The Eastside Family YMCA

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown YMCA held a community meeting Thursday night at the Eastside Family YMCA. The meeting was reportedly conducted by YMCA executive director Mark Eckendorf and was held in response to the firing of former Eastside Y manager Max Martin.

According to the Post-Journal, dozens of city residents attended the meeting to learn more about the future of the Y. The article stated that John Barber, who runs the Eastside YMCA’s middle school academy, will become the facility’s new operations manager.

Eckendorf did not go into details about why Martin was fired. However, Eastside Y advisory board member Dan Soderberg was in attendance and reportedly said some of the local foundations that provide funding for Y programming were not happy with some of the decisions Martin was making while running the Eastside Y and, as a result, had said they would pull funding in 2017.

Advisory board chair Alfonso Pagan was also in attendance to defend Martin and said that a petition is being circulated in the community, stating how the Hispanic community is displeased with the decision to terminate Martin.

The Eastside Y is a branch of the Jamestown area YMCA and has an annual operating budget of $150,000. It’s been learned that a local foundation, which has not been identified publicly, had told the Y it would pull $75,000 in funding for next year, which is half the Eastside Y’s annual budget. Eckendorf said the cut would have made it difficult to continue funding Martin’s manager salary. He also said that the Y will be working to find new funding in 2017 for the Eastside Y.

Max Martin

JAMESTOWN – The head of the Eastside Family YMCA has been fired.

The Jamestown Post-Journal is reporting Thursday that Max Martin was fired as manager of the Eastside Y, a position he’s held since 2011. The termination came after the Post-Journal ran an article in Wednesday’s paper focusing on a projected cut in funding for the facility, which provides programming for youth and families in Jamestown’s Hispanic community.

Martin, along with two members of the Eastside Y’s advisory board (Alfonso Pagan and John Watkins), were quoted in the paper as saying the facility was going to have its funding cut and as a result, would likely be forced to shut its doors.

Despite the timing, YMCA executive director Mark Eckendorf was quoted in Thursday’s article as saying that Wednesday’s story was not the reason why Martin was fired, but he would not disclose the reason for the termination, saying it wasn’t appropriate to discuss staff issues in the public.

According to the Post-Journal, a public meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Eastside YMCA, located at 727 E. Second St., to discuss the next steps for the community.

On Friday, Jan. 1 the Jamestown City Council held its first meeting of the year, which focused mostly on approving mayoral appointments as well as appointing the council president and committee chairs for the new term.

Councilman Gregory Rabb (D, At Large) will once again serve as president, making 2016 the ninth consecutive year he’s held the post. The committee chairs will also remain the same as last year, with Tony Dolce (R, Ward 2) serving as Finance chair, Marie Carrubba (D, Ward 4) serving as Housing chair, Maria Jones (D, Ward 5) serving as Public Safety chair, and George Spitale (D, At Large) serving as public works chair. The only new member to join the council is Victoria James (D, Ward 3), who defeated Alphonso Pagan (R) in November’s general election.

During the New Year’s Day meeting, Rabb also took time to outline the council’s agenda for 2016. Among the items he mentioned was the recommendation to consolidate the Jamestown Police Department with the County Sheriff’s Office.

Jamestown City Council President Gregory Rabb

“I ask that we continue to work cooperatively to achieve potential savings in the way we police our community by implementing the recommendations of the City/County task force while always keeping public safety our number one concern,” Rabb said in prepared statement to the council and other city officials in attendance.

As for public safety, the council president said the focus needs to continue to be on the ongoing drug epidemic sweeping the region, treating it more as a health issue.

“I ask that we continue to work with our public and private sector partners by approaching the current national drug epidemic as first and foremost a public health crisis destroying friends and families alike, potentially sapping the strength of our community. We need to continue to work to find a way to provide for a local residential treatment center,” he said.

TROUBLED FINANCIAL OUTLOOK FOR 2016 AND BEYOND

Rabb did not specifically mention the city’s current financial crisis, which was brought to the forefront near the end of last year when the council approved a 2016 spending plan that all but reaches the city’s constitutional taxing limit. In addition, the city used its remaining fund balance to help close a budget gap and it appears there will be little to no additional aid coming in from Albany.  So unless new revenue sources can be found or the city’s tax base sees significant growth during the next several months, Jamestown will be in financial dire straits for 2017.

