City Code, ExplainedBetaPardon our dust while we build this out — expect some changes along the way.

This chapter authorizes and governs the City of Pottsville's participation in a series of intergovernmental agreements, trusts, and cooperative associations with other municipalities and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, covering policing, insurance, investment, and workers' compensation arrangements.

Who this affects

It primarily affects City government operations and finances rather than residents directly, though it shapes how city police, insurance costs, and public funds are managed.

Key rules

• Authorizes the City's participation in a Municipal Drug Task Force with the PA Attorney General's Office, giving City police expanded jurisdiction under that agreement.
• Authorizes participation in the Penn PRIME Workers Compensation Trust, requiring the City to pay annual contributions/assessments, pledge its full taxing authority for those obligations, meet admission and eligibility requirements, and comply with the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act.
• Penn PRIME participation is not effective unless the City is granted a self-insurance exemption from the PA Department of Labor and Industry, and requires a minimum two-year participation term with annual renewals.
• Authorizes joint law enforcement agreements with the Borough of Mechanicsville and the Borough of Mount Carbon for police protection, expanding City police jurisdiction under those agreements.
• Authorizes the City to join the Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust, purchasing and redeeming shares to invest municipal funds, terminable at any time by ordinance.
• Authorizes membership in the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Risk Management Association, a risk pool providing risk management services and liability protection to members, terminable at any time by ordinance.
• Authorizes participation in the Municipal Risk Management Workers' Compensation Pooled Trust for a four-year term from the date of admission, funded from the City's general funds.
• Authorizes participation in a County Drug Task Force with the Schuylkill County District Attorney's Office to interdict illegal drug trafficking, using full-time and part-time City police, terminable on 30 days' written notice; the City retains responsibility for management and control of its employees.

Notable and archaic details

• The Pennsylvania Local Government Investment Trust article requires that the Declaration of Trust and related meeting minutes be filed and available, and states the Trust may enter into group insurance and employee benefit contracts, including Social Security, for its employees.
• The Penn PRIME Workers Compensation Trust Agreement is on file for public inspection not at City Hall but at the offices of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities in Harrisburg.