Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, Council Members Jeff Russell, Tony Dolce, Brent Sheldon, Kim Ecklund, Parks Manager Dan Stone, City Council member Marie Carrubba, Acting DPW Director Mark Roetzer, City Council member Randy Daversa, and Jamestown Citizen at the Third Street Tree Planting (May 13, 2023)

Several dozen people showed up Saturday to help plant the 37 trees that now line the block of West Third Street where the former Cathedral Oak trees stood.

The “Re-Tree-Ing” event held by the Jamestown Parks Department was part of the annual Arbor Day celebration and designation of Jamestown as a Tree City USA for a 42nd year.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said it was unfortunate to have to remove the 100 year old oak trees back at the end of 2020, “That due to various issues of disease in the root systems, we started seeing trees fall down on properties. It was a very tough decision for the city. Since that time, we’ve been working with the community to redesign West Third Street and make it more of a gateway into the downtown core. And so we’ve been doing just that.”

The redesign project involved the replacement of sidewalks, driveway aprons, new candlestick lighting, and the planting of new trees on West Third Street between Hall and Hallock Streets.

It was funded using $500,000 in American Rescue Plan monies.

Parks Manager and Arborist Dan Stone thanked the many people involved over the years in parks and with the forestry program. He gave special recognition to Chautauqua Art Gallery owner Leslie Calimeri for putting together the Third Street Oak Trees Art Show, “It involved a bunch of other local artists and photographers in the city and throughout the area. With her project, most of these donations, the work that they did and what they sold it for, most of those people did not take money for it. They donated 100% back, or at least a good portion back, of what they had done.”

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist and Parks Manager Dan Stone recognize Chautauqua Art Gallery owner Leslie Calimeri with the Joan P. Shevory Citizen Forester Award (May 13, 2023)

The art show raised $2,341 dollars for the Urban Forestry Fund. Calimeri was presented with the Joan P. Shevory Citizen Forester Award for her efforts.

The trees planted Saturday include a combination of ‘Columnar’ Sargent Cherry trees, ‘Columnar’ Oaks, ‘Frontier’ American Elms, and ‘Sun Valley’ Red Maple.

The block of West Third Street from Hall Avenue to Hallock street will be closed starting at 7:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 13.

The Jamestown Parks Department will hold a ceremony at 9:00 a.m. at Healing Word Ministries Church recognizing the City of Jamestown as a Tree City for the 42nd consecutive year by the Arbor Day Foundation. Following the ceremony, a community tree planting will take place where four varieties of trees will be planted to replace the Cathedral Oak trees that had to be cut down at the end of 2020.

The trees will be a combination of ‘Columnar’ Sargent Cherry trees, ‘Columnar’ Oaks, ‘Frontier’ American Elms, and ‘Sun Valley’ Red Maple trees.

Motorists must use alternate routes of travel and, as always, motorists should use extra caution while driving near this area.

Jamestown City Council President Tony Dolce, Eagle Scout Gary Moffat, Mayor Eddie Sundquist

Jamestown City Council has approved hiring new three police officers and four firefighters.
The new positions will be funded with $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds.

Council President Tony Dolce said it represents a large chunk of the funding the city received, “But given the situation in the city right now, given the crisis in EMS, given, obviously, the rise in gun violence, to add three new officers, two of which will be specifically put on gun violence detail. One will be a quality of life officer, who will deal with some of the other issues that the other officers don’t have time to deal with the fireworks and the loud motor vehicles and some of the other neighborhood issues.”

Dolce said the second ambulance that will be manned by the new firefighter positions still needs to be purchased. He said the cost to the city once the ARP funds runs out by the end of 2026 is between $800 to $900,000 a year, “In the meantime, we’re going to have to figure out in four years do we get rid of those positions through attrition, do we continue to fund them after four years? Again, depending on who the mayor and the council is at that time, those are decisions they will have to make. I do know, at least with the EMS, there will be some revenue. That could be as much as two, three, $400,000 per year.”

