to be a better way to do what we’re doing. We have to explore other avenues to take care of this problem,” Tom shared.
Scott detailed a plan to work with local shelters, “The trap and release program (T&R) is the way to go. The city had the right idea, but the execution was entirely wrong. The other thing was that the fines were not going towards the T&R program; they were going to the city's general fund. Private entities and charities are funding this program —why not give back? Work together with the shelters, not against them; it’s too aggressive. Initiate conversation.
“Pottsville is at a tipping point. If we continue with the status quo, we will keep going in the wrong direction. Pottsville residents have a great opportunity this November to let leadership know that they aren’t happy with what they’ve been getting, and they want proactive leadership who will get our city back on track,” Jon stated.
Scott pleaded that “Citizens don’t understand, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars being wasted with horrible spending practices. We were told earlier this year, after they cut the police, that we were on the verge of losing the police force as a whole. The city is so close to collapsing, and to this day, we still have council members voting to pay their own family businesses. Something has to change. Citizens need to understand how good they can have it with some changes. We have a ticket tailored to the city’s needs and tailored to fit exactly what the city needs. We are the only side of the ticket with concrete plans, including a 90-day plan and policies to attack issues; the other side hasn't released anything, and that goes along with what they've accomplished while on council. And we are excited to have Pottsville flourishing once again.”
The Republican Party enthusiastically agreed to sit down and do a public debate, however the Democratic Party declined, more on that in second part of the series.
In this two-part series, we first sat down with Republican candidates Tom Smith (mayoral candidate), Scott Price (council candidate), and Jon Marsh (council candidate), who discussed a vision for Pottsville and their concerns about what they describe as chaos at city hall.
Who are the candidates? Why are they running?
Scott referenced a January city council meeting, which led to his decision to campaign. “At this particular meeting, there was discussion surrounding raising taxes and cutting the police department. I spent over a month researching these issues, and when I went back to question these issues, they threw a garbage bill in my face. At this same meeting, Andy (the current mayoral candidate for the democratic party) and the rest of the council members verbally attacked an elderly woman in the crowd. I went home that night and said that I was running; they need someone with empathy up there.”“For me, I really put down roots here,” Jon replied. “My wife was born and raised here, we have two children, we have a business here, a home, etc. When I hear from people about Pottsville, they always talk about the past tense and what it used to be, and how good things used to be. I really want to know that Pottsville, and I want to see it improve. Really, it’s for my children. I want Pottsville to be a better place for them. I was in the Marine Corps, and it was always you leave things better than the way you found them, and that is what I would like to do here.”
Tom echoed that sentiment, “I’ve been a Pottsville resident for over 40 years, and what I’ve seen in the last 8 years was a rapid decline. I’m not pleased with it, and I think I could make a change. I moved here in 1986, was a manager for Kinney shoes, my job was to go to the stores that weren’t doing well and rebuild it, move on to the next store and improve that. When we got here, though, it was different. People were nice, they were sincere, helpful, and we were impressed. We had a young daughter who was getting ready to start school, and we said – You know what, if we are going to settle down, here is the place. I already have a working relationship with Senator Argall’s office, Tim Twardzik’s office, Jamie Barton, and Dan Meuser’s office. They helped me spearhead the 2.2-million-dollar venture between Alvernia and the YMCA program. One of the most important things is having a relationship with the local government, state government, and federal government. I can bridge that gap.”
Scott revealed that the trio attended events with the republican party. “We decided at these meetings what the city needs were and who fits those roles, and I think that is why our ticket is so special. Everything that the city needs, we bring from experience. Tom’s a grant guru; he has a specialty in getting grants and having great connections. Jon is a great business owner and knows first-hand what it takes to run a business in town. I work with Toyota, having a business background, and building management systems, which we thought would be helpful with better budget analysis and analytics.”
Jon continued to express that “just putting a game plan together is beneficial because we don’t think that now the city has any type of game plan. We need to win collectively to make that happen. We should be more proactive than reactive.” Following that topic, the candidates were asked how they plan to be more proactive.
