In the second installment of this series, we have turned our attention to the Democratic Party, with Andy Wollyung (mayoral candidate), Tom Wood (city council candidate), and Mike Weres (city council candidate), running from the Democratic party for the city of Pottsville.
Currently this party enters the election not just as candidates, but the city’s present representation as Andy and Tom are currently on council, and Mike is the city controller. As this campaign heats up, the question is no longer about promises for the future, but accountability for the past.
Who are the candidates? Why are they running?
“I’ve lived in Pennsylvania for over 20 years now. My entire family is from this town. I have a wife and two kids, and a long history of service — both as a blue-collar worker and as someone deeply involved in the community. Between our family businesses, volunteering with the fire department, and working with various organizations, those experiences have shaped who I am today,” Andy explained.
He went on to share why he decided to run for mayor of Pottsville:
“I think the biggest issue we face is a lack of active leadership in our community — not just leadership in the traditional sense, like in the military or police, but the kind that inspires people and brings them together. Pottsville has lost that sense of community we once had. It’s something I grew up with, something I always admired — seeing people step up and do the right thing. Over time, that’s faded. My goal as mayor is to help rebuild that — to lead by example and guide our people back to being a true community again.”
Tom added his background, “I've lived in the city for a little over 30 years. I raised three children in the city, and the city has been good to my family. I enjoy the city, all three of my kids love the city. Two of them still live here. My goal for my campaign is to make it a city that people want to live in. I am a teacher, and I am involved in a few programs, including working with the Vo-Tech. I am involved in a readiness program to hopefully get students ready for the real world.”
Mike Weres provided his own biography. “I am an Army veteran. Shortly after leaving the service, I moved to the county and have been living here for over 38 years, the last 35 in Pottsville. Three years ago, I retired from county service. In my time here I have been active in various Masonic bodies, First United Methodist Church, and the Maroons Centennial committee among other things. Having worked in both the private and public sectors I recognize the needs of each and can use that knowledge to work with all parties within and out of our city. My wife and I raised two fine children here. Pottsville is a great place, rich in history and tradition. The city has been on the come-back trail and regrowth for some time, and I hope that my experiences along with those of my running mates will keep Pottsville moving forward.”
Concerns with Blight around the City
Pottsville was once known to be a thriving town, however, there has been an over looming concern with continued blight properties. These blights threaten public safety, depreciates property values, and community pride takes a hit.
Andy voiced his frustration with out of town and out of state landlords, saying, “We have tons of blighted properties, and almost none of them are because grandma passed away and someone took over . They’re the result of out of state landlords. We need to go to war with them and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to hold them accountable, take control of their properties, and either repurpose them as city resources or turn them into revenue for Pottsville. That money will go directly back into our streets through the DPW program, which I’ll discuss later.”
Mike Weres offered his own idea for how to fight blight in the city. “For blight we should first try positive reinforcement. One possibility is an awards program that recognizes owners that bring their properties out of blight, before having to resort to costly legal matters.
Tom added, "I do believe fighting blighted properties is essential for the success of our city. We need to hold building owners accountable and take a stake in our community. We need to go after absentee landlords."
The city’s street department
Deteriorating road conditions has created frustration among residents. Potholes, aging infrastructure plaguing the city’s streets has reflected years of wear has been a topic of conversation this race.
“So, the Street Department is everything but its name. It’s not truly a street department — we don’t pave streets here in Pottsville because we simply don’t have the funds to do it. Our paving budget is about $176,000 a year, which only covers roughly a quarter of a mile. With 58 miles of road in the city, that’s nowhere near enough,” Andy explained.
“Coming soon to a council near you,” he continued, “I’m going to propose as mayor We’re going to transition into a DPW program and establish a full Department of Public Works. It’s no longer just a street department, because what we actually do goes far beyond that. We build parks, fix up properties, take over abandoned buildings, cut grass that’s public works. Now, can we pave streets? Absolutely. But we need to find the income to do it. And that starts with holding people accountable especially these New York City and out-of-state landlords who buy properties here, let them fall apart, and use them for their own financial gain while doing nothing for our community.”
