Jamestown attorney Charles Hall addresses the city council during its June voting session.
JAMESTOWN – Landlords in Jamestown are calling on Mayor Sam Teresi to appoint someone to the city’s vacant constable position.
During Monday night’s Jamestown City Council voting session, more than 25 people showed up with many of them there to show their support for a call to fill a long-vacant constable position in the city.
Attorney Charles Hall said the city charter says there shall be 3 constables appointed by mayor but currently, only two individuals are on the list.
“I would call upon the mayor to fill that position in accordance with the code, because currently the city is in violation of its own code, which says ‘there SHALL be three constables.’ It does not say there may be or should be three constables, but it says ‘shall.’ So I look to you to carry out that and provide us with a third constable so that we can continue to serve the city and keep properties up to par by getting rid of tenants who are creating problems,” Hall said.
Hall said the constables are needed because landlords in the city will often need to serve papers to tenants and the two current constables — Camille Krawczyk and Marie Hill — are unable to keep pace with the number of notices needed to be served.
Real Estate Investors Association of Jamestown president Harold Whitford was also on hand, and said that while the county sheriff’s office can also help with serving papers, it can take several days for a request to be handled.
The Jamestown City Council during it’s June 2018 voting session.
“The city needs this position,” Whitford said. “The residents of our city will suffer from evictions that are not carried out in a timely manner. If the sheriff’s office – it’s already over-burdened – if they start doing the city evictions, we’re going to be burdened with bad tenants over a longer period of time, causing more damage, less income, and it’s just not going to be good.”
Whitford said there is currently an application from Dan Hill to be a constable in the mayor’s office but so far he has not been appointed.
Following the meeting Teresi said he is currently in the process of vetting Hill’s application.
“[Hill] had expressed interest in the position back in 2014. Despite an indication that his personal residence was in the city on Forest Ave., it turned out that he was not a city resident. He has reapplied and his recent application has indicates again that he is a resident of Jamestown,” Teresi said. “The team that looks into and vets and reviews potential appointments for me is in the process of doing that. As soon as they get a report back to me, as with any appointment, that will be reviewed, discussed, and the determination will be made. The matter will then be brought forward to the city council for its consideration and approval.”
Teresi also said that while the city charter calls for three constables, it’s sometimes hard to keep all three positions filled due to lack of interest or qualifications from prospective residents.
The constable position comes at no cost to the city. The individuals are appointed and work out payment agreements with the landlords or attorneys that request for papers to be served. They are required to meet some qualifications, including taking classes prior to starting, having their own insurance, and being a city resident.
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