Scott was eager to answer by revealing, “We actually have formulated a couple of policies that we’re going to implement if we win. First thing is we must look at and evaluate the hierarchy and the structure of each city department. We must ensure that the leadership is in place, and effective leadership that can lead these departments. When that occurs, we are going to do more monthly tracking. Each city department will be required to report out at city council meetings, which currently does not happen. This is how we become more proactive, look at things monthly and not on an annual basis. We can zero in on those pinpoints and hit those weak spots before it becomes a larger issue,” Jon added, “we have good people already doing good things in these departments with the tools they have, but they need more from city leadership. These are passionate people who care deeply about Pottsville’s success, but they need more help from city leadership. The number 1 thing they need is more funding, and we have multiple examples of where current leadership has failed to secure meaningful funding for them. It is also a role of the city council to oversee committees, like the blight task force, which hasn’t met in over a year. We will bring that oversight back for the residents of Pottsville and make sure we have the right people in the right seats for these committees that are so important for the redevelopment of the city.”
Concerns with Blight around the City
It’s no secret that if you take a drive through Pottsville, you’ll see what is dubbed “eye sores” – dilapidated buildings, crumbling facades, and abandoned structures, some of which are in the business district. These “eye sores” have not only become too familiar in the city but also create hazards for residents. The question remains: how do we take steps to bring these buildings back to life and address the owners who are not maintaining them?In August, the trio wanted to understand better methods to fight blight and out-of-town landlords. During this time, they met with other municipalities outside of the area to share best practices and get advice on how to fight blight.
Tom identified that he plans to utilize his relationships. “I’ve been involved with the chamber of commerce, been on the board for the Yuengling Mansion, I’m president of the Schuylkill County YMCA board, and with that, I’ve learned long ago that you have to have relationships with your political leaders, representatives, congressmen, senators. They’re the key. They handle the tax dollars you already paid in. They help you acquire the funds for your area to build. Dave Argall has a fund out there – Community Development Block Grants that we can use for blight. There is also city money available, but I have no clue why they aren’t using it. For instance, on the 300 block of W Market St, there is a building that used to be an antique store. This building was given to him, despite knowing that he had several other blighted properties. He was given a timeline for it, and now it’s been over 3 years, and they are doing nothing. Get the scaffolding out of the way, whatever you can do. I was a board member for different committees, and we were expected to present monthly to our board. There is no accountability with the city; it’s all just closed off. I went to the meeting when they appointed the new mayor, and I brought up questions about the CRIZ grant, and I was yelled at. They have taught people that you are not allowed to go in there and ask anything. There are two different programs for Blight, and we can get a jump on it and get it handled.
The city’s street department
There has been a lot of talk surrounding the streets department. Rough roads, potholes, and unsafe hazards are all issues that plague Pottsville’s streets.“There’s a state fund for our city streets that we’re not tapping into and utilizing. In the 40 years I’ve been here, these streets are the worst I’ve ever seen. I thought I was going to lose a tire due to an 8-inch hole that came down from the Trinity Episcopal church, looking at Farlow’s. There’s no reason for that. We bring in over 10,000 people for the Yuengling Lager Jogger. What do they do? They hit the streets, run past a dilapidated building on the 800 block that has been left that way for over 20 years, then they must contend with all the potholes. We have a great street department, but the city is not doing what needs to be done. I want accountability; there are grants for this, the money is there,” Tom exclaimed.
“The streets are a major topic for just about every person we speak with. Everyone can see and feel the current conditions of our streets. Funding is a big reason why we aren’t seeing the streets repaired/replaced at the rate they should be. Funding is out there for this. In the past 5 years, we’ve missed out on 8 funding opportunities for streets. Eight! Current leadership just didn’t apply for them. That simply can’t happen. When elected, we will proactively seek out this funding to help fix these roads and give our street department team the tools they need to succeed,” Jon stated.
Scott added, “By implementing better project management systems, we can better serve the community. Right now, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. We need better management of the projects, and we need to give our street department the tools to succeed.”
Fire Department Consolidation, and declining volunteer numbers
According to the volunteer fire council, in the 1970s there were over 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the state of Pennsylvania. That number has since decreased to a little over 37,000 and is dropping. Recent changes in the structure of the Pottsville Fire Department in efforts to recognize these staffing issues, along with increasing call volumes, have not gone unnoticed.“We don’t have enough young firefighters getting involved. How can we give back? Going back to the parking, maybe offer free parking to volunteers in the city to entice more volunteers. We have low insurance in Pottsville because we have so many fire companies that do such a great job. We are going to lose that, and we need to incentivize these guys to get out there and volunteer. I want to pursue that; I want to help rebuild the fire departments. They do so much for our community, we need to build,” Tom indicated.