Some in the community have already hinted at the troubles that could come with financial instability – with the possibility of a state control board coming in to oversee city operations.Rabb told WRFA following Friday’s meeting he is aware of the possibility, and the council will do all it can to see that it doesn’t happen.

“The only thing I can assure you of is that the council is well aware of that,” Rabb said. “If anybody – other than the mayor – is aware of the potential for a control board, it’s us. We’re going to be doing our best to not to have that happen. But I can’t make any guarantees. Hopefully this will be good year for us with revenue sources and expenses, but I can’t guarantee anything. We’re going to be working very hard and monitoring expenses to make sure we don’t find ourselves in that situation.”

The City Council’s first work session of 2016 will take place Monday with various committees meeting starting at 7 p.m. The full council work session is at 7:30 p.m. in the mayor’s conference room on the 4^th floor of city hall. It is open to the public.

During the city council’s New Year’s Day inaugural meeting on Friday, all nine members of the city council were sworn in to a new, two-year term in office, with just one new member joining the fold. Ward III Democrat Victoria James will be the only new member of the city council, replacing Republican Alphonso Pagan, whom she defeated in the November Election.

Also during Friday’s meeting the council approved several appointments by Teresi, including three new members for the BPU.

The newest BPU members will be Tyler Case, Terrance Horner, and Ralph Wallace. They are replacing: John Zabrodsky, appointed by Teresi in January 2000 and serving as BPU chairman from January 2002 to December 2015; Wayne Rishell, appointed by Teresi in January 2002; and Carl Pillittieri, appointed by Teresi April 2004.

The appointments came with no discussion or comment and were included in a laundry list of mayoral appointees for various agencies, commissions and boards involved with city government.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi

“After consulting with members of the city council, colleagues on BPU and senior management staff, and advisors in the community, I decided to bring in [the three new members],” Teresi told reporters on Friday following the meeting. “They come from three different disciplines and backgrounds in the community and share mine and the council’s love for the city and commitment to building the entire city of Jamestown. Each showed a great deal of interest in joining the city government family on the BPU and I’m very happy to have them join us.”

The three new members will replace three individuals who bring a combined 42 years of board experience to the BPU. Perhaps even more noteworthy, the three outgoing members have been outspoken critics of the city government’s use of BPU profits – by way of dividend payments – to help balance its annual budget each year since 2014. That dividend sharing was first used by the city decades ago, but eventually went out of favor with city leaders. However, the dividend sharing was re-introduced by Teresi in an effort to close spending gaps in the city budget the past three years.

Despite the difference of opinion on how to best use BPU profits and the ensuing (and at times contentious) debates that took place, the mayor would not say that was the reason for not reappointing the three to another term.

“I’m not going to make this about what has happened in the past,” Teresi said. “New Year’s Day is a day about looking forward and that’s exactly what we’re doing here – celebrating and thanking the contributions of those board members that I had the opportunity, the pleasure and the honor of originally appointing. They’ve been good board members that have served the public utilities of this city well, and this city as a whole well. We thank them and honor them for their service through a difficult and diverse period of challenge and accomplishments for [the BPU].”

Chase is a city resident who currently serves as Human Resources Administrator at The Resource Center, where he’s been employed since 2003. This past November he also ran as a Democratic candidate for city council in Ward 1, losing to Republican incumbent Brent Sheldon. He’s also active in several community groups and organizations.

Horner is a retired Biomedical Technician who worked at WCA hospital in Jamestown for 30 years before retiring in 2013. He’s also a U.S. Army veteran and is involved in several community and regional organizations.

Wallace serves as the Operations Manager for Jamestown Metal Products, a position he’s held for the past 15 years. He’s also worked in management for several other manufacturers including CAE Ultrasonics, Jamestown Sterling Corporation, and Visu-Wall Storage Systems.

