The second, third, and fourth floors have been closed since November 2 following a water line break.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said the cost of repairs for water damage could reach $500,000.

The closure only impacts the Public Health, Environmental Health and Social Services Divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). 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.

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.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said the second, third, and fourth floors of the building will be closed to the public. This impacts the Public Health, Environmental Health and Social Services Divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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.

Residents are also reminded that early voting is still taking place at the Board of Elections Office this week.

All county staff at the HRC building are to report to work on November 3 as normal unless otherwise told by their supervisor.

Chautauqua County Legislature

While a motion in support of best practices to overcome COVID-19 failed to receive enough signatures to come to the floor, it garnered an hour’s worth of public comment at Wednesday’s Chautauqua County Legislature meeting.

The motion proposed by Fredonia Democrat Susan Parker included language supporting the County Health Department in their efforts to get residents vaccinated and encouraging residents to wear masks. It needed 10 signatures to come to the floor to be voted on and only received four.

Of those who spoke at the first privilege of the floor, ten residents spoke in favor of the motion while eight spoke against it.

Barbara Colt, speaking on behalf of the Chautauqua Cattaraugus Women and Men’s Action Group (CCWAG), said they support the County Department of Health and State Department of Health, “Our Department of Health and Human Services has fought relentlessly for more than two years to reduce the overwhelming effects of COVID. A disease that continues to damage, debilitate, and extinguish the lives of our county residents. CCWAG requests that the County Legislature supports these public health measures and policies.”

Seth Viticus of Jamestown encouraged the Legislature to withdraw the motion, saying it offered nothing new in combating COVID-19, “I propose to talk with County Health Department to instead encourage more healthy lifestyle choices, so when people do get the COVID virus their body is better suited to fight it. I’m not here to debate the vaccine or the masks, but if we’re going to waste resources and manpower, then let’s use it for something more productive.”

Legislator Terry Niebel said he while he supported parts of the measure, there were other items that led to him not signing the motion, “Where it talks about residents age five and older, we’re encouraging those people to be vaccinated – our residents five and older are children. That should be a decision between the children, their parents, and their doctors.”

Legislator Parker commented at the second privilege of the floor, saying the motion was presented for a simple reason, “That the Chautauqua County Legislature endorses and supports our County Health Department’s every day efforts for over two years and continuing to protect Chautauqua County residents from the most deadly and debilitating pandemic in more than a century.”

Parker said Legislators missed an opportunity to endorse the legitimacy of the Health Department’s work in the community, “We missed an opportunity to show support for our medical community bearing the brunt of treating the sick and dying residents. We missed an opportunity to show support for our schools, businesses, and organizations that are all working to stay open and continue serving our community.”

The County Legislature approved a number of resolutions including the approval for the Public Defender’s office to lease 4,147 square feet of space on the third floor of the Jamestown Municipal Building. The five year lease starts at $4,479 this year and increases each year to $5,374 in 2026. Public Defender Ned Barone expressed his thanks to the Legislature for their support.

Legislators will consider a resolution to issuing $3.7 million dollars in bonds to purchase equipment and vehicles. They also will vote on $1 million dollars in bonds toward $4 million dollars in improvements at Jamestown Community College. That project will use $3,072,750 in grant funding.

A resolution for the Public Defender to lease space on the third floor of Jamestown City Hall will be voted on. The five-year lease of 4,147 square feet of space will cost $4,479 in 2022, increasing each year for the term of the lease up to $5,374 in 2026.

A new labor contract with Part-Time Deputy Sheriff’s will be considered. The contract with CSEA Unit 6322 includes salary increases of 5% for 2022; 5% for 2023; 3% for 2024; and 3% for 2025; and a longevity payment of $75 per year upon completion of three years of service.

The Legislature also will vote to appoint a reapportionment commission for the 2020 Census. This body will make recommendations for how boundaries for county legislature districts are changed based on the Census results.

The legislature also will consider a motion that’s in support of best practices to overcome COVID-19, including supporting the County Health Department in their efforts to get residents vaccinated and encouraging residents to wear masks.

The Legislature’s meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Legislative Chambers of the Gerace Office Building. It is open to the public and will be livestreamed on Chautauqua County Government’s Facebook page.

• RELATED: Horrigan Proposes $236.4 Million County Budget with 2 Percent Tax Increase

On Thursday the committee met for a reported four hours and came up with a suggested $906,000 decrease to the County Executive’s tentative budget. That cut would eliminate the proposed 10 cent-per thousand tax hike by Horrigan, and would actually reduce taxes by 2.7 cents from the 2017 tax rate.

Among the recommended cuts was a $218,000 decrease from the Sheriff’s Department’s proposed budget, cutting a proposed assistant public defender position – saving $80,000, and a reduction of $68,000 from the district attorney’s office proposed budget.

