Pottsville Picks Messaros as Next Mayor

Pottsville Councilman William Messaros was chosen to be the next and interim Mayor of Pottsville Wednesday evening.

He got a unanimous vote among council members to serve the remainder of this year as Mayor. Messaros’ term as Mayor expires at the end of this year.

To accept the role of Mayor, Messaros, who just turned 70, also had to resign his position as Councilman. The City will now look to fill his seat on council within the next 30 days. That will also be an interim position and the person who is appointed will only serve until the end of 2025.

Messaros is Pottsville’s third Mayor since last Fall. He replaced Mark Atkinson, who resigned earlier this month, citing health concerns. And Atkinson replaced Dave Clews in October 2024, who also resigned over health concerns.

Messaros’ term as Councilman was set to expire in 2025 and he was not seeking re-election. He was one of four people who formally expressed interest in becoming interim Mayor. Fellow councilman Andy Wollyung, who is running for Mayor in the upcoming 2025 Municipal General Election was another.

Tom Smith, Wollyung’s Republican challenger in the upcoming election, and Mikaela Gavaletz, also put their hats in the ring to be named Mayor.

At the start of Wednesday’s special council meeting, which was scheduled primarily to select a new Mayor, Wollyung withdrew his name from consideration. He said that if he were to be picked, it would have caused either a hurried or special election to fill his unexpired term. His term as Councilman isn’t set to expire until 2027.

Wollyung then nominated Messaros to be Mayor, which was seconded by Councilman Tom Wood. Dottie Botto agreed to also pick Messaros.

In comments to The Canary following his appointment, Messaros recognized that he’s only got the job of Mayor for a few months.

“I’m a lame duck. I know that,” he said.

In his time in office, Messaros said it’s his goal to bring some order to what he called “unusual circumstances” of the last eight months or so. To do that, Messaros said he wants to allow City employees to do their job.

“Allow a lot of the people who do a great job day in and day out do their jobs,” Messaros said. “That’s what we need right now. I still believe that we can provide the highest level of service at the most affordable expenditure and we have been doing that.”

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