Jamestown City Council voting session (January 30, 2023)

Jamestown City Council has approved a final installment of funds to the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program.

The additional $377,528 in American Rescue Plan funds will cover any remaining approved applications that could not be funded due to lack of funds in previous rounds.

The Finance Committee had recommended the previous week using $282,856 in ARP funds to make the program whole based on numbers provided by Assessor Lisa Volpe, but Finance Chair and Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund said those figures were incorrect, “So, last week when we went through this she (Volpe) had estimated a $94,000 savings that she approached to us. When I got the final numbers, in talking to her, in talking to the Acting Comptroller, it was provided in error. So, therefore, it had to go back in to make that the $377,000 to bring this whole so that everybody who applied and was accepted and approved will get the project done.”

Total funding for the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program now stands at $1.87 million.

Council also approved using $900,000 in ARP funds for water main replacements and street restoration on Roland Road and Juliet Street. The Department of Public Works and Jamestown Board of Public Utilities recommended the work be done after multiple water main breaks on both streets over the decades.

Ecklund said at this point, $26,230,703 has been spent in ARP funds out the over $28 million received.

A resolution for the City to adopt the New York State Climate Smart Communities Pledge was tabled for more discussion. Ecklund said while the pledge allows the city to apply for certain grants, there were some misunderstandings from the public and council that needed to be cleared up, “And I asked specifically if the legal team had looked at it before we signed anything and they had not. So, just to cover our bases and make sure we’re not locked into something that we can’t get out of, if you will, I would prefer the legal team to look at it.”

Council approved several appointments to boards and commissions from Mayor Eddie Sundquist including appointing Thomas Benson of 141 East Virginia Boulevard to serve on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Board. He replaces Tamu Graham-Reinhardt who has resigned. They also approved appointing Reverend Luke Fodor to the Jamestown Community College Board of Trustees. He will fill out the unexpired term of Dr. Lillian Ney who also had resigned.

Jamestown City Council

The Council Finance Committee had recommended using an additional $282,856 in American Rescue Plan funds to cover applications to the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive program that weren’t funded initially.

However, the resolution filed under new business would allocate an additional $377,528. The resolution states the funds would come from the ARP’s “Healthy Communities and Neighborhoods fund.” Council member at Large Kim Ecklund had stated that council members did not want money to be allocated away from a Residential Home Improvement Incentive Program that had been funded with $500,000 last June. That program has not been set up yet by the City Assessor’s Office.

Council also will vote to use $900,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for water main replacements and street restoration on Roland Road and Juliet Street. The Department of Public Works and Jamestown Board of Public Utilities recommended the work be done after multiple water main breaks on both streets over the decades.

In addition, Council will vote under new business on a five-year Animal Holding facility contract with Pick of the Litter in Falconer. The staff report said Pick of the Litter was the only entity that submitted a proposal. The contract would pay the agency $2,800 a month for board fees and/or euthanasia for 360 dogs per year. Upon receiving the 361st dog, Pick of the Litter will charge $90 per dog for board fees and/or euthanasia.

The voting session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the second floor of City Hall.

It is open to the public and members of the public may also participate remotely in the meeting via videoconferencing by requesting a link from City Clerk Jennifer Williams at (716) 483-7612 or clerk@jamestownny.gov in advance of the meeting.

The meeting also will be livestreamed at https://www.jamestownny.gov.

City Assessor Lisa Volpe addresses City Council Finance Committee (January 23, 2023)

A program that helps senior citizens make improvements to their homes may get another round of funds from Jamestown City Council.

Finance Chair Kim Ecklund is proposing using an additional $282,856 in American Rescue Plan funds to cover applications to the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive program that weren’t funded initially.

City Assessor Lisa Volpe said 303 applications were received for the program last summer with 257 being approved for funds. The total for approved requests comes to $1.87 million with $1.5 million approved in ARP funding by Council.

Ecklund said the Finance Committee‘s recommendation is to fund the remaining amount needed, “The committee is recommending not, again not as we’ve stated multiple times to use the Residential Improvement program and to move forward with that program as it is with the $500,000 for those residents who have not met the other criteria in all the other programs. And to take that $282,856.20 somewhere out of the unappropriated funds of the ARPA. And hopefully not out of the lost revenue.”

Ecklund added that $24,953,174 in American Rescue Plan funds have been allocated so far of the over $28 million received by the City.

Paula Pichon was hired as the Grant Writer for both entities following the position being approved by City Council last year.

A staff report in the City Council work session pre-file states that Pichon has written 13 applications with 5 being awarded, 7 pending, and 1 denied. Total grant funding received in 2022 for the City is $2-million-764-thousand dollars.

A full report on this topic will be presented to City Council Finance Committee at its work session at 7:00 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room on the fourth floor of City Hall.

The Finance Committee will also revisit a resolution for the City to contract with the Jamestown Local Development Corporation to administer American Rescue Plan programs. The cost of that is $500,000. The resolution failed 3-5 at City Council’s April voting session with some council members expressing concern that having JLDC adminster the programs would take away oversight by City Council since only programs receiving $100,000 or more in funding would come to Council for approval.

Also on the Finance Committee’s committee’s agenda is a report from Comptroller Ryan Thompson on the 2021 Year End and 2022 Quarter One Financials.

The Public Works committee, which meets in the Department of Development Conference room on the fourth floor of City Hall, will hear an informational report on a request for a permanent memorial garden. That meeting also is at 7:00 p.m.

The Public Safety Committee will review a number of special event permit applications at its meeting tonight.

Included are applications for the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 30; the Third Thursdays concert series on the Wintergarden Plaza starting May 19, the Jamestown Public Market on West Third Street starting Saturday, June 11, the Juneteenth Festival in Jackson-Taylor Park for the weekend of June 17 through 19; and the return of the World Series of Wheels to Bergman Park on Saturday, July 23.

The Public Safety Committee meets at 7:00 p.m. in the 4th Floor Police Training Room of City Hall.

The full Council work session begins at 7:30 p.m. in the 4th Floor Police Training Room of City Hall as well.

Jamestown City Council

The Jamestown City Council Finance Committee has approved two resolutions related to doing a revaluation of city properties to go forward.

Finance Chair and Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund said if the City put off doing the revaluation until 2023, it’ll cost the city an additional $400,000.

City Assessor Lisa Volpe explained, “Because New York State only allows you to use data for six years, and since it’s been 15, they were willing to let it go this year but next year they’re going to want an entire project. And the previous project cost $1 million, but they’re [GAR Associates] able to get it down because New York is acknowledging what they now have.”

The proposed current cost for the City to do a revaluation is $285,000. It would be paid for using American Rescue Plan funds.

Volpe added that 40% of industrial properties have already had their property assessments reduced through the grievance procedure, with several now on the market for more than assessed value.

The resolutions must still be approved by the full City Council at its voting session on February 28, 2022.