The recommended adjustments will be reviewed and discussed by the full legislature during its October voting session, scheduled for Oct. 25.

The local law involves distributing a $45,000 grant the county recently received from the Office of Indigent Legal Services to help offset the increased workload of the public defender’s office. Under the proposed local law, public defender Ned Barone will receive the additional funding over the remainder of the 2015 pay period, and is contingent upon his working full time for the county. No local money would be used in the supplement.

The public hearing begins at 11:30 this morning in the office of Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan.

The cost is due to an increase in felony jury trials this year, with a total of 27 scheduled between January and the end of October. All but two of those cases involve defendants who’ve hired their own attorneys. The remaining 25 are being defended by the public defender. Recent drug arrests in the county have also led to an increase in the number of people who need legal counsel from a public defender. As a result, attorney’s from nearby Erie County and Cattaraugus County are being call in to assist.

And the report goes onto to say that in increased case-load in Family Court is also contributing to the rising cost, because the public defender’s office is required to handle some of those cases too.

Chautauqua County Public Defender Ned Barone said that this year alone, his office is expecting to handle more than 6,000 criminal cases and about 1,200 Family Court matters – the highest either has ever been.

• READ MORE

Among the most noticeable change will be the number of legislators at the meeting. Due to the downsizing of the legislature, there will now only be 19 representatives on the panel, compared to the 25 that had been on the legislature since it was first created nearly four decades ago.

Also, the GOP will have a firm grip on the panel, with a super-majority of the members being members of the Republican Party. There will also be several new faces on the panel, including Jamestown Democrat Fred Larson, Jamestown Republican Dave Wilfong, Ellicott Republican Lisa Vanstrom and Frewsburg Republican Ron Lemon. In all, there will be seven new members on the panel.

Although the size and make up of the legislature has changed, one thing will remain the same. Ashville Republican Jay Gould will continue to serve as legislature chairman, presiding over all meetings for the next two years.

Among the items to be taken up tonight is a politically-motivated resolution, denying the state permission to use the seal of Chautauqua County for purposes related to the New York SAFE Act – a controversial gun control measure that has been met with opposition here in Chautauqua County and throughout much of upstate New York.  The full text is of the resolution is as follows:

RES. NO. 20-14: Denying the State of New York Permission to Use the Name and Seal of the County of Chautauqua and County Officers for Purposes Related to the SAFE Act

By Public Safety Committee:

At the Request of County Legislators Runkle, Borrello, Scudder, Gould, Tarbrake, Vanstrom, Lemon, Wilfong, Wendel, and Niebel:

WHEREAS, the State of New York has passed a gun control law referred to as the SAFE Act; and

WHEREAS, the SAFE Act clearly indicates that the enforcement of this law is the responsibility of New York State; and

WHEREAS, the State has indicated an interest in using the Seal of the County of Chautauqua and the names of the offices of the Chautauqua County Sheriff and the Chautauqua County Clerk in pistol permit recertification notices; and

WHEREAS, the Chautauqua County Sheriff and Chautauqua County Clerk have voiced their strong objection to the State’s use of the County Seal or reference to their offices; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Chautauqua County Legislature denies the State of New York permission to use the name, seal, letterhead, or address of the County or of any County officer regarding permit recertification or for any other purpose associated with the SAFE Act, and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution should be transmitted to the office of the Governor of New York State, the Superintendent of State Police, New York State Senator Catharine Young, New York State Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, the New York State Association of Counties, and the legislative body of every county in the State of New York.

Signed: Wendel, Niebel, Keefe, Ahlstrom, Tarbrake

In addition to the SAFE Act resolution, the legislature will also act on several reappointments, including the reappoinment of Jamestown Attorney Ned Barone to serve as Public Defender for both 2014 and 2015, with a salary of $75,000 per year.

Tonight’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the legislative chambers and will be open to the public.

• AUDIO: COUGHLIN-FOLEY EXCHANGE

Coughlin said he supports the program, but feels the DA’s office should be paying for its contribution to the program with money from its own budget, rather than using additional money from the legislator. He said the DA’s office already receives  $260,000 more in money than the public defender’s office, adding that if better managed, it should have no problem coming up with the funds to continue participating in the program. District Attorney Foley, who was in attendance for last night’s meeting, took exception to Coughlin’s statement, explaining that spending in his office is on-par or below average when compared to similar counties throughout the state.

In the end, lawmakers spent more than half an hour discussing the program, including its effectiveness, before finally given approval to extend it through the end of this year, at an additional cost of just over $20,000.

We will feature the much of discussion involving the program, including comments from Public Defender Ned Barone, tonight on WRFA’s Community Matters program, which airs at 6 p.m.