.Continuing with that sentiment, Andy added, “Our own government is also part of the problem. Take Route 209, for example we get almost zero dollars a year to pave it, plow it, or fill potholes. All of that comes out of our city budget. The state reimburses us only a minimal amount I believe it’s around $8,000 a year. The state needs to start stepping up and giving us more funding to maintain that road, or they need to take responsibility for it themselves.”
Mike added, “As far as the street department goes, Dottie does a great job overseeing it. The street department does the best job they can with the number of people they have and the money they have. They do long hours in the wintertime time plowing the snow. They're out there taking the heat every time somebody hits a pothole. Potholes are a fact of nature, they happen. The city does the best they can with what they have in order to take care of them. They do a good job, but potholes do happen.”
Tom continued, “Obviously, the water companies tearing streets up, the gas companies tearing streets up, they're responsible to fix them. And I believe we are trying to coordinate with them, paving those streets after they've done everything they need to do. In the past, we've paved streets, and we've been assured that it’s done. Then six months later, somebody's digging it up again (water company, gas company, etc.). But once again, they're not doing this just to have fun digging holes, it’s always for a problem that needs to be fixed. We’re also living in a city which is probably about 250 years old and the infrastructure is crumbling in places.”
Fire Department Consolidation, and declining volunteer numbers
As previously stated, there is concern within the fire department with dwindling numbers of volunteer firefighters in not just our community but across the state. Being a volunteer himself, Andy felt very strongly about this topic.
Andy noted that “the fire department is doing great things. There are three departments in this town that do the most for the city — the street department, the police department, and the fire department. Our community relies on them for so much. Unfortunately, funding for our fire department is minimal, and our sense of community has weakened. The block parties are gone, and it’s harder to bring people together. We’re fortunate to see Humane and Phoenix merging and doing great things, but the average age of our firefighters is now in their late 50s. We need to act, because the same people who have stepped up for decades are still carrying the load, and we’re not seeing enough younger volunteers — the future of our fire service — stepping in to take their place.”
He continued, “So how do we fix that? We make it easier for our departments so they don’t have to fight for every single penny. One of the things I plan to do is implement a fire tax for the City of Pottsville. It would be a small, separate tax for each resident, with the funds going directly to the fire department to support operations and equipment.”
Andy added, “Another important piece is accountability for services. Automatic fire alarms go off constantly, and we also respond to things like roadway cleanups or pumping out flooded basements. Those are valuable services, and the city should be able to associate a cost with them something that can be billed to homeowners or even covered by their insurance. For example, if a pipe breaks at my house and fills my basement with water, and the fire department comes to pump it out, that’s a huge help. My insurance can assist with that. When I first moved here, we were running around 500–600 calls a year. Last year, it was closer to 1,100 that’s a major increase. People get nervous when they hear the word ‘tax,’ but Orwigsburg just implemented a similar fire tax, and they didn’t receive a single complaint. In fact, it helps offset homeowners’ insurance costs it balances itself out.”
Andy also shared an exciting plan to recruit younger volunteers: “Right now, STC is working to launch a fire department training program. It will function just like their culinary or HVAC programs, allowing students to graduate with their Firefighter II certification. We’re also looking to bring back the Explorer program in the city. That way, 14- and 15-year-old kids can spend their Saturdays learning hands on skills like cutting a car open alongside experienced firefighters. That’s how we build the next generation.”
Parking Enforcement
Andy stated, “The meter technician — or meter maid, for lack of a better term — doesn’t exactly have a fan club. There’s a reason there’s a TV show called Parking Wars; it’s entertaining because being a meter maid is a thankless job. Nobody ever says, ‘I got a ticket today — this is amazing!’ The head of that department, Ian, is naturally going to be a target. And honestly, no matter who you put in that seat, they’re going to be disliked.
“The reality is, we’ve taken on a major county responsibility locally with our new parking garage, and that comes with a large bill every month. If we don’t meet those financial obligations, we could end up owing serious money to government agencies to repay that debt. So, it’s a fine balance. I think Ian has done a good job keeping the books in the positive, but in situations like this, you either live long enough to be the hero or stay long enough to become the villain. I think Ian has reached that point, and it may be time to take a closer look at that department to see how we can make changes for the betterment of Pottsville. Departments exist for a reason — they help us maintain order and control in the city.”
