Pottsville hires pyrotechnician for ‘Celebration,’ fireworks test slated for Wednesday

June 10--The Pottsville City Council on Monday hired a firm from Ashland to light up the night sky for the Pottsville Fireworks Celebration slated for July 5.

Previously, the city's Fourth of July program was staged at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Pottsville Area High School and the fireworks were launched from the 16th Street Field across from John S. Clarke Elementary Center.

This year, the pyrotechnics will be launched from Lawton's Hill near Nativity BVM High School. Bixler Pyrotechnics is slated to do a test Wednesday, according to city Administrator Thomas A. Palamar.

"It should happen around 9 or 10 o'clock. We want to see where people can see them from," Palamar said after council's June meeting Monday.

Bixler Pyrotechnics will set off a "20- to-25 minute" fireworks show July 5. For this job, it's working for American Fireworks Co., Hudson, Ohio, according to Mike Bixler, owner of Bixler's.

"We're working for them, under their banner, and they're providing the insurance," Bixler said Monday.

The contract cost is $8,000, Palamar said.

In other matters at the council's June meeting, the council approved the transfer of a liquor license -- PLCB License 17721 -- from Arbria Bar and Pizza Inc., 539 E. Mahanoy Ave., Mahanoy City, to Pick-A-Deli at 419 S. Centre St., Pottsville.

In the next six months, the owners of Pick-A-Deli, Mital and Vaisal Patel, will renovate their business, add seating and change the name to Pick-A-Deli Six Packs To Go LLC.

"They're going to make it more of a restaurant," their lawyer, John Rodgers, Wilkes-Barre, said.

A public hearing on the matter was held at the start of the council's June meeting. The council approved the transfer with a motion by Councilman Joseph J. Devine Jr., which was seconded by Councilman Michael P. Halcovage and carried with a vote by Mayor James T. Muldowney.

Council members Mark Atkinson and Ronald J. Moser were absent from Monday's meeting.

Two weeks ago, Frances Bonchak, Pottsville, who had been secretary to the mayor since July 2013, handed in her letter of resignation, according to Palamar.

Palamar did not have a copy of the letter at Monday's meeting.

"She asked me not to mention it. She's leaving for personal reasons. She got along with everybody, so it was nothing like that. In fact, she cleaned my office today as a going away gift," Muldowney said.

Bonchak could not be reached for comment Monday night.

Bonchak was hired July 30, 2013, at a "probationary annual salary of $22,500" which will increase to $25,000 "after a successful 90-day probationary period," according to the newspaper's archives.

Her last day of work will be Thursday, Palamar said.

At Monday's meeting, the council hired one of the city's full-time tax clerks, Merideth Hannan, Pottsville, to the position, officially called "administrative assistant to the mayor," at an annual salary of $25,000.

In October 2013, the city council hired Hannan as a tax clerk in the city tax office at an hourly rate of $8.25, according to the newspaper's archives.

"And that position in the tax office is now being advertised," Palamar said Monday.

In other matters, the council hired Donald J. Chescavage Jr., Pottsville, son of the retired code enforcement officer, as a full-time truck driver at a rate of $15.96 per hour. This brings the total number of full-time workers in the streets department to 14, according to Palamar.

The council promoted Patrolman Kirck Becker to the rank of detective, effective May 19. The council also gave the chief of police permission to apply for a 2014 COPS Grant through the U.S. Department of Justice to hire an additional police officer.

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