Teresi said he believes the diverse backgrounds of the three new members will serve the BPU well, ensuring representation from all aspects of the city and also bringing new energy and ideas into the fold.

“This is not about the three members that gave 16, 14, and 12 years of dedicated, good service to the community. It’s a matter of moving forth and refreshing and replenishing,” Teresi said. “It’s not the first time there have been new members brought onto the BPU and it certainly won’t be the last time.”

The six other members of the BPU, in order of seniority, are: Jeff Lehman, serving by way of position as DPW director since 1994; Teresi, serving by way of position as mayor since 2000; Greg Rabb, serving by way of position as city council president since 2008; Maria Jones, serving as city council liaison since 2013; Martha Zenns, appointed by Teresi in January 2014; and Charles “Chuck” Cornell, appointed by Teresi in July 2014.

The Jamestown City Council during its Nov. 2015 voting session.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council has approved a $35.1 million budget for 2016 that includes a 4 percent tax increase.

On Monday night the council voted on the budget, but not until after several budget cuts were introduced by councilman Brent Sheldon (R-Ward 1), and subsequently defeated. Sheldon brought forward $200,000 in cuts for various part-time and seasonal positions in several departments, including the Clerk’s office, Parks Department, Department of Public Works, Police Department, and the Accessor’s office. They were the same cuts that were discussed in depth during the council’s Nov. 23 work session.

At that time the council came to a consensus that while the cuts look like they would save the city money on paper, they could actually end up driving up costs through overtime.

Despite the council agreeing last week that the cuts wouldn’t work, Sheldon still brought them forward to be officially voted on during the meeting.

Jamestown City Councilman Brent Sheldon (R-Ward 1)

“There was a lot of hard work done on this budget but I think more could have been done and I think more cuts could have been made,” Sheldon said following the vote. “I proposed cuts that would not effect full time employees – none of them would have been laid off. And we have to do more with less. We see that on all levels of government. I work in the county government and we see that all the time. We’re told we have to do more with less because they’re cutting our budgets, they’re cutting our positions, and the city needs to do that too.”

In all, Sheldon proposed nine amendments with each being easily defeated by an 8 to 1 or 7 to 2 vote – with outgoing councilman Alphonso Pagan (R-Ward 3) voting yes on two of the nine cuts. The proposed nine budget cuts included:

• $7,500 – Part Time Accountant – Clerk’s Office
• $21,000 – Property Appraiser
• $36,109 – City Hall Mechanic
• $4,000 – Summer Help – DPW Central Garage
• $9,000 – 2 PT JPD administrative positions
• $26,000 – DPW Summer help
• $72,000 – Parks Dept – Summer Labor
• $10,000 – Parks Dept – Summer Youth Program
• $7,000 – Parks Dept – Summer Labor at Diethrick Park

Among those who voted against each proposed cut was senior city councilman and finance committee chairman Tony Dolce (R-Ward 2), who said it wouldn’t make sense to cut positions.

City Councilman Tony Dolce (R-Ward 2)

“I’ve been probably the biggest fighter for no-tax-increase budgets and pushing for cut after cut,” Dolce said. We went through this with a fine tooth comb. Yes, you could say you might be able to cut a few thousand here or a few thousand there, but you have to start looking at where you get your bang for your buck. Those summer employees do a lot of work that would  not otherwise get done, or it would require having to actually pay more because you’ll have full time contractual employees doing work that minimum wage part time workers can do.”

The final vote on the budget was 8 to 1, with Sheldon providing the lone “no” vote.

The council’s final budget provides only two changes from the spending plan initially presented by Mayor Sam Teresi. One change was restoring $2500 to a $5000 cut to the Senior Center program. The other change involved using a total of $482,000 in dividend payments from the Board of Public Utilities – nearly twice as much as what was initially proposed by the mayor.

PUBLIC HEARING ON TAX CAP OVERRIDE

Earlier on Monday, Teresi held a public hearing on a local law to override the state mandated tax cap, which is .7 percent for 2016. With the final tax rate increase coming in at 4 percent, it is well above the tax cap limit. On Nov. 15, the city council approved the override by a vote of 7 to 2, with Sheldon and Pagan voting against it.

