CHQ Chamber Chats is a monthly podcast presented by the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, featuring business owners and Entrepreneurs from throughout the Chautauqua Region to introduce who they area and help to offer insight into their particular business sector. It is hosted by Chamber president Dan Heitzenrater and broadcast the first Sunday of every month at 10:30 a.m. on WRFA-LP.

CHQ Chamber Chats is a monthly podcast presented by the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, featuring business owners and Entrepreneurs from throughout the Chautauqua Region to introduce who they area and help to offer insight into their particular business sector. It is hosted by Chamber president Dan Heitzenrater and broadcast the first Sunday of every month at 10:30 a.m. on WRFA-LP.

Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dan Heitzenrater said shopping locally is an investment in your community, “The parallel people always make online like it’s investing in your neighbor’s little league team, right, or things like that. So, when you shop small it’s really helping drive more than half of your dollar when you shop in a small local business is reinvested in the community whether that’s through wages of other local employees that they may have or like I said those other community-minded contributions.”

Heitzenrater said the Chamber is again running the “Shop Local CHQ” gift card program which can be used at 140 small businesses throughout Chautauqua County, “Those cards can be purchased at the Chamber of Commerce. We do have information and the order form on our website. And we personally fulfill those so when you order the card we’ll load those in any amount between $5 and $500.”

The Chamber also will again feature an online option to shop local with the shoplocalchq.com marketplace which features products from around Chautauqua County.

The Jamestown Chamber of Commerce held an events meeting to discuss upcoming activities downtown and the question was raised whether there will be a parade this year.

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dan Heitzenrater said he spoke with Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist recently about that event, “He mentioned that the City was kind of looking at some potential organizations that could be sort of headline, you know, sort of sponsor and help with some of the organization as well. So, as far as I’m aware, kind of in holding pattern.”

The parade had previously been organized by the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation. JRC Executive Director Frank Besse said that JRC is out of the event business but is willing to share information, “You know it’s one of those events we have a lot of information here so if someone is interested in picking up the baton let me, but we’re not in a position to be organizing events so we want to play a supportive role as well along with the Chamber.”

The Chamber had partnered with the City last December to help organize a reverse parade down Third Street as a way to have an event with the gathering limitations in place due to the pandemic at the time.

Mayor Sundquist said organizations who are interested in helping organize a Christmas Parade are welcome to contact his office at (716) 483-7600.

Feldmann served as a Field Director for Tom Reed for Congress in 2018, 2019, and 2020, where he managed the campaign offices in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties. He also served as a Campaign Assistant for George Borrello for State Senate in 2019. Most recently, he served a Manager at Sunset Bay Beach Club in Irving.

Feldmann fills the vacancy left by former Executive Assistant Dan Heitzenrater, who resigned this month to become the new President and CEO of the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce.

Feldmann graduated from Silver Creek Central School and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He currently resides in Silver Creek.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley speaks with new Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Dan Heitzenrater.

Chamber Board President Fred Johnson said, “As the key Executive Assistant for the last three of our County Executives, Dan is both intimately acquainted with the details that make up the business environment of Chautauqua County and also with a strategic level County-wide perspective on the issues and opportunities facing us as we go forward. We had several excellent candidates for this position. We conducted an extensive search and executed a thorough process to ultimately hire Dan.”

Heitzenrater replaces Todd Tranum who previously had announced his retirement for the position.

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JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council has approved a resolution to move forward with selling the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation (JLDC).

The Jamestown City Council during the Dec. 18, 2017 voting session.

During Monday Night’s City Council voting session, nine different people spoke to the council and asked members to vote against or table the waste water treatment resolution.

Despite the concerns, the council eventually voted unanimously to approve the resolution. However, prior to the vote city councilman and finance committee chair Tony Dolce assured those in attendance that the vote was not to sell the plant, but only to keep the process moving forward.

“There have been some excellent questions/concerns brought forward by many of the members tonight,” Dolce said. “I just want to assure the public and the people that are here that this marks the beginning, or the initiation, of the possible process…. This has to go through JLDC, it has to go through the BPU board, it has to come back through a series of resolutions to the city. Many of the questions that came up tonight are questions that will have the be answered before an actual sale can take place.”

Some in attendance said that matter appeared to be an 11^th hour effort by the city to address its financial challenges, which Dolce said is simply not the case.

