PJ Wendel

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel has declared a State of Emergency that bars housing additional immigrants in the county.

Wendel said the order is in response to New York City’s announced intentions to send migrants and asylum seekers to other counties in the state.

Declaration of State of Emergency

State of Emergency Order

State Senator George Borrello also sent out a statement opposing Governor Kathy Hochul‘s proposal to house migrants at SUNY Schools, saying, “I don’t believe her when the Governor says housing migrants at SUNY campuses is a temporary solution. Migrants processed into the U.S. as asylum seekers earlier this week were given immigration court dates more than a decade away. Once these migrants are brought to SUNY campuses, neither the Governor nor anyone else knows how long they will be there.”

Borrello went on to say that communities that never declared themselves as sanctuary communities shouldn’t be forced to accept migrants.

The County Executive said in a press release, “In December 2016, New York City declared itself a Sanctuary City dedicated to supporting undocumented individuals. Over the past several months, thousands of asylum seekers have been arriving in the City, which is now so overwhelmed that it is trying to move these individuals to other counties that do not have the infrastructure to care for them, especially since social services funding is not available to undocumented individuals. While we support the families who have already migrated to our County, we lack the services and funding required to assist additional individuals.”

The state of emergency was issued Thursday, May 18 and remains in effect for 30 days, at which time it may be extended.

The order prohibits other municipalities from bringing and housing people in the County, prohibits hotels and motels from housing immigrants without a license, and requires any municipalities that might bring migrating or asylum-seeking people into Chautauqua County to ensure they will be fully cared for and paid for.

Chautauqua County joins other counties in New York State with issuing these emergency orders including most of Western New York, excluding Erie County, as well as Broome, Nassau, Oneida, Onondaga, Orange, Oswego, Rockland, and Suffolk counties.

Chautauqua County

The New York State Department of Labor reported that Chautauqua’s rate for last month was 2.9%, which is down 1.3% from 2021 when it was 4.2%.

Cattaraugus County‘s unemployment rate for October also was 2.9%, which is down 1% from 2021.

The summons filed in Chautauqua County Supreme Court on Friday, September 9 cited the desire to recover damages for the contamination of wells supplying the Village’s public water-supply system. The summons said the contamination was caused use of by aqueous film forming foam during certain training exercises held in the Village.

In February 2021, then County Health Department Water specialist Bill Boria reported to the village board that a state investigation said the fire training foam that was used near the former Mayville school between 2014 and 2018 appeared to have leached into the village water supply. He said this resulted in the high levels of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) being discovered in three of the village’s water wells.

The discovery led to a do-not-drink advisory being issued for two weeks in December 2020 and ultimately forced the village to shut down one of the wells.

After the old well was shut down in December, the village brought online the new Well #4 located in a different aquifer that did not contain any PFNA.

Boria said that lab testing on animals has shown that high doses of PFNA have caused adverse effects on the liver, thyroid, and immune system, and also contributes to high blood pressure and high cholesterol. There’s also some evidence that it delays growth and development.

Boria added that because the fire training was only done during a five-year period, it’s unlikely there was a legacy contamination, meaning residents weren’t exposed for a significant period of time.

The chemicals that were used in firefighting foam, which caused the higher PFNA, have since been removed and are no longer used today.

The Village had previously filed a suit against 3M for contaminating the municipalities water supply in Jun 2021, but that filing was removed in July 2021.

RTPI’s Maria Ferguson and George Harper speak with WRFA’s Anthony Merchant about the institutes new art exhibition called Art that Matters to the Planet, the on going Art After 5 series, how the Roger Tory Peterson Institute plans to celebrate Roger Tory Peterson’s 114th birthday this summer and much more

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The discussion was broadcast live on WRFA radio, with video streaming available on both WRFA’s Facebook Page and Youtube Channel.

A virtual Q&A was also available for audience members.

Funding for the Community Conversation is made available by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act stabilization grant fund.

Chautauqua County

The State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services manages the targeted grant programs.
Chautauqua County will receive $75,000 to equip and train local FBI-accredited bomb squads.

$94,000 will be received through the Hazardous Materials Targeted Grant Program to sustain and enhance hazmat capabilities to help New Yorkers respond to and recover from acts of terrorism and other emergencies.

The County also will receive $15,000 through the Explosive Detection Canine Team Grant Program. This funding provides local law enforcement agencies with active road patrol aid to develop and enhance their explosive detection canine capabilities.

And $50,000 was awarded to the county through the Cyber Security Grant Program which will help enhance their ability to protect, detect, identify, respond to and recover from cyber incidents.

The study concluded that, overall, the redevelopment strategy for the NRG Power Plant would have the greatest benefits if it allowed the community to access workforce development opportunities, generated tax revenue, included a clean energy component, supported public access to the waterfront, and aided in comprehensive economic development for the region.

The study also includes recommendations of immediate next steps that the City of Dunkirk and Chautauqua County should advance in order to better understand site/building constraints and future opportunities, to position the site for funding to facilitate redevelopment. These include: continuing to collaborate with NRG Energy; pursuing a Build-Ready Program Application through NYSERDA; conducting additional environmental investigations; investigating interconnection costs; completing energy modeling; collaborating with the NYS Climate Justice Working Group; and performing site marketing and promotion.

The NRG Power Plant operated from the 1950s until 2015. It was officially mothballed in 2016, with the decommissioning process beginning in 2020. The NRG Power Plant was an economic engine in the City of Dunkirk, contributing to approximately 40 percent of the City’s tax base and providing close to 150 well-paying jobs at its peak.

The study was funded by a $60,000 Appalachian Regional Commission POWER grant with local matching funds from the City of Dunkirk, the County IDA, and the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation.

That’s according to a new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study looks at factors outside of the doctor’s office, such as high school graduation rates, access to healthier foods, air pollution levels, income, and rates of smoking, obesity and teen births.

Out of ten counties in Western New York, Chautauqua County finished last in health ranking and of the 62 counties in the state it was ranked 58th. Only Chemung, Greene, Sullivan and Bronx counties were rated worse.

Chautauqua Scored in the bottom half in most categories, with the only exception being clinical care. In that area, the county ranked 22nd in the state – placing near the top third of all counties in New York.

The rest of the counties in Western New York didn’t fair much better. Oneida County is ranked 49th, Cattaraugus 53rd, Erie 54th and Niagara was 56th. The healthiest County in WNY was Wyoming, ranking 17th overall in the state. For the entire state, Rockland County – just north of NYC – was no. 1.

The complete results can be found at www.countyhealthrankings.org.

On Wednesday night the Chautauqua County Legislature voted 14 to 4 on a resolution requesting the state give permission for the county to raise the total sales tax from 7.5 to 8 percent.  Republican legislators John Hemmer (Westfield), Terry Niebel (Dunkirk), and John Runkle (Stockton) voted against the measure, as did democrat Janet Keefe (Fredonia).

According to county executive Vince Horrigan, the increase is the best way to provide property tax relief for residents while also closing a looming $5.7 million shortfall in the 2016 county budget. He said if the sales tax increase were approved, it’s projected to provide an additional $7.8 million in additional revenue in 2016.

In order for any sales tax increase to take place, it must be approved by both the state Senate and the Assembly and signed by the governor.

The current sales tax in Chautauqua County does include a clothing tax exemption of up to $100, as well as a home energy exemption. Horrigan says that if the increase were granted, both exemptions would still remain in effect. The county sales tax has remained at 7.5 percent since 2005.

Of the 17 counties in Western New York, only Chautauqua and Ontario counties have a sales tax that is below 8 percent.