MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello used his annual State of the County report to emphasis a need for continued collaboration within the county.

On Wednesday night Borrello appeared before the Chautauqua County Legislature to update lawmakers on his vision for 2019 while also highlighting accomplishments from 2018, his first year in office.

“There is a positive energy and attitude that can be felt in our communities throughout the county. This past year we started changing our attitude and improving our collective self-confidence and we will continue to raise the bar in 2019 and beyond. 2018 was about communication and now, in 2019, we will take what we learned to enhance collaboration,” Borrello said.

• READ THE FULL STATE OF THE COUNTY TRANSCRIPT

Some of the collaborative efforts Borrello focused on included increasing collaboration and communication in local and regional public safety via the CAER (Countywide Alliance for Enforcement and Rehabilitation) Initiative, getting various communities to work together to improve economic development, identifying and working toward consolidation and shared services efforts between various communities in the county, and improving the connection between the local job market and education institutions to ensure a ready workforce.

CHAUTAUQUA LAKE REMAINS A KEY FOCUS

County executive George Borrello delivers his 2019 State of the County to the Chautauqua County Legislature on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019.

Borrello also spent time focusing on Chautauqua Lake, saying his goal in 2019 is to create a consensus between all stakeholders that will be highlighted in an official memo of understanding and which would be used to help steer funding for lake management.

“Despite the divisiveness we may see among the passionate lake organizations, I’ve found that there is more common ground than it may appear, especially after personally meeting with these groups,
individually, and listening to their concerns. What I saw was a series of puzzle pieces that could make up a strategy to break the gridlock and move us forward,” Borrello noted. “The Consensus Strategy will involve a series of action steps and tenets that will be outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding. We will be asking all of the major stakeholders to sign onto this M.O.U., which will essentially be a ‘ceasefire agreement’ that the lake groups and municipalities would participate in so that we can move forward, together, with an action plan for in-lake weed management while not losing sight of the long-term strategy needed to truly cure the disease that the lake suffers from.”

Following the Legislature Meeting, County Legislature Chair Paul “PJ” Wendel (R-Lakewood) said he was happy to see Borrello further elaborate on his plan for the lake.

“I really commend George…. He used the term ‘cease fire.’ You don’t like to use those terms, it’s a little tough, but on the other hand it’s a great point that everyone needs to bury the hatchet and move forward. They are very passionate people who care about Chautauqua Lake and are involved in its maintenance and survivability, but realistically we have to work together and that collaboration effort is a huge piece,” Wendel said.

GATEWAY CENTER IN RIPLEY

Another major highlight of his report was Borrello’s vision to create a Gateway Center in the town of Ripey on I-90, at the entrance to New York State. He said the center would be patterned after a similar welcome center facility in West Virginia called Tamarack and would be used to highlight all that the region has to offer.

“This will not be a place where you simply stop to use the restroom and get a coupon book or a map. It will be a truly functional and fantastic place that will feature the best of what Western New York and the Southern Tier has to offer,” Borrello noted. “From local artisans showing and selling their wares to a place where many of our region’s agricultural and manufacturing are not only represented but will have their products available for sale. It will be a place where our prospering beer, wine and spirits businesses can feature their brands and encourage people to explore our breweries, wineries and other unique food and beverage options. This Gateway Center will be a place where the history and natural beauty of our county and region is highlighted for those who have never experienced all there is to do and see in the beautifully unparalleled place that we call home.”

Borrello also cautioned that it will take time to develop a plan for the gateway and it’s not something that will be created overnight, but also said he hopes that it can be something that would be completed within the next 5 years. The county IDA just hired the consulting firm Clark Patterson Lee to produce a feasibility study for the gateway study.

COUNTY AIRPORT NOT MENTIONED

One of the items that was omitted from Borrello’s State of the County was the Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown, which took a hit earlier this year with the announcement it wouldn’t be granted federal funding to help subsidize commercial passenger service.

Borrello told WRFA that while he omitted the airport from his state of the county, it’s still something that remains on his radar.

“The Department of Transportation gave us some good feedback. We’re now working with Boutique to modify the application and resubmit it. So there wasn’t much information to give tonight but I think soon we will be able to resubmit a modified application and return commercial service to the Jamestown airport,” Borrello said.

The county airport has been without passenger service since January 2018. Since then the county has partnered with air service provider Boutique Air to put a plan together for commercial service but it hasn’t been enough to bring back the necessary federal subsidies.

County executive George Borrello says he recently received the “2018 Summary and Recommendations” from the Countywide Alliance for Enforcement and Rehabilitation (CAER).

CAER was formed by Borrello in January. It focuses on strengthening law enforcement, prevention, education, and treatment services to address the opioid crisis and reverse the number of opioid deaths occurring in Chautauqua County.

According to statistical data compiled by the county health department, from January through September of 2017, Chautauqua County had 29 drug overdose and 32 drug-related deaths.

In comparison, for these same months in 2018, Chautauqua County has seen 10 drug overdose and 13 drug-related deaths.

The report also provides five recommendations for the County Executive to pursue in 2019. These recommendations include:

1. Combining the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force (STRDTF) and the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force. This would create one unified task force that covers all of Chautauqua County where local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies could more effectively work together and share information to arrest drug dealers.
2. Add a Full Time Investigator to the District Attorney’s (DA) Office. This investigator position would assist the DA’s full time narcotics prosecutor with narcotics cases. The investigator would respond to the scenes of overdose deaths to ensure evidence is being properly collected and critical witnesses are being interviewed to allow for the successful prosecution of drug dealers.
3. Transfer the Duties of the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene to the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services. This would provide a unified county department that addresses health and social issues. It would rename the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene to Chautauqua County Community Services and reclassify the current mental hygiene director position. With this transfer of duties, Chautauqua County Community Services could then work to further strengthen drug prevention education programs for our county’s youth, address issues of pregnant mothers giving birth to children who are testing positive for narcotics in their systems, work with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office to implement a drug treatment pod in the jail, and create a pilot program of peer counselors who would follow up with individuals who have been rescued with Narcan.
4. Begin the Process to Research the Potential to Open a Crime Lab in Chautauqua County Servicing the Southern Tier of New York and Areas within the State of Pennsylvania. This would allow the task force to further review the possibility of establishing a crime lab in the county, which would allow evidence to be processed and analyzed quickly for prosecution.
5. Enter into an Agreement with the Erie County, Pennsylvania Coroner’s Office to Share Information Concerning Autopsy Results of Chautauqua County Residents who Die in Erie, PA Area Hospitals. When a Chautauqua County victim of a drug overdose is transferred to Erie, Pennsylvania for treatment and later dies as a result of the overdose, death information is not routinely shared between Erie County and Chautauqua County. By entering into an agreement with Erie County, it would allow local authorities to better conduct investigations against the person who supplied the victim with drugs.

“I applaud the CAER members for what they have accomplished in their first year and I look forward to further reviewing their recommendations on addressing the opioid crisis,” said Borrello.

To view a full copy of CAER’s 2018 Summary and Recommendations report, visit www.co.chautauqua.ny.us/186/County-Executive.

George Borrello

MAYVILLE – The Post-Journal is reporting that Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello has announced a new program to combat opioid use in the region.

The announcement came during a Community Justice Council meeting on Wednesday.

The anti-drug program will be known as the Countywide Alliance for Enforcement and Rehabilitation (CAER) and is a task force the county executive proposed during his campaign.

Borrello said the task force will take different segments to address this opioid epidemic and try to bring people together to streamline and better use our resources.