Heidelberg's Mayor LaSota named Mayor of the Year

Kenneth LaSota, mayor of Heidelberg, has been named Pennsylvania Mayor of the Year 2020 by the Pennsylvania State Mayors’ Association.

Each year, a PSMA committee, comprised of city, borough and municipal mayors across the state, selects a mayor who has had a significant impact upon the community, is a leader and has had extraordinary accomplishments.

“To me, that’s the highest award that a mayor could receive,” said Jim Nowalk, president of the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association and mayor of the Borough of Whitehall. “Who knows better what a mayor does than other mayors?”

LaSota has served Heidelberg in a number of capacities over his 22 years as mayor.

“Being recognized as Mayor of the Year is certainly a surprise and truly something that I will always be proud of,” LaSota said in a news release from the borough. “But more than recognition for myself, I am delighted that this award may act to spread the word that the Borough of Heidelberg is indeed a wonderful place to live, work and play.

According to the news release, LaSota has served as the borough’s representative and voting delegate to a number of multi-municipal organizations and nonprofit organizations at the local, county and state level; and presided over the expansion of Heidelberg’s police department from two full-time officers when he came to office to the current staffing of five full-time officers.

In 2008, LaSota was instrumental in obtaining a $1.2 million congressional earmark to upgrade Heidelberg’s business district and signed into law many ordinances and resolutions.

Additionally, he has published articles in several regional and statewide journals outlining the borough’s history and economic vitality, officiated 74 marriage ceremonies, and attended more than 90% of Heidelberg’s council meetings.

The release says that LaSota has marched as grand marshal in 19 Halloween parades; performed numerous ribbon cuttings for new business and economic activities in town; was recognized by a statewide boroughs’ association for both his distinguished service and for his length of service; advanced his mayoral and administrative training by graduating from two state governmental training institutes; and has volunteered for the last 14 years as a disaster services specialist for the American Red Cross.

LaSota, who has a Ph.D., also works full-time as an associate professor of geology and earth sciences at Robert Morris University.