The mayor is required to hold a public hearing prior to signing the local law, and two individuals attended and spoke during the hearing Monday morning – Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Todd Tranum and Jamestown resident Doug Champ. After both expressed their concerns with the tax hike, the mayor spent nearly an hour talking with both men in an effort to explain the fiscal challenges the city faces, as well as to assure them the city is doing all it can to address the challenges.

With the final budget in place, city property owners will see their property taxes go up by 4 percent, or .92 per thousand of assessed value. That equals a new tax rate of $23.59 per thousand. For a $50,000 home in the city, that equals a tax hike of about $46 over the current year.

The Prendergast Library board has cancelled its meeting for Thursday due to a lack of a quorum. The meeting will not be rescheduled. Instead the board will resume discussing its budget during its next regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 17, 2015 at 12:15.

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JAMESTOWN – The Prendegast Library Board of Trustees will hold its has cancelled its November meeting Thursday afternoon due to a lack of a quorum. The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17 at 12:15 p.m.

The board is wrestling with a budget deficit for not only this year, but also for the upcoming year. To deal with the shortfall, the board has already made the decision to cut at least one full time position and also reduce its hours of operation, with it no longer being open on Sundays. The library is also awaiting the finalization of the 2016 Jamestown City Budget so it knows exactly how much funding it will receive from the city next year.

This year the city gave the library $365,000 – but Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi has called for a $15,000 cut for next year. The Jamestown City Council has yet to decide if it will go with the cut or reduce funding even further. With the city facing its own budget shortfall, it’s unlikely any of the library funding will be restored.

Earlier this week, the city council met with Library Director Tina Scott to learn more about the library’s services and operating deficit. One of the questions brought forward was fundraising, with city council president Greg Rabb asking why there was a significant drop in public donations in recent years.  Scott and library trustee Joni Blackman explained that patron donations have gone down over time primarily because younger patrons are not donating at the same level as their senior counterparts. They also acknowledged that the public’s disappointment with previous library director Linda Mielke has also played a role in a decline in donations.

FATE OF ART COLLECTION STILL NOT KNOWN

Two pieces of artwork in the Prendergast collection that could be auctioned in the coming months: Left: “Industry” by French artist Eugene Romain Thirion – painted in 1874.
Right: “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” by French artist Leon Bazile Perrault, painted in 1884.
Both are from a collection of 32 paintings given to the library at the bequest of the Prendergast family.

The library board during its December meeting may also provide an update on its art collection, which is worth more than $3 million. The board is considering auctioning off some of the collection in order to raise funding for its endowment, which can then be used to help offset any operating deficits in future years.It has already approved a contract with Sotheby’s to be the agency to assist with selling the paintings, should they be deaccessioned.

The proposal to sell off some of the art collection has been met with resistance from some members of the community, who would prefer the collection remain in tact, rather than sold at auction. Houston businessman Jesse Marion and his wife Cathy Marion – a Jamestown native – have offered to provide funding to pay for the cost of restoring and exhibiting the collection. Library board president Tom Rankin said last month they will discuss that proposal further.

Thursday’s library board meeting begins at 12:15 p.m. in the library Fireplace Room and is open to the public.

The Chautauqua County Board of Elections will canvass absentee and affidavit ballots Tuesday, starting at 1 p.m. Members of the Board of Election will count the ballots for each of the races at the following times:

• 1 p.m. – WESTFIELD TOWN CLERK: Democrat Andrea Babcock  leads Republican incumbent Tim Smith by 23 votes;
• 1:30 p.m. – LAKEWOOD VILLAGE MAYOR: Cara Birrittieri leads Republican incumbent Dave Wordelman by 19 votes;
• 1:45 p.m. – KIANTONE TOWN SUPERVISOR: Write in Candidate John Ostrander leads Republican Incumbent Kevin Meyers by 2 votes;
• 2 p.m. – COUNTY LEGISLATURE DISTRICT 11:Republican incumbent David Wilfong leads Democrat Robert Whitney by 42 votes;
• 2 p.m. – COUNTY LEGISLATURE DISTRICT 12: Republican incumbent Elisabeth Rankin leads Democrat Beth Kresge by 31 votes;
• 2 p.m. – JAMESTOWN CITY COUNCIL WARD 3: Democratic challenger Vicki James leads Republican Incumbent Alphonso Pagan by 39 votes.

