Jamestown City Council

Five of the positions will fill current and anticipated vacancies in the Jamestown Fire Department. Funding is included in the 2023 City Budget for these positions. The other eight positions also will fill vacancies and are being funded through the 2021 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program.

Council also will review a proposal to replace the Assistant Corporation Counsel position with hiring an Ombudsman. Ben Haskins, who is the current Assistant, is leaving City Government for a different job.

A resolution to use $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for the construction of Splash Pads at Allen and Jackson-Taylor Parks is now officially on the agenda. Council had heard a presentation on proposed projects earlier this month.

Council also will review a local law to increase the mayor’s salary to $82,000 and increase city council member’s salaries to $7,000 with council president receiving an additional $1,000. These salary increases were recommended by the Jamestown Salary Review Commission and, if approved, would not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

They also will review an amendment to the Jamestown City Code to change the number of appointments to the Human Rights Commission from 12 to 9 members.

Council will review a American Rescue Plan allocation of $327,925 to the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation for Chadakoin River bank stabilization work. As the request is over the $100,000 threshold, it requires Council approval.

Council also will review a resolution to accept a $50,000 from the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth for a one year tourism and marketing campaign.

The Housing Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight and their agenda includes continuing a discussion on lead issues. The Finance Committee, which meets at 7:00 p.m., will hear a report on a National League of Cities grant.

Other committee meetings will start at 7:00 p.m. with the full work session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. All meetings are open to the public with the full work session being livestreamed at jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency board meeting (March 14, 2023)

The Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency board has approved the creation of a new position focused on housing.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the city faces a monumental task when it comes to housing issues, including housing code enforcement and housing conditions.

She said following conversations with City Council members, other housing agencies, and internal staff on how to address this, she came to the conclusion that it doesn’t make sense to split the Department of Development into a department that solely deals with housing development and an economic development department, “I don’t feel that it should be separated. I still think there should be a director of development, not two directors who are working separately from each other and, very possibly, in silos. Economic development and housing and community development are very much intertwined. And so there still needs to be a really cohesive strategy and team around those even though they seem like different things, they’ve not so different.”

Surdyk said the position of Deputy Director of Housing and Community Development Manager will be similar to the Economic Development Coordinator position, but with more responsibilities, “Because housing is so complex and we really want to look at policies, and we’ve been working on some ordinances, and to attack housing and the issues that we have with housing it has to be a multi-pronged approach. And so this position will frankly free me up to do all of the things better.”

Surdyk said while the position was not included in the 2023 JURA budget, there should be enough room to fund it with the upcoming departure of Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins, other unfilled positions in DOD, as well as more grant funds.

Jamestown City Council

The Roof, Private Sewer Lateral, Private Water Line Repair/Replacement Program had originally been funded with $750,000. The administration requested an additional $2 million as only 30 applications were able to be approved of the 131 received. City Director of Development Crystal Surdyk had stated at work sessions that the additional funding will make it possible to fund the rest of the applications that met guidelines. The program will not be re-opened for new applicants.

A resolution requesting an additional $1 million in ARPA funds for the Building & Property Infrastructure Improvements program will be considered. Like the roof and sewer repair program, the additional funds will just go toward businesses that have already applied for funding.

Council will also vote on a resolution to fund the 19A Homeownership program with $750,000 using ARPA monies. Under state law, municipalities can take ownership of properties that are vacant and either have one year of unpaid taxes or are subject to an order of condemnation.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins, addressing the Housing Committee, said the funding would be used to rehabilitate those houses, “And selling them to people who, A, reside in them for five years as a owner-occupant; B, during that time pay their taxes on time; and, C, once all the initial code enforcement violations that were written up upon taking title are fixed, that they will ameliorate further code enforcement that arises over that five year period.”

Under new business, Council will vote on a resolution to enter into an agreement with Zambelli Fireworks in the amount of $19,500 for the Labor Day Fest fireworks show on Sunday, September 4. According to the staff report, Collaborative Children’s Solutions, who is organizing this year’s festival, recommended Zambelli’s bid over a lower bid of $14,000 by Young Explosives, saying Young did not have the shell capacity for the type of show the Labor Day Festival Committee requested. The staff report said the funding is coming from the Parks Festival Budget.

City Council will have a work session at 7:00 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. The voting session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor. The voting session is open to the public and will be livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

City of Jamestown Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins and Director of Development Crystal Surdyk presented details about a proposed 19A Home Ownership Program to the City Council Housing Committee on Monday, August 8, 2022.

City Director of Development Crystal Surdyk and Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins address City Council Housing Committee (August 8, 2022)

City Director of Development Crystal Surdyk and Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins address City Council Housing Committee (August 8, 2022)

The Jamestown City Council Housing Committee received an update on properties that would be purchased and rehabilitated by the city under the 19A Homeownership Program if Council approves the $750,000 request of American Rescue Plan funds.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins said under state law, municipalities can take ownership of properties that are vacant and either have one year of unpaid taxes or are subject to an order of condemnation, “We have, as you all know, pursued title to numerous houses under the statute. We’ve currently got about 11 of them with another five or six in the wings coming up. And then we’ve got two or three more potentials that we found in the last couple of weeks, just stumbling upon them through complaints and stuff – one on Stowe and one on lower Dearing.”