Parking Enforcement
It’s no secret that residents across Pottsville grow increasingly frustrated with the city’s parking authority. Concerns have been all over social media regularly surrounding what they feel is aggressive enforcement, and a lack of a sense of community.“There is just short of one million dollars in the pot at the parking authority. There is this whole expense of the app; where is that app fee going? Sometimes you end up paying it twice if you have run out of time. Here is what I want to do: I want to start with ages 62 and above. You go to the city hall, and you get something that designates you as a resident, and you don’t pay for parking. It must be policed no matter what. You have people in apartments parking in front of businesses, so at the end of the day, there will always be enforcement. Every year for the past six years the parking authority has raised their rates for the Mahantongo parking garage. Let’s give downtown people half-rate, whatever we can. We have the money.” Tom shared.
“An example, a recent example, there was a wedding out of state, this is what we want, people coming from out of state to spend money in Pottsville! We see one of the enforcement officers writing tickets, we tell the group Hey, this is how the meters work. We went to the officer to identify that we are going to take care of the issue by paying the meters, that the guests didn’t know. The officer never stopped; he just kept writing tickets, even though we were all standing there trying to take care of the problem. He couldn’t print faster, and that’s not the stigma we want. We have to clean up these things. Another part of this is that, the city needs money. The parking authority has a lot of money. They’re up close to a million dollars, so I’d like to know where that money is going. Is there a plan? Create the structure where everyone can thrive in” Jon acknowledged.
“You have to function in a manner that you’re building goodwill with businesses and citizens. Your annual parking pass for someone working downtown went up, you’re paying close to $1000 a year just to park to go to work. It’s the perception that we have to have a parking authority, but we also need to work together,” Scott continued. “There are ways you can invest that into other parking scenarios in the city. When the city’s downtown is creating more revenue, the city benefits from that. If you’re over-enforcing, are you going to be driving people out? That is the question, and I believe that is happening.”
Scott added, “The authority has functioned in a manner that negatively impacts the city. The parking camera sticks were a disaster, and it cost the taxpayers money. The parking authority is charging the flea market for parking when parking is free on weekends. My opponent, Mike Weres, was the driver behind some of these ideas. I haven’t seen anything from the parking authority that benefits the city, and it needs to change.”
Law Enforcement
Pottsville’s law enforcement has been a topic of concern, with questions about staffing and downtown police presence. The candidates are hopeful of working towards balancing safety expectations and regaining public trust through a strong police force.“There’s no law enforcement present downtown,” Tom voiced. “You may have 20 police officers employed, but there may only be 14 actively working because we have injuries, and also officers out for disciplinary action while still being paid. We have a very young force —under 25 —working 12-hour shifts in a stressful environment. We have detectives out patrolling the streets, only to be pulled from what they are supposed to be doing. We don’t see police officers walking down the street anymore. We need to build a tax base, but how do we do that? By bringing more revenue into the city, and through all these empty buildings we have. We are not looking to raise taxes; we need to bring in new business that will pay the taxes through their business.”
Scott went on to express his concerns, identifying “plain and simple. 10-15 years ago, we had almost 30 police officers. Every time there is a budget crunch it is consistently the police department that suffers. We have lost almost 10 officers in the past 15 years. There is also a high turnover rate. This is all capped last December – they raised taxes 3 mils, and then the same budget, they cut three officers. You now have the city in a position where officers are short-staffed, and they’re stretched thin. They are in a position where they don’t have coverage in the middle of the day due to vacation, sick time, etc., and they are not getting coverage, worse than a skeleton crew. In early January, there was an attempted homicide on the east side of Pottsville, and one cop was chasing the gunman. Imagine you’re that officer, who is your backup? There are state grants that the city isn’t pursuing. For example, there are grants for gun violence through the state; it may not be much, but every little bit helps.”
Tom identified, “We have high turnover and low morale in our Police Department. That is a dangerous mix. We also have the recent mishandling of the promoted, then demoted officer, that will likely bring about a lawsuit; something we cannot afford to happen. Communication between PD leadership and the city council needs to improve and be more frequent.”