He continued, “I don’t believe there’s a million dollars just sitting in the bank. I think that money is in escrow, allocated to the Parking Authority for Market Street, the parking garage, and similar projects. It’s not like we’re sitting on a mountain of cash. What we really need to do is bring back that sense of community. We should look into new types of parking permits, especially for residents who have meters directly in front of their homes — that’s just not fair. Last year, during the holidays, we brought back free parking, and that’s the kind of community-focused approach we need to keep building on.”
Mike added, “Parking is not a burden on tax payers, parking pays for itself. Okay? So that's not even in the question. Parking generates its own money. Income comes totally from enforcement. I understand taxpayers were frustrated with the safety sticks but the purpose of the safety sticks, was safety. They were brought in to make the city safer. They do not hurt business. The locations that were picked out by the police department and the parking authority and other concerned individuals. This intersection, this corner up here in the alley, somebody parks illegally up there, it blocks the view and you have a potential accident. They did not cost the taxpayers any money.”
Tom continued, “I think we have plenty of parking spaces in the city. There are plenty of places to park. I really think people really want to be convenient. Like, if I'm walking into a store, they want to have a spot here. They want to be able to walk right in, you know, maybe run in for something. But someone's got to pay for these spaces. And to back it up a little bit, if I go to any city outside of Pottsville, I am paying for parking. I'm going to the garage. I am paying 10 bucks for whatever it is to walk down in the city to come in and spend my money. Everybody has gone to these apps. Is the dominant company in the world, and they control 95% of the parking in the country.
Mike, who is on the parking authority board added, “We are not trying to tick off all customers in Pottsville. We're not trying to tick off all the merchants in Pottsville. We want to be customer friendly. We want to be merchant friendly. That's what we're working towards. We want a cohesive downtown. We can still put quarters in the meter. I don't think there are very many cities that you can still put quarters in the actual meter. It's kind of like if you get the ticket, they're aggressive. If you don't get a ticket, they're doing a good job.”
Law Enforcement
Pottsville’s law enforcement is known as the daily face of the community. The city has been accused of not taking the shortage of law enforcement officers seriously, however the council shed light on their take of these concerns.
There’s always that comment ‘Well, 20 years ago we had a full staff and crime was low.’ The truth is, we have to look at that carefully for a couple of reasons. First, the city’s tax base was much stronger back then. When I first moved here, the department was larger because Pottsville itself was larger we had more residents, more taxpayers, and more people actually paying their taxes. I say that respectfully, because times are tough and people are struggling,” Andy explained.
“If you ask me what can be done, one idea is to consider regionalizing the police department so we can partner with neighboring agencies for additional manpower. Another option is to expand the use of per diem officers. Hiring a full-time police officer is a long and expensive process it’s not something you can do overnight. You have to recruit, train, equip, and deploy them. It costs roughly $180,000 just to get one officer fully ready for duty. That’s a major investment and they absolutely deserve it.”
He continued, “Do I believe we should support our police department? Absolutely. They’re a great group of men and women who do an incredible job for our city every single day. I feel safe in my home and have no complaints about their service. But there’s a misconception I want to clear up neither the current council nor any former one in the past seven years has cut a single police officer. Not one. In fact, since I’ve been here, we’ve hired seven. In just one year, we brought on seven new officers. So this idea that we don’t hire police is simply false. We currently have two officers on leave and two suspended, but overall, our staffing has remained strong.”
Mike added, “There's only 14 active officers right now. That is always going to be a problem we are actively addressing. The council, they are actively working on that. They are always trying to improve things. And we are looking, always looking at bringing more officers in. We also have to generate more income to pay for additional officers. And that is something I want to see and everyone wants to see. How do you bring in that extra income? I guess there is only two ways a city's funded, either a tax increase or increase the tax base. Yes, I want to increase the tax base. And that takes time. Now we have a new hotel coming in that will help increase the tax base a little bit. Every business that we can bring in, and we can partner up with PADCO, and we partner up with PBA, also we can partner up with chamber of commerce and anyone else to help bring these in justly and fairly.”
