Jamestown City Council holds special meeting with Federal Emergency Management Agency (May 16, 2023)

Jamestown City Council members were able to get more details about the SAFER grant received by the City during a meeting with FEMA Tuesday afternoon.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Project Manager Julia Barron answered questions council members had submitted about the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants program.

The city of Jamestown has received $1.8 million under the SAFER grant to hire eight additional firefighters.

Barron said the grant agreement included funding eight new full-time positions, “On the last page of the notice of funding opportunity announcement, it indicates that when you accept the award you accept the requirement to maintain the number of full time operational firefighter positions that you have on the day of grant award, plus the additional positions that were awarded under the grant.”

Barron said the city had 54 firefighters on the roster in February 2023 when the grant was awarded to the city, so the city must add eight firefighters for a total number of 62 firefighters on the roster. Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon confirmed that initial 54 does include the four firefighters hired in 2023 using American Rescue Plan funds. Barron said the city is required to maintain that staffing level of 62 over the three years of the grant with the understanding that the number may dip below that for short time periods due to resignations, retirements, or new firefighters going through the Academy.

Another question council members had was whether the city could reapply for the grant again and the likelihood of the city receiving funding again. Barron said it usually depends on local support for sustaining the new positions and that in order to get the same grant again, that means the city would be planning on hiring new firefighters, “If you currently have a grant and you’re required to be at 62, then, let’s say, next year you apply again or in three years you apply again, let’s say you’re exactly at 62 when you receive that new grant. Well, if you’re going to add another eight positions then the minimum required staffing level for that grant would be, and those previous firefighters had not left, then the new level for that grant would be 70.”

Barron said the city could apply for retention fund for the eight new firefighters in a case where they don’t have the funds to keep those new positions, “There’s a lot of tricky rules around retention positions. You have to have issued them a lay-off notice within a certain period of time and you can’t lay-off during the current grant. So, it starts to get a little bit tricky with retaining these exact same positions versus hiring new and sort of allowing attrition to happen and just adding on with new firefighters.”

Barron said that while other grantees had received additional years of funding, the grant process is very competitive. She said the city has until August when they should start billing to draw down grant monies for the new positions.

Council members requested from city administration that the roster of firefighters on staff when the grant was received by the city be shared with them as well as the financial information on fringe benefits costs.

Council President Tony Dolce said the resolution to lift the hiring freeze to approve the hiring of eight firefighters with the SAFER grant funds will be on City Council’s voting agenda for Monday, May 22.

Jamestown City Council

Council President Tony Dolce said there were four basic questions that council members had for the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants program.

These questions include whether fewer than eight firefighters could be hired with the $1.8 million grant, can the city reapply for the SAFER grant in three years and what is the likelihood of being approved again; does the city have to wait a specific period before applying for the grant for the second time; and have other SAFER grantees been approved for a second round of funding and how soon after the second application were they approved.

The meeting is set for 4:00 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on jamestownny.gov

Jamestown City Council meeting (May 8, 2023)

Jamestown City Council will meet with FEMA representatives to ask questions about the SAFER grant at a special council work session on May 16.

Council President Tony Dolce said there were four basic questions that council members had including if eight firefighters had to be hired with the $1.8 million grant, “The second question was, can the city reapply for the SAFER grant in three years and what is the likelihood of being approved again? Three, would the city have to wait a specific period before applying for the grant for the second time? And the other question was, have other SAFER grantees been approved for a second round of funding and how soon after the second application were they approved?”

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon shared that the purchase of a second ambulance that was approved by Council was ready to go out to bid and that the vehicle could be received as soon as one to two months.

The meeting with FEMA will take place at 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 16 in the Mayor’s Conference Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. It is open to the public.

City Council Finance and Public Works committees also reviewed and approved a lease extension request for the owner of the Chautauqua Belle to dock at McCrea Point Park.

U.S. Steam Lines has been using the dock at the park since 2019 and is asking for a new 5-year term lease with the option to renew the lease for two additional 5-year terms. The resolution now goes onto the voting session on May 22 for formal approval.

Jamestown Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon addresses Jamestown City Council (March 20, 2023)

Jamestown City Council members raised questions over long term funding for new firefighters from a federal grant.

The City of Jamestown was awarded $1.8 million in funding through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program that would allow the hiring of eight new firefighters. The grant through FEMA would cover three years of salaries.

Council member at large Jeff Russell expressed concern over what would happen if the City applies for funding again after three years and is denied, “I’ll say it now because I want to be very transparent about this. That there’s a possibility that we could lay off firefighters. I don’t want to move forward three years from now and then when we come back and say, ‘Well, we have to lay firefighters off,’ and people act like it was smoke and mirrors going on and we weren’t forthright by telling people that was a possibility.”