“tonight’s vote is not an eleventh hour thing. It has to take weeks and possibly months to vet this out, look at the possibility, and if there are legal objections, or either of the boards or this council feel that that this is not an appropriate way to go, there will be plenty of time to put a halt on it, to stop it, and go in a different direction,” Dolce said.

Earlier this Month Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi announced the city was looking into selling the plant to the JLDC as a way to inject a large amount of capital into the city coffers so it could be used to pay for infrastructure and equipment needs that will run into the millions of dollars, while also putting some of the money into a tax stabilization fund.  The plant is valued at $18 to $20 million. The BPU would then pay the JLDC to use the plant, with the money coming from wastewater fees collected by the BPU and used to pay off the bonds the JLDC would have to take out to make the purchase. The plant itself would be used as collateral.

• VIEW CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT PROGRAM (PRESENTED DEC. 4)

Teresi said that because the city has reached its constitutional tax limit, it can’t borrow money through traditional bonding methods. He said that the proposal gives the city an alternative method of raising a large sum of money and instead of using taxes to pay it back the city would use rate payments from wastewater customers, located both inside and outside of the city.

• LISTEN TO WRFA’S INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR REGARDING WASTEWATER PLANT PROPOSAL

PUBLIC CRITICAL OF PLAN, REQUESTS MORE DETAILS

Some of those who voiced concerns about the proposed sale of the Wastewater Treatment Plant during Monday’s city council meeting included (clockwise from upper left): Todd Tranum, Greg Lindquist, Dan Heitzenrater, and Edward Premo.

Members of the public, including the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST), question the plan and feel that it will hurt business and economic development while also risking the stability of the BPU and JLDC.

Attorney Edward Premo – from the Rochester area law firm Harter Secrest & Emery – is representing MAST on the matter and spoke to the council about the issues the organization has with the proposed sale.

“Members of MAST are very concerned about what the city council is considering doing. They are very concerned about this being a step in the dismantling of the BPU,” Premo said. “We believe that the sale of the wastewater treatment plant and facilities not only violates the laws in the city of Jamestown, but also violates the laws concerning the JLDC.”

Premo then raised five legal concerns MAST has with the proposal. They are:

1. The Wastewater System cannot be sold without a majority vote of all residents, per the city charter;
2. The Wastewater System cannot be sold while it is still in use;
3. The BPU cannot pass through JLDC debt service to system users;
4. Users will be charged double for the same system;
5. As a lending agency, the JLDC doesn’t have the power to acquire nor bond for the Wastewater System.

• READ FULL LETTER TO CITY OUTLINING MAST CONCERNS/ISSUES

Also addressing the council and raising concerns were Todd Tranum, president of MAST and the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, former BPU chair John Zabrodsky, former BPU member and Weber Knapp financial officer Wayne Rishell, who said that so far there has been no transparency regarding what impact the sale would have on waste water rates, as well as specific details on how the money from the sale would be spent.

Others who voiced concerns included labor representative David Wilkinson, town of Ellicott councilman-elect Dan Heitzenrater, and residents Doug Champ, Greg Linquist,  Raven Thompson.

The matter will continue to be discussed, perhaps as early as Tuesday afternoon when the JLDC board meets at 4:30 p.m.

In the village of Celoron, incumbent Mayor Scott Schrecongost (R) is being challenged by newcomer Jacob Feldt, who is running under the conservative party.  Feldt is one of several residents in the village who’s been dealing with water issues the past several years. Due to what he believes was a delayed effort by the village to address the water problems in his neighborhood, Feldt has decided to run for office and challenge the current mayor.

There’s also a contested race for Town Supervisor in the Town of Carroll, along with several other offices.

In the race for supervisor, Demorat Todd Ekstrom is squaring off against Republican Laura Greenwood. There is also a contested race for Town Council, as well as Town Clerk.

Other local races of Note include two contested races in the Town of Ellicott.

Ellicott Ward 3 (Falconer – West Side)
– David Dunn (D)
– Katy Whitmore (R)

Ellicott Ward 4 (Falconer – East Side)
– Daniel Heitzenrater (R)
– Bryce Webster (D)

Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will remain open until 9 p.m.

For more information on Election Day 2017, visit www.VoteChautauqua.com.