Tom reported, “I think we live in a very safe city. I think our police department do a great job. They go above and beyond. As in any organization, there's going to be rumbling no matter what's going on, whoever is in charge, you're not going to please everyone. You know, a long time ago the city had a population of 30,000, even more and a police force of 50 or so. We don't have 30,000 people paying taxes anymore. So, for a third class city, we have currently a larger police force than Sunbury, another third class city. I think they have five officers and we have 20. There's never one police officer on at one time. There's always somebody to back them up if they need it.”
Mike interjected, “it's worth looking at is spearheading a regional police force where Pottsville St. Clair, Minersville, etc. and come together to take to create a police force that might be 40, 50 man strong. Now, there's drawbacks to that, like we would lose control over the police force. The pluses to that, is that you could double the size of the police force and the tax base to pay for it.”
Bringing in New Business and hope
Neglected properties have become a visible sign of deeper issues facing the community in our business district. Out of state landlords, rising costs of county taxes, and fear of pushback from code enforcement in order to start a new business was common themes.
Andy eagerly answer, “Let's get people back talking again because we need to establish some kind of diagram to get people from A to B and help open a new business. People want help, and
I think communication goes a long way. Maybe a community liaison saying, yeah, this is who you need to talk to about this issue, and that issue. We want new prospective business owners to be comfortable enough to call city hall and come in and ask us, do you want to know?
Mike echoed, “Number one, Code enforcement is your friend. You may not like it. Code enforcement is there to protect the business as well as everyone else. Code enforcement can help you prevent a possible accident and lawsuit. Would you want a lawsuit for someone tripping, or something happening on your property? No. The city is always looking for ways to make the process better. The codes are written by the state and it is the city's job to enforce the codes set up by state and we do a superb job of that. The city is determined to work with every business and every residents to get everyone up to code as economically as possible and yet keep it safe. No mayor wants to wake up in the morning, turn on the news and see that two dozen people died in a fire in their town because it wasn't code and we intend to ensure that that’ll never happen.”
Mike reiterated, “I would also add that our downtown is doing well. I think our downtown is popping. There's a lot of businesses opening. There are businesses that recently opened, and it's a great place to go and hang out and want to be part of it, and I am happy for that.
We need to draw people in that way and maybe hopefully draw them in and keep them here. There’s new business’s coming in such as the Masonic Building, a new barbershop has opened up, a new nail place has opened up, and that's just this year. We have new auto parts company coming in where the old Rite Aid used to be, which is just within the city. There's a place called the Chopping Block that opened up two years ago.”
Tom continued, “We want to work together as a city. If we feel there's a problem in the city, we need to address it.”
Available grants and how they can benefit Pottsville, what is CRIZ? The failures of CRIZ
The party has felt that they had to be on the defense due to the failure of the CRIZ grant, and how the process failures are a reflection of the current administration.
“Would it have helped expand community? Absolutely. But it’s being used as a political talking point, and we need to be careful about that,” Andy said. “I’m not saying free money is ever a bad thing — I don’t care what it’s for. If it’s for free plants downtown, great. I was very transparent about what happened and made sure people understood the facts.
“The truth is, I didn’t know anything about it until it was brought up at a meeting. We understood that we were applying for a grant — that was the extent of it. I had never heard of it before, wasn’t aware of the details, and the emails about it weren’t forwarded to me. That’s not an excuse — it’s simply what happened. I can’t speak to what others may have missed or why, but where we did fall short was not involving the right people to guide us through the process and help make informed decisions.”
He continued, “The grant would have covered just over 130 acres of Pottsville, so let’s stop pretending it was going to free up money for the police, parking, or community events — it wasn’t. It was completely separate from our budget. We didn’t get the grant, and yes, it’s disappointing. But it’s not the first time this has happened. Whether it’s with schools, fire departments, or any other agency, sometimes you don’t get the grant. Maybe there’s an application mistake or a missed step — it happens.
“Now, we have to move forward. It’s in the past. Was it a dropped ball? Absolutely. Should we have gotten it? Absolutely. Would it have been great for the city? One hundred percent. Is it shameful? Yes. But that’s the end of it. It doesn’t need to be dragged out any further.”
Tom added, “I’m not trying to skirt the issue, but this was before my time on the council. But I can assure you that if, and when that CRIZ grant comes around again, we will do everything we can to make sure we get that. We are working diligently and bringing in the best people we can possibly to find to help us get those grants
The grants are terribly competitive throughout the state because it's not just one area. It's all the third-class cities available.”
