The drama over Pottsville’s proposed towing ordinance wasn’t the only bit of it last week.
Prior to the in-fighting among council members over whether or not the City should implement a towing rotation, there was some undercard in-fighting between Pottsville’s Animal Control Officer and its Code Enforcement Officer.
This row went back to a budget meeting held the week prior to last week’s special council meeting. In that session, Animal Control Officer Andrew VanArsdale told council members he believed his job was being underfunded.
He said that a line item for $1,250 for animal control doesn’t cover what he needed to fulfill the statute of state law when the City takes in an animal.
“If we have an animal for more than four days, by state law, we’re supposed to them them vetted. This only leaves me poison for the rats. That doesn’t give me money to get animals vetted, take care of … nothing,” he said. “I made the same request last year, stressing the same concern but it never seems to go anywhere. I don’t have the money in my budget to follow the statute of the law. I made up a budget. I submitted it. All of it was ignored.”
During that meeting, VanArsdale was told that the budget was set by his department head, which is Code Enforcement, headed up by Justin Trefsger.
Interim City Administrator Lisa Shuman told VanArsdale during the budget meeting, “I’d talk to Justin. He told me not to add it in so I did not.”
This internal turmoil reached a boiling point during last week’s special council meeting, however.
VanArsdale requested a public comment session to discuss not only his budget concerns but also an apparent disciplinary action made against him by Trefsger.
While he was encouraged to have this discussion in a closed-door executive session, VanArsdale said he wanted it in the public, citing what he said was his right per the Pennsylvania Sunshine laws.
Regarding the disciplinary action, VanArsdale requested council table any discussion or action to be taken as a result of it until the incoming administration takes office in 2026. Or, he said, he wanted the incoming administration included in any discussions if they were to happen prior to that point.
VanArsdale said he believed the disciplinary action had already been settled when he met with late Mayor Dave Clews and previous City Administrator Tom Palamar but apparently it hadn’t.
“I believe this has been brought up to further harass me and inhibit my professional career,” VanArsdale told council members. “I had filed a previous complaint regarding the lead code officer that highlights similar transgressions and it went unaddressed or at least I received little to no follow-up. I have further evidence to prove a pattern of harassment and professional impediment.”
Trefsger jumped in the conversation from the back of the council chambers. He addressed VanArsdale’s budget concerns but also an apparent attempt at a follow-up meeting regarding the disciplinary action.
“He had the opportunity at that point in time to speak of it. He did not want to speak about the issue, threw paperwork on the table, and walked out,” Trefsger told council members. “He had an opportunity to voice his opinion.”
VanArsdale responded and said, “The paper I put out on the table was my written request to have any disciplinary or any function of my job discussed in a public session, as per the Sunshine Act. I did it under the Mahal administration, back in September or August, so that meeting should have never happened.”
Shuman said Mahal “never forward that to anybody else.”
Animal Control Budget Concerns
With regard to VanArsdale’s budget concerns, Trefsger also claimed that a $16,000 line item in the 2026 budget is for “all of the things that he’s talking about.”
VanArsdale claimed that the budget for next year included “nothing to care for dogs or cats that become custody of the city … nothing for rabies vaccination for animals in longterm care of the city.”
He said the City spent $3,700 in 2025 on vet bills for animals it took into its custody.
“The money is there,.” Trefsger said. “I didn’t increase the budget, especially in a year where we’re trying to make cuts, but we’re already covering what we need to take care of with the budget. Everything can be taken care of that he wants to do.”
Councilwoman Dottie Botto brought up concerns she said she’s heard with regard to the City’s attempt at a Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) program with the stray cat issue that became a hot topic in 2024.
Botto said she spoke with staff at Hillside SPCA who relayed that the City missed 11 of 12 appointments made with the shelter to have animals fixed.
VanArsdale claimed that the shelter “informed me that their veterinarian was not in service and that I could not take cats to these meetings.”
He said, “There are always two sides to a story. I got constantly told the vet was out of office.”
He also claimed that there were issues with the TNR program due to changes made to the ordinance, which caused some confusion among the public. VanArsdale said he’s now working with other rescue organizations in addition to Hillside to spay and neuter stray cats.
Department Management
A topic openly discussed last week was who is in charge of the Animal Control office and why was it lumped in with Code Enforcement.
VanArsdale cited a statistic in which he said he’s been called by the City’s Police Dept. 120 times this year but by Code Enforcement only 3 times.
“I don’t fully understand why my office is tied in with Code,” he said.
Councilman Andy Wollyung said he believed the issues between these two offices is one of management. He said a meeting with himself, Councilman Tom Wood, and VanArsdale revealed to him that the biggest issue was communication.
He said who’s who in that office is “a cloud that we never really got through, in general, and I think that’s a big part of this.”
While he said he couldn’t offer a solution before the end of this year, he’s hoping the incoming administration will be able to address it.
“The biggest problem was a communication issue. I’m hoping the new administration will bright light to that,” Wollyung said.
Wood agreed with putting any management discussions until the new administration takes office and said he believed VanArsdale’s concerns were legitimate.
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