Haskins said the funding request would go to rehabilitating four houses located on Utica, Baker, Johnson, and North Main Streets, “And selling them to people who, A, reside in them for five years as a owner-occupant; B, during that time pay their taxes on time; and, C, once all the initial code enforcement violations that were written up upon taking title are fixed, that they will ameliorate further code enforcement that arises over that five year period.”

Haskins said the mortgage by the city would be action based, versus money based, where the city can foreclose on the property if the owner doesn’t meet requirements of the program.

He said three of the four properties proposed to be rehabilitated could likely be sold at a profit with the money being used to purchase and rehabilitate other vacant houses in the future. Haskins added the city would contract out for the rehabilitation.

He said once the houses are ready for sale that some will go right to market for anyone to buy with the city working with other non-profits that have first-time home buyer programs for the other properties, “They aren’t going to get them for free. They’re still going to have to make some sort of offer to us, but they’re probably going to be able to get them for below market value in a lot of cases. They’re going to be subject to the same five years and we’re probably going to require them to at least take some sort of online first time homeowner course that we prescribe. Make sure they’re aware of the responsibilities as homeowners, especially as it relates to more nuisance items.”

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk added that the Chautauqua County Land Bank was working on developing a tool lending program to help new homeowners as well. Land Bank Executive Director Gina Paradis had been expected to give a presentation to Council on Monday, but had to reschedule that for the August 22 work session.

Surdyk also relayed to the Housing Committee that the department met with the Real Estate Investor’s Association Monday to begin reviewing three proposed housing ordinances. She said they only got through the public nuisance ordinance with the rental inspection and vacant property registration still needing review at future meetings.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins said one part of the discussion was a clarification on the public nuisance ordinance regarding police action, “In terms of arrests at a premises, if it’s a multi-unit premises, instead of counting, if there’s a 24-unit, and there’s three arrests in separate apartments versus just specifying it’s got to be all within the one unit to constitute a nuisance, I think was our biggest point of discussion, which I thought was pretty fruitful.”

Surdyk said the intention is once all three ordinances are reviewed and revisions are made that the Department of Development will send the revised ordinances to the Real Estate Investor’s Association members for review. She said DOD will then meet again with the full association for a final discussion before it comes to City Council for a vote.

Jamestown City Council

The resolution to be presented would hire GAR Associates of Williamsville, New York for $285,000 to do the revaluation. This is the same company used when the City last did a revaluation 16 years ago in 2006. A staff report by the city said the state recommends a reval be done every 5 years. If approved, the contract states the estimated date of completion for the revaluation would be Summer 2023.

Council also will review a couple requests to use American Rescue Plan funds. One resolution would use $110,000 in ARP funds to replace a penthouse coil. The staff report said the existing chilled water coils are failing and have begun leaking, thus losing their ability to condition and dehumidify fresh air properly. Another resolution would use $35,450 in ARP funds to replace outdated and failing infrastructure and networking equipment in the Information Technology department.

Two resolutions to suspend the hiring freeze to hire 4 firefighters and one Parks Laborer will be presented. The new hires in the Fire department will fill a current vacancy due to retirement as well as three anticipated ones due to retirement this year. The new hire in the Parks department will fill a vacancy due to a retirement in March.

Council also will review a resolution to sell the former 402 Lakeview Avenue parcel to an adjacent property owner on Van Buren Street, Deborah Munroe, for $200. The Planning Commission had approved the property sale at its January meeting. Associate Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins said at the Planning meeting that the property was acquired using 19A in 2018 by the city. After severe issues with the structure were found, including foundation issues, an emergency demolition was ordered. Haskins said a request for proposal put out in July 2021 only gained interest from one buyer. The $200 offered will cover what the City paid the county in property taxes in 2021.

Several presentations are on tonight’s agenda including a presentation on the Neighborhood Revitalization Renaissance Block Challenge Program by the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, a presentation on potential American Rescue Plan economic development projects, and further discussion on DPW equipment priorities.

Committee meetings start at 6:45pm with the Housing Committee. The full work session will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of City Hall. The meetings are open to the public.

The property located at 402 Lakeview Avenue was sold to the adjacent property owner on Van Buren Street for $200. Associate Corporation Counsel Ben Haskins said the property was acquired using 19A in 2018 by the city. After severe issues with the structure were found, including foundation issues, an emergency demolition was ordered. Haskins said a request for proposal put out in July 2021 only gained interest from one buyer. The $200 offered will cover what the City paid the county in property taxes in 2021.

The Commission also approved a site plan update for Potters Terrace from Leaf+Stone Landscape Architecture Architect Joe Rollman.

