Budget Director Kathleen Dennison, Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon, County Executive PJ Wendel (May 24, 2023)

Chautauqua County Government‘s Budget Director is retiring.

Kathleen Dennison will retire from her position effective June 2, 2023.

She first began her career with the County on July 7, 2011 as a Principal Account Clerk with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office. She was later appointed as an Accounting Supervisor, a position she held for two years, before being appointed as Budget Director for the Chautauqua County Department of Finance on Feb. 1, 2017.

In her roles with the Sheriff’s Office, Dennison was responsible for budget preparation, grants administration, financial reporting, payroll processing for over 300 employees, and contract negotiations.

As Budget Director, Dennison assisted with the creation and completion of six county budgets. These budgets have grown the County’s fund balance to approximately $34.14 million in accordance with the County’s financial management plan. Dennison served on the Chautauqua County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) working group, and helped develop the County’s ARPA spending plan to fund 66 ARPA projects.

County Executive PJ Wendel and County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon recognized Dennison for her service with a commendation at the May 24 legislature meeting.

Wendel has stablished a search committee to assist him with finding a replacement for Dennison.

Justin Gould and PJ Wendel

A Falconer resident and current member of the local news media has been hired as Chautauqua County‘s new Media Information Officer.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel announced Justin Gould will start in the job June 1.

The Media Information Officer is tasked with acting as a liaison for news media organizations, coordinating press conferences, press releases and responding to emergencies as they develop providing up-to-date information to both the news media and public. The position also will assist the legislature, all departments, and agencies within county government to enhance public relations.

Gould is the co-founder of WNY News Now and has owned and operated the business as its News Director. He stated he would be selling his stake in the business, which will then be operated by Lee Cain of Channel 716.

Jamestown Police Department (Google Maps)

An appliance fire damaged an office in Jamestown City Hall on Friday, March 17.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist informed City Council that an office in the Jamestown Police Department was heavily damaged, “And so we’re in the process of cleaning that up and trying to restore that. We’re working with our insurance department and we’re going through that process now, but it’s going to take a little time. Luckily, the Fire Department was very, very quick in responding (Council President Tony Dolce ‘They’re right next door’). They were right next door, yes! And they were able to get that out but obviously it’s caused some damage in the Police Department.”

Sundquist said Chautauqua County government‘s insurance is involved as well as the office was being used by members of the District Attorney‘s office.

PJ Wendel

Chautauqua County Government could be hit with a $4.3 million shortfall this year should New York State move forward with clawing back Medicaid funds.

The Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Program (E-FMAP) funds are monies from the federal government to New York State that are meant to go to local counties, but Governor Kathy Hochul‘s proposed budget holds onto those monies.

County Executive PJ Wendel said if this stays in the budget, it would put counties back 20 years. He said the idea of the state holding onto E-FMAP monies isn’t new and that former Governor Andrew Cuomo had proposed doing the same in the past, “But the Budget Director, who was the Budget Director under Governor Cuomo, Robert Mujica; we were told kind of slipped this in without the Governor’s (Hochul) knowledge. Well, we all said this on a meeting last week, if anybody slipped anything into our budget without our knowledge they probably wouldn’t be working for us. This person has since left, so there’s a vacant position for.. I think there’s an Acting Budget Director now. So the Budget Director position is really vacant so we’re going after a ghost.”

Wendel said the claw back of funds is going into the state’s fund balance and not designated for any specific program.

He said he learned this week that the state is also behind on Medicaid reimbursements to counties to the tune of $8 million for Chautauqua County alone.

Should the Medicaid claw back continue to be part of the state budget when it’s passed April 1, Wendel said the $4.3 million that Chautauqua County would lose in funding is a large portion of the budget, “As you know, we have a very favorable fund balance. This year we did use $4 million in capital projects. So, I’d hate to cancel any of those capital projects cause they are necessary and sometimes, it’s most often times, deferred maintenance and stuff we’re putting off. We do have the ability right now to cover that, but why is it that we are being punished for being fiscally prudent when the Governor can’t seem to get their budget under control?”

Wendel added the New York State Association of Counties, which he is a member of and sits on the board of directors, is working to negotiate with Hochul’s office on this item. He said he hopes those who have pull with Hochul, like Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, can sway her to pull this out of the budget. Wendel said he doesn’t believe the State Legislature has any say over the budget item and that it’s at the Governor’s discretion.

Chautauqua County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon delivers remarks to Legislature (January 3, 2023)

Chautauqua County Legislators have again named Pierre Chagnon to lead them as the Legislature Chairman.