Candidates are welcome to attend or to designate an attorney or other person to act as their representative at the table. Following the counting of the ballots, the totals will be added to the totals to determine the unofficial leader.

Nothing is official until certification of the balloting on or before Nov. 27.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi (D) was elected to a fifth consecutive term. Teresi ran unopposed, receiving 1983 votes. There was also 132 write-ins.

For the Jamestown City Council races, of the nine current members, only one was defeated.

Ward 3‘s Alphonso Pagan (R) was defeated by Vicki James (D) 136 to 97. All other council members were reelected, including those who faced opposition.

• WARD 1: incumbent Brent Sheldon (R) 249 d. Tyler Case (D) 155
• WARD 2: incumbent Anthony Dolce (R) 389 d. Joseph Scapelitte (D) 157
• WARD 4: incumbent Marie Carrubba 426 (D) d. Richard Elardo (R) 234
• WARD 5: incumbent Maria Jones (D) 210 d. Stephen Gordon (R) 187
• WARD 6: incumbent Thomas Nelson (D) ran unopposed.

All Three at large council members also ran unopposed and were reelected. They are council president Gregory Rabb (D), George Spitale (D) and Kim Ecklund (R).

There will be 6 Democrats and 3 Republicans once the new term begins in January.

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The forum was featured on WRFA’s Community Matters Program the following week.

Candidates for Jamestown City Council attend the League of Women Voters’ Meet the Candidates Forum on Oct. 22, 2015.

Members of the Jamestown City Council discuss a proposed salary increase for council members during the Aug. 24 council meeting. Despite the council not seeing an salary hike since 1984, the council’s finance committee recommended no increase for 2016.

JAMESTOWN – Members of the Jamestown City Council won’t be seeing an increase in salary at the start of the New Year.

Monday night the city’s finance committee settled on a recommendation that no salary increase be imposed when the new council is sworn in in January. The committee has yet to make a recommendation on an increase to the mayor’s salary.

Last year the city’s salary review commission came forward with a recommendation that the council’s salary be increased from $5,000 to $6,000. The salary has remained unchanged since 1984.

Finance committee chairman Tony Dolce said that his committee didn’t feel an increase was warranted, considering no one serves on the city council for the pay and also because it appears 2016 will be another tough budget year.

“Even though the council salary hasn’t been raised in over 30 years, I think there is a definite distinction between someone who is a part-time – basically a ‘paid volunteer’ and someone who is doing this for community service, and a full time city employee,” Dolce said. “So it’s kind of hard to lump that in with someone who works, as a career, full time, as a police officer, or a fireman, or some other city worker.”

At one point during the discussion, Councilman Alphonso Pagan asked why pay the city council members anything to begin with, if money is not the issue. Council President Greg Rabb explained that while no one is doing it for the salary, a small payment does help to encourage new candidates to come forward, as well as provide some contribution for the work that is put forward.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi echoed that sentiment, saying he feels being a city council member is undervalued and under-appreciated by many of the constitutions.

“People need to understand it comes with a lot of responsibility and there’s very little glory in the job,” Teresi said. “It’s not a stepping stone for people who are using it to further a career in public service. Nobody is getting rich off of the salary and in some cases, it’s a small stipend for the troubles that you have to deal with. There have been council members that have lost customers, lost accounts, lost friends, and lost family members as they’re hearing, basically, as volunteers and trying to serve their community.”

As for the mayor’s salary, Dolce said the finance committee will have a further discussion on that matter in the future. The salary review commission has recommended that the mayor se an $18,000 salary increase over a four year period, going from the present rate of $72,000 to $90,000 in 2019. The last raise for the position was in 2008 and currently, the mayor makes less than 30 percent of the city’s workforce.