Mike added that “they (the state) could have given us better guidance from the state.”
On the current council
Pottsville’s city government has been no stranger as of lately to internal turmoil, tensions between council members, and a change of hands several times this year. Yet, this trio feels confident that moving forward they will remain collaborative, and to get rid of this toxic political environment.
Andy started off by identifying, “Am I going to be able to fix all the parking authority problems? No. Am I going to be able to solve world hunger and keep all the homeless people off the streets? No, but we could do something about it by working together and I feel comfortable enough to do so and leading our city into that. I'm not making any excuse for anybody. But we also have to remember that we are all human and we all make mistakes. And there's been times where people on council have admitted those mistakes of getting too upset? I'm representing these people and I'm representing your voice as the taxpayer to make the decisions of what I best see fit. We can't control every resident and we certainly can't control every employee, but we can certainly look to together to manage them.”
On stream lining roles, Andy continued “we are going to have accountability with the departments. We need to make sure that all our departments are 100% moving forward, that there are together and they are on the same page with council. Because right now I'm answering for the sins of everybody else and I'm not creating them. I want to hold landlords accountable, I want to hold our own departments accountable, sewer authority, you need to come to our meetings, Redevelopment authority, you need to come to our meetings. And then the goal is when somebody brings up something for your department, you're going to stand up and answer for it because you're the head of that committee and you're the one answering for it. And that will hopefully help ease the minds of some of those people.
When being asked if Andy was concerned at all with council working against one another, he answered “No. I think moving forward right now with what we have, I think we are 100% on the same page.”
Mike also added, “We do all try to work together now. They do work to together. The street department, police, they work together. The municipal authorities, they work together. We do work together more than people realize.”
Tom added "We as a council continue to work hard for our city, we are successfully in navigating the day to day business of our city."
The Cats!
Again, earlier in the year there was much controversy surrounding the issues with the stray cats, and the cities aggressive policies.
Andy touched that “My first thing that came on when I first got on council, the first meeting I was at, we voted on ordinance to allow our health code officer to find people for feeding stray cats. And the purpose behind him doing that was because feral cats were destroying neighborhoods, running wild. And frankly, I didn't realize until recently how unhealthy it is for those cats. It's very dangerous. So I had reached out to a couple organizations, knew it was a hot topic, and said, hey, what can we do? So we're coming up with a plan right now. We passed a new ordinance that is a lot less aggressive on taxpayers, but it also still forces people to enroll in some sort of TNR program. We are allowing them to be a part of this process. Any group that wants to, give us their information so we can put it in a pamphlet and give it out. Anybody that wants to enroll can choose from whatever one of those organizations they choose to do.”
Tom added, “I feel for the people who are dealing with this problem. The problem is the cats are running wild in some places and people are feeding them. It's becoming more of a problem. I'm not going to say don't feed the cats, they should eat.
On the Future
The trio continued to be hopeful despite hitting so many barriers along the way.
“I want to make sure the integrity of Pottsville is upheld as we drive it into the future. It’s okay to honor our past — in fact, we should — but we also need to learn from our mistakes and use them to push toward the greater good for our city. We need to bring back that true sense of community and do it together.
Even though I’m in office now, it’s taken time to understand where the real problems lie and what needs to be done. Now that we know, it’s time to move forward — to drive Pottsville into the future. And I believe this team is exactly the one that can do it.”
Tom stated, “My vision for the city is to be a city that people want to live in. I want it to be a thriving city. I have two children who live in the city. They're in their late 20s. They choose to live in the city. I want the city to be something they want to do and everyone else in the city too. I want it to be a place where they can go downtown and not have to drive somewhere else to find what they're looking “
“We need to work together to be successful, without a doubt. And I would think that if you were to check with any of these entities within the city, I think they feel it and they say they're feeling it, and that's what we want, and that's what we're achieving, I believe. I want to be here for all of Pottsville, not just the downtown area, but the taxpayers in Yorkville, and everywhere else,” Mike finished.
The Democratic Party was asked for a live debate facilitated by Skook News, however declined. Andy identified, “throughout this campaign, certain individuals have relentlessly harassed my family and I. Calling family members in New York with digging to find truth to false accusations.”