New Uniontown City Council member grateful for the opportunity

Steve Visocky may be the newest member of Uniontown City Council, but he doesn’t have any delusions of grandeur.
“I’m just an average Joe,” Visocky said.
But Visocky’s path to city council was anything but average, as the South Park native lived for more than a decade in Alaska before moving to Uniontown.
A U.S. Air Force veteran, Visocky now works for Pennsylvania American Water, and his experience reading meters and providing customer service relies on some of the same attributes that council members must have.
“I really, really enjoy talking to people,” Visocky said,” … and I enjoy a challenge.”
Visocky, 44, acknowledged that his extensive utility knowledge figures to be especially helpful since he’s now the councilman overseeing the city’s streets and sewage department, a role held by longtime council member Blair Jones before his death last month at age 92.
“I’m not even going to attempt to fill his shoes, but I’m going to walk in the same path that he did,” Visocky said.
Council appointed Visocky earlier this month to serve the remainder of Jones’ unexpired term through the end of 2019.
Visocky is the 10th different person to serve on Uniontown City Council since the start of 2017 and the third to be appointed rather than elected to their current position on council.
After having been elected to be councilman in 2017, former Mayor Ed Fike was appointed to become mayor again following the surprise resignation of Bernie Kasievich in January 2018, which in turn created a vacancy on council that it filled by appointing Joe Czuchan a month later.
Visocky was also selected by the Fayette County Democratic Party to be on the party ballot for a four-year term in November’s general election in place of Jones. Visocky and Czuchan, also a Democrat, are the only two candidates on the ballot running for two open non-mayoral council seats.
In his short time on council, Visocky has already learned that the wheels of government often move slowly, and he wants to convey to residents that there’s only so much that the city can do about problems like blight.
“(There’s) only so much money allotted in the budget,” Visocky said.
But Visocky is looking forward to working with other city officials to try to enhance the city.
“I want people to help me help Mayor Ed to help people,” Visocky said.