Rollman said the plan has been updated from when it was last presented to the Planning Commission in September based on the comments at the meeting.

The space will have room for tables and benches, in addition to boulders at the back of the park to be used as seating, “And we’ve got plans for some intimate scale lighting in terms of landscape lighting, being some uplighting in the tree canopy, and some light bollards. The space was designed with universal access in mind, so we’ve accommodated the grade change through the use of some steps as well as a ramp system so the site will be accessible for all users and all mobility.”

Construction on the space located at East Third Street next to Potter’s Alley will start this Spring or Summer depending on the availability of materials.

Earlier this week, WRFA reported that the city council violated state law when an apparent meeting of the finance committee wasn’t made public; nor was a public notice sent out to announce the meeting was going to take place. The committee meeting apparently took place prior to Monday night’s full council work session, which was open to the public.

The public only learned the finance committee meeting took place after it was acknowledged by finance committee chair Kim Ecklund.

“Finance met earlier to discuss a couple items, one of which I’m going to bring the mayor on to discuss in detail with Ryan – Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Discussion that involves summer staffing and programming,” Ecklund informed the full council during the work session.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist also acknowledged the meeting when updating the full council on a plan to reopen city parks.

“Those were the things we were looking at when we go together with the Parks and with our Public Works departent and with finance, to talk about how do we make sure the parks are fully open this year,” Sundquist told council members.

Based on these statements, WRFA surmised the aforementioned committee meeting did indeed take place.

Following the full work session, we contacted Council President Tony Dolce for confirmation of the meeting, and he explained it did take place. When told that it was likely a violation of NYSOML because it was not conducted in public, he explained it was an impromptu meeting, called by the mayor, and that he didn’t think it was in violation.

“The Mayor called the very brief meeting to update the finance committee before it was discussed to the full council,” Dolce explained. “There was no intent to hide anything. It was purely informational and completely discussed in open session [by the full council]. We did not discuss anything else that was on the official agenda that was submitted and reported on in the meeting. Again no vote or action was taken. It’s no different than if we were meeting in person and he called us in his office before he brought it to the full council and the public.”

Also following the full work session, WRFA sent an email to the city clerk’s office, requesting the minutes of the committee meeting once they were available. The city posts the meeting minutes of all committee meetings that take place, and will also post the minutes verbatim when a conversation or discussion takes place. When verbatim minutes are not provided, the meeting minute still reflect any proposed resolutions that have come forward.

The city responded to WRFA’s request for meeting minutes through assistant corporation counsel Ben Haskins. Haskins said there were not meeting minutes because the same discussion on the same items occurred during the full work session, which was public.

He also said the meeting involving the finance committee was not subject to NYSOML, adding that it was more of an “informational” meeting than an official committee meeting:

“A few hours prior to the public city council work session, the mayor requested a meeting to inform members of the finance committee of updates regarding the re-hiring of a position within the city parks department. The purpose of the request was for informational purposes only so that the mayor could be more help to the public and Council regarding the matter. It is routine and common for Council members to ask the Mayor questions on items prior to meetings. Examples of this include requests for more financial data or a particular type of cost. Rather than be unable to provide this information during the meeting, the Mayor’s office would like a ‘heads up’ to properly address any such concerns with data. This meeting was an example of one where the mayor sought to head off any informational deficiencies. This meeting was not a formal meeting of the finance committee. The members of the Finance Committee had no obligation to attend and at no point was a quorum of the City Council’s membership, the amount required to take official action and to invoke New York’s Open Meetings Law, present in the room.”
– Ben Haskins, in a written response to WRFA

“Informational” or otherwise, WRFA maintains the committee meeting violated NYSOML.

For one, a quorum of the full council is not necessary. NYSOML provides the ground rules for any “public body” and it defines “public body” as, “Any entity, for which a quorum is required in order to conduct public business and which consists of two or more members, performing a governmental function for a Municipal Corporation (including the city of Jamestown) or committee or subcommittee or other similar body of such public body.”  As a result of this definition, the city finance committee is subject to NYSOL and a quorum of the full council is not necessary, so long as the quorum of the committee itself is present. And according to statements from both the committee chair and mayor, along with the council president, a meeting of the committee did indeed take place.

Second, any gathering of a quorum of a public body (including council committees) for the purpose of conducting public business constitutes a “meeting” subject to NYSOML. Whether or not any action is taken is irrelevant. This was laid out in a 1978 Court of Appeals ruling [Orange Pub v. Newburgh, (1978)], which held that any gathering of a quorum of a public body for the purpose of conducting public business constitutes a “meeting” subject to NYSOML, whether or not there is an intent to take action, and regardless of the manner in which a gathering may be characterized.

Additionally, as Orange Pub. v. Newburgh also points out, whether or not committee members had an obligation to meet is irrelevant. If they gather to conduct city business, regardless of location, time or place, nor because of a sense of obligation or lack thereof, the gathering still qualifies as a meeting subject to NYSOML.