Two Republican challengers for Pottsville Mayor and City Council did not hold back Thursday evening at a campaign kickoff fundraiser.
Tom Smith, who is running for Mayor, and Jonathan Marsh, a candidate for City Council, offered sharp criticism of the state of Pottsville and those in charge at City Hall right now.
Smith and Marsh hosted 60 people at the newly opened venue space above The Chopping Block on Thursday.
During his remarks, Smith started with a dose of sarcasm.
“Why am I running for Mayor? It’s real simple. It’s an easy job,” he joked. “There’s nothing to do. The streets are fine.”
It took a second but those on hand quickly realized that Smith was obviously joking. But that moment and his tone changed on a dime.
“I’m fed up. I’m sick and tired of watching this city go down and down and down,” Smith said. “I don’t know anybody that’s happy with what’s going on here. We need to win and straighten out this city.”
Clearly, Smith believes the people in charge at City Hall are responsible for what he sees is Pottsville’s decline.
Smith said the ineffective leadership at City Hall is costing Pottsville a chance at competing for and receiving grant money and other funding.
“We haven’t applied for a grant in three years. There’s money out there available for us and I’m pissed … I’m pissed,” he said.
Smith also addressed a shortage of police officers in Pottsville. He said officers are overworked and “exhausted.”
In his speech, Smith said he’s not going to make promises to voters which he can’t deliver but said he and Marsh have a plan, if elected, that could actually lower taxes. One way is to make City Hall more efficient. Smith addressed nepotism in City government.
“There’s a way that we can lower taxes. The redundancy in the over-staffing of some of these departments in City Hall is too much,” Smith said. “And guess what, John and I don’t have any relatives in town. It’s our spouses, so we’re going to be out of employees because I don’t know who I can hire if it’s not one of my relatives.’
Marsh was also highly critical of Pottsville leadership and the state of the city right now.
“Pottsville is in decline,” he said. “I can’t just sit around and let that happen. We’ve got real problems right now. I’m running because I believe we can do better.”
In his remarks, Marsh touched on blight, condition of the roads, public safety concerns and “funding decisions that just don’t make any sense.”
The candidate called out Pottsville’s missed opportunity with the City Revitalization & Improvement Zone (CRIZ) program, which he and others have said cost the city more than $1 million a year over the next 30 years.
“Funding blunders and missed opportunities that cost the city millions of dollars each year is not an exaggeration,” Marsh said. “We’ve got to get smarter about how budget, how we plan, and how we fight for every dollar in this city.”
Regarding blighted properties, Marsh said that issue not only is the fault of property owners but also the City government.
“Blight isn’t just ugly,” Marsh said. “It sends a message that no one’s paying attention. It drags neighborhoods down, it discourages investment, and it erodes community pride.”
Marsh added that the city’s police and fire departments need support.
And as far as the roads go, he said the employees of the Streets Dept. work very hard “with the tools they have.”
“We can do better for them,” Marsh said. “We can give them the tools they need to properly fix our roads.”
Marsh and Smith are running together as Republicans looking to swing the balance of power at City Hall for the first time in decades. Scott Price, another Republican candidate for City Council, launched his campaign several weeks ago at a Town Hall event.
They’ll face Democrat candidates Andy Wollyung for Mayor and Tom Wood and Mike Weres this November in the 2025 Municipal General Election. Wollyung and Wood are current City Councilmen and Weres is Pottsville’s Controller.
TOP PHOTO: Republican Mayoral candidate Tom Smith says Pottsville hasn’t applied for a grant in three years.
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