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the approval of these hires is just one step in dealing with gun violence in the city. He said there are other funding opportunities from the state and federal government that should help as well, “As well as with this Gun Violence Unit, we’ve been working directly with the FBI, our state partners, the U.S. District Attorney’s office, and others on a program to have here in Jamestown to help get guns off the street. So we’re working through that. It’s also included with the Sheriff’s Office and others to try to work on a few other things. More to follow on that.”

The city plans to hire the three Police Officers in June with the Firefighters brought on board in August.

After voting down the contract in April, Council unanimously approved a $500,000 contract with the Jamestown Local Development Corporation. That will go toward administering American Rescue Plan funds for Department of Development programming.

Following regular business on the agenda, Council member Andrew Faulkner requested a resolution to send Captain Bob Samuelson to the FBI Academy in Virginia from July 11 through September 15 be brought to the floor for a vote.

He referenced six dates from the first two weeks of May where illegal guns had been removed from the streets by Jamestown Police officers, “Nobody can deny that right now is a time of increased gun violence and gun crime. Tonight, one of our resolutions that passed was to add three police officers to the force in order to combat gun crime and quality of life issues. This shows that the Jamestown Police Department needs full staffing and then some in order to combat our current issues.”

Following Faulkner’s request, Council unanimously voted no, although Council President Dolce said there was confusion over whether council was voting down bringing the resolution to the floor or voting down the resolution to send Captain Samuelson to the training, “It was put on there originally by the Public Safety Committee. There were some concerns that were mentioned by Councilwoman Ecklund as well as Councilman Russell and Councilman Faulkner. It was not passed through Finance, so we had it pulled from the agenda. So I was under the impression that they wanted to put it back up, but I guess they just wanted to vote on it so that’s all I can say. That’s all I know. There were concerns about sending someone at this particular time because of gun violence and having an administrator go and so forth.”

City Council also recognized Eagle Scout Gary Moffat, who built and repaired city park benches using wood that came from the Third Street Cathedral Oak trees.

Jamestown DPW Director Jeff Lehman explains West Third Street Redesign to Planning Commission

The Jamestown Planning Commission unanimously approved the site plans for the West Third Street Redesign.

Planning Commission member and Jamestown Director of Public Works Jeff Lehman said the $500,000 project is set to begin in May and continue until the end of summer.

The project includes new sidewalks, driveway aprons, and new lighting from Hall to Hallock Street. New trees will be planted as well to replace the “Cathedral Oaks” that were removed at the end of 2020.

Funding for the project comes from American Rescue Plan lost recovery monies.

Jamestown City Council

Jamestown City Council members promised “more is to come” after approving over $2 million in American Rescue Plan funded projects Monday night.

While Council members Regina Brackman and Andrew Faulkner voted no, all other council members approved $500,000 toward the redesign of West Third Street.

Council President Tony Dolce said the decision to remove the Cathedral Oaks over a year ago was difficult and emotional, “I know there was a lot of talk of, at that point, of doing some work. That it was a time to start that entrance to the city. To start over. Those sidewalks are in rough shape. It is a major thoroughfare for people to walk and drive, although the street is not going to be reconstructed.”

DPW Director Jeff Lehman said the project will go before the Jamestown Planning Commission in April, with work hopefully beginning in May. He said the new trees will be planted by the Parks Department in the Fall.

Council also approved using $750,000 ARP funds for a Roof, Private Sewer Lateral, Private Water Line Repair/Replacement grant program.

Council member at large Jeff Russell said he was happy to support the resolution as it will help homeowners, “I understand that there has to be equal money that goes toward our businesses and our downtown but I’m surely am not going to forget about the elderly people that might be struggling to make their mortgage payment with super high inflation going on and they can’t afford some of these repairs. And I will push for some of this money to continue to go back to the taxpayers.”

Council member Marie Carrubba said her office often receives calls from seniors, retirees, and veterans with limited funds who are looking for help with housing issues, “And try to get roofs repaired especially in some of the older homes that they occupy is extremely difficult along with replacing water and sewer lines. I’ve heard that excavators, I think, start around $6000 to have one in your front yard. Most of the people that, you know, if you look at the median income around $43,000 in the city, it’s not affordable for individuals to maintain their properties when these kind of emergencies occur.”

