Komar’s positive attitude, work ethic pushed Johnstown forward

When Melissa Komar was named Johnstown’s assistant city manager in 2015, Councilwoman Marie Mock called her “a phenomenal woman” who “does it all.”

Komar is leaving public service in 2025 having more than fulfilled that description.

She announced this week that she is stepping down from her latest high-impact position, as executive director of the Johnstown Redevelopment Authority, to take a job in the private sector.

Komar has been a consistent force for good for more than two decades in Johnstown, from her earliest days in the Public Works Department through stints in the highest roles of city administration and her critical position as director of the redevelopment authority.

She remained dedicated to the city despite serving during a time of steady turnover in key positions. Komar had stints as interim and acting city manager through a stretch that saw a parade of individuals in the city’s top management positions.

She also endured a steady stream of negative push-back from social media trolls and political gadflies looking to delay progress at every turn.

“Johnstown is my heart,” Komar told city government reporter Dave Sutor.

“Regardless of how people view me, either politically or professionally, my entire heart is here. All of the choices that I’ve made here have been ultimately to better the community that I call home, where I’ve raised my kids, where my family is.”

The Tribune-Democrat’s archives track Komar’s influence from as early as 2006, when she helped launch a new city website through her role as a geographic information systems specialist with Public Works. She helped lead a push to upgrade the Oakhurst Playground in 2011-12 with a $90,000 state grant and local dollars.

Komar was named assistant city manager in 2015, when she optimistically said: “The positives definitely outweigh the negatives in our town, and I look forward to being a part of the future of Johnstown.”

A year later, she was selected as interim city manager amid a dispute over the qualifications for the job set out in the city charter. A lawsuit sparked changes to the city code, as Komar’s title bounced from full to interim and acting city manager.

In July 2016, she moved to the redevelopment authority as executive director, inheriting a pricey and controversial DEP-mandated sewer project.

Some of the important projects that have had Komar’s fingerprints on them – in collaboration with other individuals and organizations – through the years:

• Reuse of former heavyindustry sites in the Bethlehem Steel lower works, now home to the Center for Metal Arts blacksmithing shop and school, and the Hanging Gardens LLC medical marijuana production facility.

• Purchase in 2017 and revitalization of the property at 416 Main St. in the city’s central business district; two years later, the refurbished building was home to the offices of the JRA, the Cambria Regional Chamber and the Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

• The JRA in 2019, with $300,000 from Community Foundation for the Alleghenies and the 1889 Foundation, addressed a key safety and streetscape issue with the removal of blighted properties along key corridors in the city’s West End. Blight removal efforts have spread through all city neighborhoods, bolstered by the launch of a land bank in 2022.

• Led the push to develop the Johnstown Urban Industrial Park in the Minersville neighborhood, which was moving toward reality with design “90% completed” as of 2023.

• Served on a committee tasked with developing projects for the use of $50 million in federal funding for Johnstown – $30.7 million in American Rescue Plan funds for COVID19 pandemic relief and a $24.5 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity discretionary grant.

Komar and the JRA have worked with private investors breathing life into historic structures across downtown Johnstown in recent years.

“Our goal at the Johnstown Redevelopment Authority is to have a thriving city, and we are very confident that what we are seeing in downtown and other areas of the city is just the beginning,” she said in 2021.

Komar received the Leader of Distinction award from Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania in 2021. The following year, she became the third woman to serve as president of the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association in its 80-year history.

Last April, she was honored for years of contributing to the Johnstown region with the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association Career Recognition Award during the 28th annual Governor’s Awards for Local Government Excellence.

She again served as an interim city manager – sharing duties with Johnstown Fire Department Chief Robert Statler – when the office was vacant for several months in 2024 ahead of current City Manager Art Martynuska’s hiring last summer.

In early 2025, the JRA announced that …

• The site of the former Ideal Market, 339 Walnut St., was sold to a family-owned, Ohio-based HVAC and plumbing supply company for $210,000. The buyer, Famous Supply, committed to making $800,000 in capital improvements, and ...

• Plans were in the works to open a much-needed market at the 507 Main St. building, a former pharmacy. “We have a signed LOI (letter of intent) between the property owner and the grocery store developer,” she said in January.

Komar called her next step, with an engineering consulting firm that works with communities across the state, “something that I couldn’t pass up.”

She said she will continue to reside in Johnstown – where she will see the results of her two decades in public service all around her.

“Any day that I was able to assist a property owner that needed help in some way, or to leverage dollars for a new business, or to just be a part of the community solving problems and creating collaborative efforts, I felt like it was a good day,” Komar said.

JRA Chairman Mark Pasquerilla said of Komar’s impact: “You can’t underestimate somebody who has the desire to make their community better. She was totally committed to that.”

We salute Komar, who approached every role and each task with determination to make a difference, and with a rare blend of intellect, grace and decorum in the face of challenges and critics.

Johnstown is a much better place for Komar’s efforts and influence. We wish her well in the next chapter of her career.