Chagnon said 2023 will bring changes to County Government, “We have a relatively new County Attorney, DPF Director, HR Director, Airport Manager, and a reorganization of Chautauqua County’s three largest Human Services programs. As legislators, you have abundant skills, life experiences, and community connections, so I urge you all to share in the helping.”

Chagnon listed off challenges facing the Legislature this year, including inflation, the state’s energy policies, and the opioid crisis, “..managing workforce retention and recruitment; ongoing effects of the Pandemic, increasingly burdensome state mandates, workforce development needs, and pursuit of economic development opportunities. But please join me in being motivated by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'”

This is the fourth year Chagnon has served as the Chairman.

Chautauqua County

The five social services divisions of Department of Health and Human Services, including the divisions of Family and Children’s Services, and Transitional and Medical Assistance, will integrate with the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene to form the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene and Social Services.

In addition, the Division of Health will once again be a stand-alone department as the Chautauqua County Department of Health. It will include all County public health and disease prevention programs, Environmental Health Services, Coroners, and providing medical services to the County Jail and County Emergency Services.

Wendel said, “Many individuals and families often receive services from multiple areas of County Government and this restructuring will better integrate our mental hygiene and social services so that we are working on a united front to provide timely, accessible and quality care to County residents as we maximize our partnerships and improve community support systems.”

The changes, which are subject to the review by the Chautauqua County Legislature and New York State, are desired to take effect in early 2023.

Wendel also announced new leadership for these departments once the reorganization changes go into effect. Carmelo Hernandez will serve as Director of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Social Services and Dr. Michael Faulk will serve as Chautauqua County’s Chief Medical Officer and head of the Department of Health.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said the second, third, and fourth floors will be continue to be closed through November 18th. He said the county is still working to repair damage caused by a water line break.

County operations located on the first and basement floors of the HRC Building are not impacted by this closure and will remain open to the public.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said the second, third, and fourth floors of the building continue to be closed to the public through Friday, November 11 while repair work is done in office areas and on the elevators.

This closure only impacts the Public Health, Environmental Health and Social Services Divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services. As a result, the Environmental Health Division will still not be accepting water samples for testing.

County operations located on the first and basement floors of the HRC Building, which include the Office for Aging Services, Public Defender’s Office, Board of Elections, and Department of Motor Vehicles, are not impacted by this closure and will remain open to the public.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist addresses Jamestown City Council (October 17, 2022)

The City of Jamestown has received a $194,000 HUD grant to help deal with homelessness issues.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, in his Mayor’s report to City Council, said the city will have to develop a plan for use of the funds with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development encouraging that it be used for rapid response.

He said resource providers, local church organizations, and medical providers have met to discuss both long-term solutions and short term emergency shelter.

Sundquist said Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. has taken the lead with the county on the issue and that one to two sites have been identified as potential emergency winter shelters, “So, it would be a nighttime, usually from around 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. Those sites would also then provide security at the locations, food, we’d have other churches and other groups provide resources there. We’d have social workers and other resource providers come to that location and we were also talking about potentially having once a week a medical provider come on site.”

Sundquist said they hope to get details finalized in the next week. He said with the weather turning cooler there is a need for emergency shelters, “On an average night across Chautauqua County when there is a ‘Code Blue,’ the weather is under 32 degrees, they have about seven people across the county that they have to shelter. That number is expected to double or triple this year with just Jamestown alone.”

Sundquist said resource providers are also discussing creating a shelter just for people with addiction needs or who are in recovery. He added that most of the current shelters in Jamestown are full.

Pierre Chagnon, Chairman of the Chautauqua County Legislature; Stephen Abdella, Chautauqua County Attorney; and PJ Wendel, Chautauqua County Executive.

After serving Chautauqua County for over 30 years, County Attorney Stephen Abdella is retiring at the end of 2022.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel announced Abdella’s pending retirement.

Abdella first began his career with the County in 1988 as an Assistant County Attorney with the County’s Law Department. He later served as County Attorney from 1992 to 1997 and re-appointed again in 2006. He had also served as Counsel to the County Legislature from 1999 to 2005 and again since 2008.
In addition, he served as Acting County Executive in November and December of 2013 and 2019 when there were end of term vacancies for former County Executives Greg Edwards and George Borrello.

Wendel said Abdella has been instrumental in advising the County on executive orders and laws regarding operating restrictions during the COVID-19 Pandemic and with the opioid settlement.

Wendel said he plans to establish a bipartisan search committee to assist in the process of finding Abdella’s replacement.