Council also approved using American Rescue Plan funds for replacing water mains, equipment for DPW, upgrades to the fire stations, and creating a Tree-Damaged Sidewalk Replacement Rebate program.

Dolce said when it comes to the ARP funds received by the city, the council has a fiduciary responsibility to see that it’s spent wisely and they do get a return on investment, “There are a lot of people who have a lot of needs. $28 million is just a drop in the bucket for what is needed in this community. We’ll do our due diligence and do the best we can to expend the money as we see fit. Again, a delicate balance in neighborhoods versus providing for our business downtown and our industries. There is a lot of need in different areas. We’re looking at all those different areas when we’re making these decisions.”

Council also approved allocating $1.227 million in additional American Rescue Plan funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development toward a Rental Rehabilitation Program. Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said she anticipates submitting the program for approval by HUD by the end of this week.

City officials go over West Third Street redesign with residents

Over 25 people turned out Monday night to learn more about the West Third Street Redesign being proposed by the City of Jamestown.

The public input meeting held at Healing Word Ministries featured city officials giving an overview of the project that includes replacing sidewalks and driveway aprons on the section of West Third Street between Hall and Hallock Streets. New “candlestick” style street lighting also will be installed in addition to the planting of new trees that replace the “Cathedral Oaks” that were taken down at the end of 2020.

DPW Project Engineer Mark Roetzer said the city hopes to have a contractor in place by May and breaking ground by mid-May or early June. He said the project will be done one block at a time as homeowners will not have access to their driveways once digging begins.

Roetzer said doing the work to move electric lines from the backyards of the houses on the southside of West Third Street is a big part of the project, “So, the back lots, the actual moving of the electrical lines is in the future, but we’re getting the infrastructure in place this year. I don’t know when that’s scheduled for.”

Parks Manager and City Arborist Dan Stone said residents on West Third Street will have the option to select from a list of four to five trees which one they’d prefer to have in front of their house, “And with that said, I’d still like to have some kind of continuity on the street as well. For example, over at Lind Funeral Home, I was thinking of planting some American Elm trees. They have a real nice red color to them but a small leaf to them. If you’ve ever driven by, those guys were out there every day when we had the Oaks picking up acorns and leaves. Didn’t matter what time of the year or day of the week. So to make it a little easier on them and have a nice, bright canopy coming on through, but there is room for selection for sure.”

He said a root barrier that’s a combination of metal and plastic sleeves would be put down, which had never been done before, “Back in the mid ’80s, the curbs were all taken up and redone on Third Street. That was part of the issue with the stability of the trees 40 years later. So we’re looking to help avoid those kind of things and the trees be able to live in the situation we put them in. We’re going smaller trees, but they’re still going to be big trees.”

He said the trees should still eventually reach between 40 and 50 feet tall.

Residents requested the information be made available on the city’s website. DPW Director Jeff Lehman added that anyone with questions can call Public Works at 716-483-7545.

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.

Jamestown American Rescue Plan Master Plan proposed West Third Street project

The City of Jamestown will soon unveil a draft proposal for a redesign of the West Third Street area.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said a complete redesign of the area west of the Third Street Bridge following the removal of the Cathedral Oak trees was included in the American Rescue Plan master plan.

He said the City’s Planning and Public Works Departments have been charged with holding public meetings in the neighborhood on that draft design, “We’ll put an initial design in front of Council, most likely at that first work session in March, which is just a draft. And then we intend to have a public meeting in the neighborhood, in that ward. So everyone in that area should get some door hangers, door tags, to let them know about the public meeting, or maybe a post card, to let them know that something is coming where they can come one night and see the design that we’re looking at. Give some feedback before we finalize it.”

Sundquist said the new design will include discussions about new lighting, tree plantings, and new sidewalks.

The complete interview with Mayor Sundquist will be featured on Community Matters at 5 p.m., March 3 on WRFA.