POTTSVILLE \u2014 A divided city council hired a Reading firm to be its \u201cexclusive independent financial advisor, financial consultant and grant writing consultant\u201d at Monday\u2019s meeting in city hall.<\/p>\n
The move came on a 3-2 vote with Mayor Tom Smith and council members Jonathan Marsh and Andy Wollyung supporting the measure. Council members Scott Price and Dorothy \u201cDottie\u201d Botto voted no.<\/p>\n
During an at times heated discussion, Price argued that the city should have advertised for bids before hiring FSL Public Finance, which provides consulting services to nonprofits and local and state governments.<\/p>\n
Doing so, Price said, would live up to the transparency he, Smith and Marsh promised when campaigning for office last November. It would also remove any hint of impropriety from the appointment, he said.<\/p>\n
Prior to the meeting, the Pottsville City Democratic Committee raised concerns on social media about a possible conflict of interest involving the hiring of FSL.<\/p>\n
Though his name was not mentioned, the discussion centered on the relationship of Savas Logothetides to FSL.<\/p>\n
In May, Logothetides stepped down as director of the Pottsville Area Development Corporation, or PADCO, to take an executive position at FSL Public Finance.<\/p>\n
City solicitor Gretchen Sterns advised council that it was under no obligation to advertise the contract for bids because it involves a municipal service contract.Councilwoman Botto raised concern about the \u201cexclusive\u201d term in the FSL contract. If interpreted literally, she suggested, it could give FSL the power to replace M&L Associates and the Schuylkill Action Committee, who provide grant writing services to the city.<\/p>\n
Robert J. Straebel, city administrator, shared Botto\u2019s concern, particularly involving M&L Associates, a Pittsburgh firm who he said are authorities on federal Community Development Block Grant funding.<\/p>\n
Marsh, who made the motion to hire FSL, said advertising for bids would have been a lengthy and expensive process. Time, he said, is of the essence in reorganizing the city\u2019s financial structure.<\/p>\n
Marsh pointed out that Pittsburgh-based M&L charges $295 an hour for consultations, while FSL\u2019s rate is $125 an hour. The city Democratic committee, however, claimed that FSL charges a transaction fee of $37,500 in addition to its hourly fee.<\/p>\n
Marsh, whose motion was seconded by Wollyung, said a recent experience demonstrated FSL\u2019s expertise. A single phone call to FSL resolved an issue involving $98,000 in city funding, he said.<\/p>\n
Other business<\/p>\n
Council voted to authorize the city administrator to advertise for bids to demolish blighted properties at 548 E. Market, 608 W. Norwegian and 313 S. Second streets.<\/p>\n
Straebel informed council that two contractors are scheduled to begin restoration work on the Harrison Street retaining wall later this month.<\/p>\n
When the wall showed signs of collapsing in March 2025, the city shored it up with concrete blocks as a temporary measure.<\/p>\n
The restoration project, estimated to cost about $296,000, will take down a house, install sidewalks and rebuild the retaining wall. It is expected to take several weeks to complete.<\/p>\n
Dave Clark, city parks foreman, was named recreation director at a salary of $100 a week.<\/p>\n
Wollyung announced that the first Great Pottsville Cleanup will be held Aug. 15-16. He expects 100 volunteers to spruce up city playgrounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"POTTSVILLE \u2014 A divided city council hired a Reading firm to be its \u201cexclusive independent financial advisor, financial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[182,883,139,28,50,4961,128,130,129,231],"class_list":["post-263372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-pottsville","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-schuylkill-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}