Scott, in addition, stated, “We can just look at the data. The average length of service for our police department is 9 years and 3 months; if you exclude the top 2, it's only 7 years. We have seven cops under two years. The turnover in our department creates costs. Turnover is one of the highest costs associated with running a business. If we can understand the plight officers face and why morale is so low, we can make changes to retain officers and improve length of service. If cops are staying longer, the city is saving money, and we can solve this by understanding and attacking the data. Data is one thing the current administration fails to use, and it costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Bringing in New Business and hope
Attracting new business in Pottsville is a high priority, according to most citizens. Not only creating job opportunities, but also hopes for investing in infrastructure, are common themes. When it comes to bringing new business in, Tom and Scott expressed how much of an asset Jon Marsh was to their ticket and to the City of Pottsville.Tom conveyed that “We need to streamline bringing new businesses into Pottsville. Jon Marsh knows how to do this inside and out, to make it less of a hassle. That’s what makes a city stronger, the businesses downtown. Look at what we already have: the business privilege tax, a major reason businesses don't come here. We are going to find a way to eliminate that. Scranton was able to do it, and we want to know the path they took to eliminate that.”
“I just had a successful expansion to my business upstairs (the Chopping Block). We have to lower barriers to business and be more consultative as a city and be more helpful. There is so much that goes into starting a business. I just went through it. You have people risking everything to start a business, only to stumble upon things they don’t know or understand. We have to have a mechanism that is consultative for that individual or team,” Jon voiced.
“I’ve spoken to a business downtown that was weeks away from opening, and code came in right before their opening date. They found it very frivolous, which ended up costing them thousands of dollars. Their point was, we’ve been doing this for over a year, where were you throughout this whole process? I want to create process mapping to lay out the process and visuals for a standard process to open a business, and know step by step what you’ll need. We want to make that transition smoother. Everything we do needs to be in support of each other,” Scott added.
Available grants and how they can benefit Pottsville, what is CRIZ? The failures of CRIZ
The CRIZ grant has been another hot topic. Recent failures surrounding a lack of follow-through, confusion, and a lack of awareness have been brought to taxpayers’ attention.We wanted clarification on what a CRIZ (City Revitalization Improvement Zone) is, and when asked, the trio gave us a quick rundown to paint a picture of what the grant would entail. “This grant was called the Golden Ticket. This was supposed to take Pottsville to what it is now, to anything the citizens ever dreamed of. The program was a tax-reimbursement program (tax-incentive funding). You have an area in your city where the business tax is rerouted from the state back to the local government. Tamaqua has this grant, and they draw from the state 1 to 1.5 million dollars every year. You see a downtown building that needs a lot of renovations. You take money from this grant, and the grant can help ensure those renovations get completed. Now the business pays it back, but once you hit a timeframe of being in business, you only pay back 20% of the money given. So, if you’re opening a business and we are drawing tax revenue off you, there’s your paved road. We have a hotel coming in that is going to do great things, but unfortunately, five other businesses have left. In Pottsville, it would have affected over 100 acres, which would have been your redevelopment zone,” Scott and Jon explained.
“This issue is what got me off the couch, being active and proactive, so we are ready for this. Success is when opportunity meets preparation. That is exactly what we failed to do here. We are the only city of our size that applied for it. If the application was submitted and completed correctly, we would be on the receiving end of $1.5 to $2 million/year for the next 30 years. By not being prepared for this opportunity, Pottsville has missed out on over $45 million that could have been used to improve city infrastructure. This money would have been felt by every Pottsville resident. Again, we had no competition for this grant. All we had to do was satisfy the application and create a CRIZ committee to govern the funds. Other agencies in the area offered to help out, and they were turned down,” Jon outlined.
“The money is there, they’re begging us to take it, utilize resources, take advantage of the programs that are there. I’m confused as to why they refuse to take advantage of these grants and make it a priority. City hall is not a welcoming atmosphere or an open discussion. They are very defensive, closed off, but they work for us! Why don’t we take advantage of these grants? The money is there waiting for us to tap into it. CRIZ was hand-carried and delivered to our council. They were not prepared for this, despite knowing that in July they had to submit the paperwork by October. They didn’t want to put the work into it, break other people off or bring outside people in. When it was submitted, it was bounced back; they sent it in again, it was bounced back, and the city never turned it back in. Tamaqua took advantage of this grant, and they’re doing great, especially for bringing business into the area. We had no competition in applying for this grant; we were the only third-class city to put in for it, and we missed the golden ticket,” Tom explained.
