Pottsville Hires Mahal as City Administrator

Pottsville City Council members unanimously approved the hiring of Ian Mahal as the next City Administrator.

The vote took place during a special 4:30 p.m. meeting on Tuesday. That meeting lasted all of five minutes with that being the lone action taken.

Mahal is currently the Borough Council President in Minersville. He garnered some notoriety in the summer of 2024 when he wrote a since-deleted post on Facebook in which he shared controversial thoughts on the first assassination of then-candidate Donald Trump.

During Tuesday’s 5-0 vote, all but one vote was cast quickly. Councilwoman Dottie Botto appeared to ponder her vote for a moment before ultimately casting an affirmative to hire Mahal to the position.

Mahal will take over the job from Tom Palamar, who resigned at the end of January. He’d held the job in Pottsville since 2001. Mahal will take a salary of $95,000, which is more than the $70-85,000 Pottsville advertised it was looking to pay Palamar’s replacement. Mayor Mark Atkinson did tell The Canary that Pottsville would pay more to someone it really wanted for the job.

The hiring is to take effect immediately, based on the motion passed by City Council on Tuesday.

Pottsville’s City Administrator job requires the person holding the position to live in the city. Mahal will have six months to move to Pottsville but he tells The Canary he’s likely going to do that sooner.

As he’s moving out of Minersville, Mahal will also resign as Borough Council President there. He said he plans to submit his resignation at Tuesday’s Work Session meeting.

“This is a serious position.”

Mahal takes the City Administrator job at a difficult time for Pottsville. The City just raised property taxes on residents for 2025 and prospects of more revenue to avoid more tax hikes in the future seems slim, at best.

In a conversation following Tuesday’s vote, Mahal says his new job will be a challenge.

“This is a serious position. There are challenges that require someone with the knowledge of government,” Mahal says, calling the role of Pottsville City Administrator “one of the most difficult and challenging jobs in the county.

Mahal says one of his goals is “resetting the conversation with our (state) legislative delegation.

“Pottsville needs someone to come in and reset that conversation,” he says.

He adds that his role in Minersville politics will help him in his new job.

“Pottsville is like Minersville on steroids. We (Minersville) have the same challenges. They’re just bigger in Pottsvlle,” he says.

Mahal says another focus of his is to examine the neighborhoods in Pottsville and provide better services.

“One thing everyone needs is Pottsville is public safety. Not everything is going to be downtown,” Mahal says.

The Hiring Process and a Possible Sunshine Act Violation

Just before voting, Mayor Mark Atkinson divulged how the City arrived at its decision to hire Mahal. He said there were 10 applicants for the job. Atkinson said all personal identifying information was removed from applications and resumes before they were sent to the Fair Hiring Board.

From the field of 10, Atkinson said the City made the decision to interview the top 4 candidates, as defined by the Fair Hiring Board.

Recent outspoken critic of Pottsville’s current administration Scott Price questioned the legality of Tuesday’s action. He asked if Mahal had been informed prior to Tuesday’s vote that he was getting the job.

Atkinson said, “That was done in executive session. There was a decision to hire. Obviously, before we come forth with the name to hire, we have to confirm with the candidate that he’s willing to accept the job. If not, then we need to go on to number 2.”

Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act rules state that an executive session may be held for seven reasons, one of which is to discuss personnel matters. However, all votes on hiring candidates must be done in public.

To that end, Mahal says he didn’t know a special council meeting was being held until he saw a Public Notice published in the Republican Herald newspaper.

Mahal tells The Canary that he hasn’t submitted his written resignation letter to his current employer, the state’s Department of Community Economic Development (DCED).

He says he wasn’t sure he was getting the job until the vote was taken to confirm him as City Administrator on Tuesday afternoon.

Backlash to Hiring

Mahal’s hiring generated some backlash, some of which came before the final decision was made. There had been hints around Pottsville that Mahal was getting the job.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Price questioned Council members on their knowledge of Mahal’s past online, specifically the post about Trump’s assassination attempt and another purported post from prior to last year in which he’s photographed in blackface.

City Council members told Price they weren’t aware of that photo. When asked if they wanted a copy of it, Councilman Bill Messaros said, frankly, “No.”

When The Canary asked Mahal about that past activity resurfacing now, he said, “I’m here to talk about improving Pottsville. I’m not here to talk about dredged up nonsense on social media.”

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