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said the number of firefighters eligible for retirement in three years could help, through attrition, avoid lay-offs if the city doesn’t get grant funding again.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund recalled that the four firefighters hired using American Rescue Plan funds with the intention that attrition through retirement also would help prevent lay-offs once that funding ran out. She requested the administration provide a year-by-year cost of the twelve new positions funded by ARP and SAFER monies prior to the March 27 voting session.

Coon said if the new positions are approved and can be hired, it would allow all fire stations to be fully staffed at all times. He said a second ambulance, yet to be approved for purchase, also would be able to be manned, bringing in additional revenue to the city.

The United Way of Southern Chautauqua County announced $45,132 was awarded by the Emergency Food & Shelter Program’s National Board, which is chaired by FEMA.

Locally, the United Way leads the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and is responsible for distributing these awards. The purpose of these dollars is to expand the capacity of food and shelter programs in high-need areas.

Organizations interested in applying for funds must do so by Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

Contact United Way Executive Director Amy Rohler at (716) 483-1561 for application instructions.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a point of transparency and disclosure to our audience, United Way of Southern Chautauqua County is a corporate underwriter for WRFA and has provided a financial contribution for the general operations of the station within the past year. Funding we receive for General Operations is not used to fund our coverage of local news in the community. That is only made possible through a Community Service Grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Governor Kathy Hochul pledges support for hurricane battered Puerto Rico (September 19, 2022)

Hurricane Fiona strengthened to a category 3 overnight after leaving widespread devastation in Puerto Rico.

The storm dumped more than 2 feet of rain on the island and knocked out the U.S. territory’s electricity supply. More than one million people are without power. This is the worst storm to hit the island since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Following a call with Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi, New York Governor Kathy Hochul directed the New York State Police to send 50 Troopers to assist with keeping residents safe, and 50 additional Troopers will be deployed in the coming weeks.

Hochul said Delta and JetBlue will both donate cargo space and transport emergency personnel; the Greater New York Hospital Association will provide medical supplies; and Coca-Cola has committed water and additional supplies. Habitat for Humanity of New York City and Westchester County and the State’s Building Trades also have committed their support as needs are identified. Additionally, teams from the New York Power Authority are ready to deploy and assist in restoring power to the island.

Hochul said she also will support relief efforts in the Dominican Republic, which also was heavily impacted by Fiona.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden declared Hurricane Fiona an emergency, authorizing FEMA to coordinate disaster relief efforts. Hochul said New York will work to support any requests coordinated by FEMA in the coming days to assist the residents of Puerto Rico.

Fiona is on a path to pass close to the Turks and Caicos islands today and was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland.

Widmer said the management letter made some recommendations including implementing a fund balance policy, “And that would really help identify what the city believes to be an appropriate amount of that unassigned fund balance in the general funds. So currently that $4.6 million is a little over 12%. What is the level the city is comfortable maintaining? Because, it relates to the city’s ability to respond to emergencies in the event that something unbudgeted occurs.”

Another recommendation included updating payroll software to improve efficiencies and give Finance more tools for reports.

Sales tax receipts were up almost 47% for the second quarter compared to 2020 for the City of Jamestown. City Comptroller Ryan Thompson reported to City Council that the City received $2-million-161-thousand dollars for the 2021 second quarter payment. That’s $690-thousand-250 dollars more than in 2020 and a 27% increase from 2019’s second quarter receipts.

Thompson said this is great news, “I think a lot of things, obviously the online sales tax collections are driving that as well as the price of gas is up significantly over the last couple years.”

Thompson said the city’s 2021 adopted sales tax budget is $6-million-713-thousand-792-dollars. He said the city has already collected 56.8% of the budget after the second quarter, which compares to 46.9% at the same time last year. Sales tax receipts for 2021 second quarter are up significantly to previous years going back to 2016.

Jamestown City Council reviewed a $36-thousand-680-dollar grant from FEMA for fire prevention and safety training. Public Safety Committee Chair Brent Sheldon said the grant will allow children from around the county to be educated on fire safety and that free smoke alarms will be provided to children as well.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist thanked Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon and Fire Prevention Officer Rob Smith for their work with the Chautauqua County Safety Village, “And applying for that FEMA grant, it’s a really big thing. They’ve been trying to be much more active in the community, they’re already pretty active, but to be able to go out and use the media and to partner with the Safety Village in doing that great work is a really huge thing. So I just want to thank the Deputy Fire Chief and his staff.”

The grant allows for an ad campaign in conjunction with the Safety Village to promote the classes, fire prevention and safety more broadly.

The funding will be used to provide protective gear, training, and supplies to emergency personnel. This federal funding was administered through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant.

Local departments receiving funds include Kiantone receiving $108,133; Fredonia will receive $220,000; Frewsburg will receive $108,095; and Forestville will receive $34,761.