DPW Project Engineer Mark Roetzer presents West Third Street Redesign draft plan to City Council

Jamestown City Council got the first look at a draft plan for the West Third Street redesign at its work session Monday night.

The redesign follows the removal of the Cathedral Oaks at the end of 2020.

DPW Project Engineer Mark Roetzer said the project includes new sidewalks and driveway aprons from Hall to Hallock Street. He said new lighting is also proposed, “They’re the typical candlestick lighting that we have down Third Street for the rest of Third Street across the bridge. As well as replacing trees along that stretch of road. The trees will be determined by the Arborist Dan Stone, but they’ll be a variety of different species.”

Director of Public Works Jeff Lehman said Stone will work with individual homeowners to select which trees would go in front of their property.

Roetzer said homes on the southside of the West Third Street block currently get electric from poles behind the houses, which creates an maintenance issue for the Board of Public Utilities, “Because often it’s a small easement that the poles sit on but there’s no way, there’s no easement to get back to the poles themselves. So as part of this project, they’re going to along with installing the lights, they’ll be installing additional conduit underneath our sidewalks that then allows them to feed those houses from the street side still. All the lines will be underground and they’ll work with individual homeowners to get easements to get into their houses.”

Roezter said the BPU will work with homeowners to get easements with hopes to lay conduit this year.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the total cost of the project will be determined after public comment is gathered at a community input meeting.

That meeting, which is open to the public, will take place at 6:30 P.M., Monday, March 14 at Healing Word Ministries Church at 1006 West Third Street in Jamestown.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist says the city is working with a firm to conduct the survey to determine the market needs and if people want broadband. He said the city is also working with EntryPoint Networks on a feasibility study for municipal broadband, “One of our main goals is to address digital divides that have occurred in the city. Given the pandemic, we’ve noticed that many of our kids have not been able to even access the internet because we’ve had large commercial providers that if you had any back due payment at all, were refusing to turn on even the free service for kids, so we’re trying to address those issues going forward.”

The survey can be found at jamestownfiber.com.

Flushing begins in Falconer at 1 p.m. Friday, April 30th and continues until May 2nd. The remainder of flushing for the BPU Water Division system will begin Monday, May 3rd. Flushing will take place between 8:30am and 4:30pm, Monday through Friday on May 3rd through 7th and May 10th through 12th. On Wednesday, May 5th, flushing will take place from 5:30am-5pm to accommodate downtown and Fairmount Avenue businesses.

BPU Communications Coordinator Becky Robbins says flushing can discolor water and can discolor your laundry,

“We offer ‘Red Be Gone,’ which is a rust remover. And if your laundry turns rusty, don’t dry it, just re-wash it in this ‘Red Be Gone’ before you dry it and it’s very good at stripping it out. We offer it for free at City Hall, our Customer Service has it, and the different villages and towns.. we make sure they have it.”

The map of the flushing schedule is posted on jamestownbpu.com. Customers with questions about flushing and their flushing dates may call the Flushing Hotline at (716) 661-1688.

• AUDIO ALSO AVAILABLE AT SOUNDCLOUD

Originally airing Thursday Feb. 6, 2020.

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist about various issues affecting city government, including Ambulance Service, the city’s Smart City Capital Investment Plan and the Central Garage proposal, the 2020 State of the City address, and more.

Eddie Sundquist

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi was joined by various local and state officials along with dozens of local residents on July 7 for the official opening of the two pedestrian bridges along the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk. (Image courtesy of Mayor Sam Teresi Facebook Page)

JAMESTOWN – There’s been a heavy focus on development projects aimed at tourism and quality of life in recent months in the city of Jamestown, but Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi said that the city is still focused on trying to solve its financial challenges.

Teresi was a guest this past week on WRFA’s Community Matters program and while much of the conversation focused on the completion of key phases of the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk as well as the upcoming opening of the National Comedy Center, he also was asked if the city is focused on development in other sectors within the city, as well as addressing the ongoing financial challenges in the city’s general operating budget.

The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY will open on Aug. 1, 2018.

Teresi said the city is actually focusing on a variety of items, from housing to crime to economic development.

“Our work is not done. It’s never ending. It’s continuous on everything else that we are trying to move forward – from an economic development standpoint to a quality of life standpoint in the community. And to put it quite bluntly, yes we can, we need to, and we do and are able to walk and chew gum and do 50 other things at the same time. That’s the nature of life these days. Whether you’re in the private sector, not-for-profit, or the media, you need to multitask. You need to work on multiple fronts at the same time. We do that every single day in city government,” Teresi said.

In two consecutive years the city has been straddled with a shortfall in the city budget that could only be closed with additional state aid from Albany. Despite the recent success of the riverwalk, the NCC, and several other downtown projects connected to the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant, the city remains at its constitutional taxing limit and the 2019 budget is expected to be another major challenge for the mayor and the city council.  But Teresi said he is optimistic things will begin turning in the city’s favor due to new development.

Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi was joined by various local and state officials on June 29 for the opening of the Chadakoin Park Bike Path, which was part of the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk.

“The days in which we were losing $4-6 million a year in tax assessment has basically leveled out, it plateaued, and not for the past few years we’ve been posting modest gains in tax assessment. So it’s having a direct impact in the way of payment in lieu of taxes that otherwise wouldn’t have happened,” Teresi said. “But it’s also sending out a loud and clear message to investors  our there  – and I include the state of New York as one of those investors – that you can have  confidence in Jamestown.”

In addition to various downtown development projects funded by both public and private dollars, the city has also focused on other initiatives in recent years to address its financial challenges. However some are either in a holding pattern or have completely stalled out. They include the Health Insurance Buyout Program for city retirees and the proposed Jamestown Police Department consolidation plan with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office (both funded with money secured by the New York State Financial Restructuring Board funding) along with the controversial annexation of the city-owned Board of Public Utilities substation property in Falconer.

Between those three alone, the city is projected to see a positive financial benefits in excess of $2 million annually. But the retirement buyout has yet to see the interest from retirees that was projected, the consolidation effort continues to await action from the county legislature and city council, and the annexation will need to be settled in New York 4th Appellate Division court in Rochester, although a date has yet to be set.

In the meantime city officials will have to once again face major financial hurdles when they deals with the 2019 City Budget, which will be presented by the mayor and put before the city council for consideration in October.