Ellicott Town Board meeting (May 8, 2023)

The Ellicott Town Board, with no discussion, voted to rescind a resolution that eliminated one of the Town Justice positions.

Town Justice Marilyn Gerace expressed her disappointment and frustration about the process at the privilege of the floor, saying the matter shouldn’t have gotten to this point, “The Town Board’s ill-advised decision to eliminate a justice position has taken a considerable amount of time, energy, and resources. All of which can be better spent on other matters. This entire ordeal was completely avoidable had the Town Board relied on the expertise of others and not succumbed to inaccurate information, innuendos, conjectures, and rumors.”

The town justice position that would have been eliminated is the one held by Gerace.

Ellicott resident David Leach questioned if the town board would have used an executive session to make cuts to the Ellicott Police Department or Highway Departments without consulting the Police Chief and Highway Superintendent, “So why did the Town Board treat the Town Justices and Town Court in such a cavalier and disrespectful matter? A person with a more suspicious mind than myself could be forgiven for thinking that petty political and personal factors are at play. I, however, know that my Town Board is not motivated by such base considerations.”

The Town Board had initially approved the resolution to eliminate the justice position at its monthly meeting on March 13. Residents and officials were critical of the move given that there was no previous discussion or notice about the plan to eliminate the position.

Following public pushback received at the April 10 board meeting as well as facing a permissive referendum in June where the public would have been able to vote on whether to eliminate the town justice position, the Town Board voted unanimously last night to rescind the resolution.

Supervisor Janet Bowman declined to comment on the action following the meeting.

The agenda for the meeting on Monday, May 8 has “Resolution #1-2023” under old business.

Several dozen people attended the April 10 town board meeting to speak out against the Justice position being eliminated. Letters of support were also entered into the record by the Ellicott Town Police union and District Attorney Jason Schmidt.

The town Justice position affected is the one held by long-time Judge Marilyn Gerace, who has circulated petitions to appear on the November General Election ballot. Sally Jaroszynski is the other Town Justice.

Gerace said in her comments to the board in April that she and Judge Jaroszynski were blindsided by the decision, only learning about the position elimination the day after the vote when they both received a letter from Town Supervisor Janet Bowman.

She criticized the board for the making the decision without providing the public adequate opportunity to comment.

The Jamestown Post-Journal reports that it is expected that Town Supervisor Janet Bowman will make a motion to rescind the resolution Monday night.

Should the Town Board not approve that motion, a permissive referendum on the resolution will be held in June.

2256 Willard Street Ext. (Google Maps)

The investigation is continuing into the shooting death of an Ellicott man.

Town of Ellicott Police said a 911 call was received from 2256 Willard Street Extension around 10:00 p.m., Friday, January 6th with a report of a gunshot victim at the residence.

Ellicott and Jamestown Police responded and found the victim, 57-year old Scott Blake, dead from a gunshot wound.

Police arrested 18-year old Tucker Richard in the case and charged him with 2nd Degree Murder. He is in the Chautauqua County Jail awaiting arraignment.

Drugs seized by police on December 7, 2022

Nineteen people have been arrested following a narcotics investigation into a large scale fentanyl and methamphetamine distribution ring in the Jamestown area.

The Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Narcotics Investigators, and Ellicott Police Department conducted raids on 628 Spring Street and 15 West Cowden Street in Jamestown, and at 252 West Main Street in Falconer on Wednesday afternoon, December 7.

Police seized in the three raids over 107 grams of fentanyl, over 19 grams of methamphetamine, packing materials, a 9mm pistol that was previously reported stolen from the Village of Lakewood, a large capacity ammunition feeding device, and $2,940 in cash.

The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, the Lakewood-Busti Police Department and the Town of Ellicott Police Department are running a joint High Visibility Engagement Campaign today through Monday.

This safety initiative is designed to reduce alcohol and drug-related traffic crashes. It is sponsored by STOP-DWI with funding from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee.

Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement, “Be sure to kick off the weekend by planning ahead for a safe ride home and avoid the costly and possibly deadly consequences of drinking and driving.”

Police ask folks who witness a vehicle operating in an erratic manner to call 911 and the pass the information onto the Dispatcher.

Town of Ellicott Police say 38-year-old Jason Maisonet entered the Community Bank on E. Main Street Extension around 11:50 a.m. and told the clerk to open the safe. Police say a customer in the lobby told Maisonet to leave and when he refused the citizen took control of the man and pushed him out the front door.

Officers later arrived on scene and took Maisonet into custody.

He is charged with third-degree attempted robbery and sent to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

All park users MUST adhere to The Governor’s Executive Orders concerning social distancing. This means that there can be no more than 10 people in a group.

Ellicott Police will be monitoring the parks for possible violations. Earlier this week the police say three minors – all 15 years-old – were recently arrested for causing over a thousand dollars in damages to village property at the park. Specific details were not provided.