Scott asserted that “the current party has not talked about CRIZ until we started bringing it up and making it our focus. The first policy we made was our accountability, the second policy we made was that we would sign an ordinance, we would immediately put together a CRIZ authority, and immediately have it in place in case we ever can apply for it again. The next city council meeting, the other party announced their policy, which was our policy verbatim. Now, to help the city out because we want to work in a bipartisan way, to this day, we have not heard anything. People begged to help the current administration, but they turned them down. We have seen the emails, the communication; this is all factual. Its to the point where Andy is actively telling voters to forget about the CRIZ, move on, and stop worrying. That’s wrong. The grant will come around again, and the city needs to be ready. Andy is actually on video laughing about the criz. His lack of urgency is astonishing.”
Jon added, “Grants can be complicated, and if you don’t know who to ask or where to go, it complicates things. We have a wealth of information, and we do know where to go, who to ask, and when we don’t know, we can turn to those people for help. That is the big difference with our ticket.”
On the current council
Taxpayers have expressed concerns, and commentators on social media and during the public discussion portion of city council meetings have raised concerns about the actions of current and former council members. This trio hopes to change the face of the city council and add fresh voices.“It’s like the old boys club, if you’re not a part of their party, then you’re not getting in. They get indoctrinated into how things are and get complacent with that. We need a clean sweep with fresh faces and new ideas. Right now, we should be the shining star of the county, and we are falling behind everyone. We are the county seat; usually, how the seat goes is how the county goes! We are not leading by example; we are falling way behind. It has been the same regime since 1994,” Tom expressed with his concern.
Scott added, “The same party has been in power for 15 plus years. You get into a manner of complacency, we have nothing to worry about, we are going to win. They’re probably nice people, but as far as running a city goes, they are completely incompetent. There is leadership in place that is just complacent, and they don’t know what they are doing. There have been party lines drawn, where this group of people has siloed themselves from the state legislature. This current administration has brought us three things: the 3 C’s: cost, chaos, and corruption. We need a change of names, fresh blood, and a change of pace.”
“It seems like every month its the same thing. Mistakes, lies, and cover-ups. From the police promotion to the council turning on the city administrator. Now we know for a fact the redevelopment authority wasn't even tracking its funds, and they were coming out of a city-controlled account! Mike Weres is the city controller, and he hasn’t tracked or controlled any finances. I sometimes wonder what they do with all their time,” Scott continued.
The Cats!
At the beginning of the summer, there was controversy surrounding feeding stray cats, and fining taxpayers for doing so.“There has to be a better way to do what we’re doing. We have to explore other avenues to take care of this problem,” Tom shared.
Scott detailed a plan to work with local shelters, “The trap and release program (T&R) is the way to go. The city had the right idea, but the execution was entirely wrong. The other thing was that the fines were not going towards the T&R program; they were going to the city's general fund. Private entities and charities are funding this program —why not give back? Work together with the shelters, not against them; it’s too aggressive. Initiate conversation.
On the Future
Tom disclosed that, “I see a Pottsville that can be restored and thriving. This isn’t about democratic or republican, this is about taking care of the people and representing them with respect and empathy.”“Pottsville is at a tipping point. If we continue with the status quo, we will keep going in the wrong direction. Pottsville residents have a great opportunity this November to let leadership know that they aren’t happy with what they’ve been getting, and they want proactive leadership who will get our city back on track,” Jon stated.
Scott pleaded that “Citizens don’t understand, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars being wasted with horrible spending practices. We were told earlier this year, after they cut the police, that we were on the verge of losing the police force as a whole. The city is so close to collapsing, and to this day, we still have council members voting to pay their own family businesses. Something has to change. Citizens need to understand how good they can have it with some changes. We have a ticket tailored to the city’s needs and tailored to fit exactly what the city needs. We are the only side of the ticket with concrete plans, including a 90-day plan and policies to attack issues; the other side hasn't released anything, and that goes along with what they've accomplished while on council. And we are excited to have Pottsville flourishing once again.”
The Republican Party enthusiastically agreed to sit down and do a public debate, however the Democratic Party declined, more on that in second part of the series.