Andrew Liuzzo

JAMESTOWN – Both Republican candidates running for mayor of Jamestown agree that city police officers and fire fighters deserve every cent they are paid by local taxpayers. But both Andrew Liuzzo and David Wilfong also acknowledge that financial challenges facing Jamestown will likely prevent public safety workers from getting all they they deserve.

• [RELATED] LISTEN TO FULL LIUZZO/WILFONG INTERVIEW

In 2019 the city of Jamestown has budgeted nearly a third of its total budget – $11 million – toward police and fire salaries and other related expenses. And a larger chunk could be on the way if a state appellate court upholds a recent state Supreme Court decision involving an arbitration ruling giving the police union a 2% pay raise. City officials say any increase the police receive in salary will also likely be given to firefighters as well, so the outcome of the arbitration appeal will be a challenge facing whoever is the next mayor of the city.

Liuzzo is currently a member of the Jamestown City Council and is the only council person to vote against challenging the arbitration ruling in State Supreme Court, as well as voting against the decision to appeal the Supreme Court decision.

Liuzzo told WRFA in our recent interview that it’s not the salaries but the healthcare and pension mandates from Albany that are what the city should be focused on.

“This all goes back to our retirement benefits and our healthcare benefits, and the Taylor Law and the Triborough Amendment. These laws and amendments have hurt upstate communities immensely. These were downstate laws that got applied to the whole state,” Liuzzo said. “My question would be, ‘Why hasn’t the New York Conference of Mayors, as a group, addressed this?’ Our current mayor was president of NYCOM, yet that question is still out there. Why wasn’t this addressed? These kinds of laws are what has hurt upstate New York Communities.”

Liuzzo added that he would also be willing to local at regional policing by trying to improve relationship with adjacent communities like the Town of Ellicott and Busti – which each have their own police force as well.

“Jamestown encompasses West Ellicott, Ellicott, Lakewood-Busti. What I would like to see is an inter-municipal police force. I would like us to negotiate instead of litigate with our neighbors and come to an agreement where we can use the existing police force we have outside of Jamestown to be the same police force. And to protect all of us. That’s one way I see of bringing the cost down, or at least maintaining the cost,” Liuzzo explained.

David Wilfong

Wilfong has served on the Chautauqua County Legislature since 2014 representing Jamestown. During his time in Mayville a report was completed by the Center or Governmental Rochester using over $200,000 in state money that provided a plan to consolidate the Jamestown Police Department with the County Sheriff’s office gradually, over two decades or no longer.

The consolidation would come at no additional cost to county taxpayers but would save Jamestown some money. That plan was never put up for a vote, let alone publicly discussed by Wilfong and his colleagues after it was completed.

• VIEW THE CGR REPORT

Wilfong said he agrees that regional policing may be better solution, though the push should come from the state, not the local, level.

” It would have been very difficult to put together a group of people that would have voted in favor of the consolidation. I don’t know if that would ever go off. I’ve seen it, I’ve read the document and I actually think it was a good proposal. But one of the things is, ‘Do we want a change?’ I don’t know if the Jamestown Police Department wants to merge and I don’t know if the sheriff wants to merge,” Wilfong said. “I did see the figures and the cost savings would be good for the city of Jamestown and a flat cost the county. But we’re talking about the county legislators and you’ve got to get them on board with their own districts. Because what they’re going to say is, ‘How does that benefit my district. I live in Silver Creek or I live in Findley Lake.’ It’s a hard sell.”

Instead, Wilfong said he’d prefer to see the effort to deal with police costs lead by the state representatives, similar to what former Sen. Cathy Young had worked on with school districts.

“I am not against it. I think to make change and to move our county forward and our state forward, we’ve got to start thinking consolidation. I don’t know at the mayor level what can be done there. I think that needs to be done more at the state level – maybe our assemblyman or our next senator. I think that is where that type of change has to come from,” Wilfong said.

The complete audio of our interview with Liuzzo and Wilfong can be found at our website.

Liuzzo and Wilfong will square off in the June 25 Republican Primary, which runs from noon to 9 p.m. and is eligible to all 3800 registered republicans living in the city.

Luis Gonzalez

JAMESTOWN – Local police have now released the name of one of the suspects they believe is connected to the recent armed robbery of a West Ellicott convenience store and gas station.

Ellicott Police said on Thursday that at least two people are believed to be connected to the armed hold up of the Keystone Food Mart on Fairmount Ave., which took place Wednesday morning just before 5 a.m. and involved two men entering the store and demanded cash from the clerk.

No one was injured in the incident.

Jamestown Police said 26-year-old Luis Gonzalez was arrested Thursday in the city and charged with first-degree robbery for his role in the hold up.  In a statement, police said a second person involved in the robbery was also in custody on unrelated charges.

Anyone who may have information into the incident is asked to call police at the anonymous tip line 483-8477 or via the Tip 411 app.