Based on a grant report provided to City Council at its December 5, 2022 meeting, only three out of 13 grants received by the City on the list had gone through formal acceptance and authorization by City Council.

Two examples of grants received by the city that had not been formally accepted include a $25,000 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation toward improvements of the Johnson Street Playground and a $1.2 million State Environmental Protection Fund Local Waterfront Revitalization Project grant.

According to a staff report on a resolution to purchase new fencing for Johnson Street Park in the agenda for the June 12 City Council work session, the City has already used the grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation to purchase a new swing set, benches, picnic tables, new hoop, signage, trash receptacles, and repave the basketball court. As of Sunday, June 11, the basketball court with new hoop has been completed, but other new equipment had not been installed.

According to the City Charter, under Article IV, C-31.F for Powers of the Mayor,

“When authorized by the City Council so to do, the Mayor shall execute on behalf of the City all deeds, contracts and other papers to be executed as an act of the City. All contracts, agreements, obligations or other instruments made, executed or issued by order of the City Council or at the direction of the boards provided by this Charter and in behalf of said City or boards shall be signed by the Mayor except as otherwise provided by the Local Finance Law.”

At the Finance Committee meeting on June 5, Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo made the comment that per the Mayor, City Council didn’t need to approve a $4,310 grant awarded by the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth. Finance Committee Chair and Council member at large Kim Ecklund disagreed with that opinion at the meeting.

In a statement by Ecklund, she said she had requested council be updated monthly at minimum about what grants the city has applied for, but that has not been happening on a regular basis.

Johnson Street Playground with newly paved basketball court (June 11, 2023)

She replied to a request for comment on this matter, saying Council should be approving the acceptance of all grants,  “.. just as we would any donation by a group or person. I have no idea why these have not been brought in front of us to do this and it should be corrected. In particular, I do remember speaking about the Johnson Street project at Parks Commission. We have not been aware of any reason why these would not come to a legislative body for approval. I honestly only asked for the grant list in March because of the ‘surprise’ FEMA Grant and had not received a copy again until today because I had to ask for it yet again. The bottom line is there is a lack of communication and honestly these grants and any other financial donation or in kind gift needs to come before the legislative body for acceptance and approval.”

Mayor Eddie Sundquist responded on the issue with a statement saying that, “For many of these grants, we may have been awarded them, but have not yet received a formal contract from the entity. In addition, some grants the City applies for on behalf of entities but the funding does not pass through the City. Many of the state grants, we may have been awarded but have not yet received a contract. ESD and some state agency grants require a pre-application resolution and in that resolution, it authorizes acceptance, if won.”

Council President Tony Dolce said he agreed that Council needs to formally vote to approve and accept the grants. He said in a statement that he had requested the City Clerk and Corporation Counsel bring forth resolutions to Council to approve those grants.

Jamestown City Council

The City was awarded $150,000 through the Federal Communications Commission to hire a communications outreach coordinator to inform the community of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price. Most Jamestown families are eligible for assistance, and nearly all Internet Service Providers are signed up for the discount.

According to the staff report, the communications outreach position will be on a contractual basis with no cost to the City after the grant funding has been exhausted in 2 years.

Council will hear about a proposal to make improvements to the North Main Street viaduct.

The staff report said a proposed project would install lighting, furnishings and public art in the underpass area along North Main Street. The goal is to improve access between downtown, the Riverwalk Trail, and Brooklyn Square commercial district.

The city also hopes the improvements will make the area more attractive to potential developers. While costs for lighting are still forthcoming, the staff report said that up to $150,000 in American Rescue Plan funds would be requested for the design and implementation of the project.

The Housing Committee, which meets at 6:30 p.m. tonight, will hear a discussion on the City Charter related to small livestock.

Other committees will meet at 7:00 p.m. with the full work session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. All meetings are open to the public with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

The hearing will be held at 4:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.

The local law changes the City Charter to raise Council members’ salaries from $5,000 to $7,000. The City Council President’s salary will rise from $6,000 to $8,000. The mayor’s salary will rise from $72,000 to $82,000.

The local laws can be viewed in its final form at the City Clerk’s office in City Hall and on the city’s website at www.jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown City Council voting session (April 24, 2023)

Jamestown City Council has approved the first salary increases in several decades for City Council members and the mayor.

The increases were based off recommendations made by the Jamestown Salary Review Commission in December 2022.

The local law approved changes the City Charter to raise Council members’ salaries from $5,000 to $7,000. The City Council President’s salary will rise from $6,000 to $8,000. The mayor’s salary will rise from $72,000 to $82,000.

City Council members’ salary haven’t increased since 1984 with the mayor’s salary remaining unchanged since 2008.

These salary increases do not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

Jamestown City Council

The Jamestown Salary Review Commission presented their recommendations for increases in December 2022.

The City Charter change calls to raise Council members’ salaries from $5,000 to $7,000. City Council President would receive $8,000. The mayor’s salary would raise from $72,000 to $82,000.

City Council members’ salaries haven’t increased since 1984 with the mayor’s salary remaining unchanged since 2008.

If approved, the salary increases would not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

Council also will vote on hiring an Ombudsman to perform Human Resource duties in the Corporation Counsel’s office.

They also will vote on purchasing new finance and payroll software from Springbrook using $106,286 in American Rescue Plan funds.

A work session will be held at 7:00 p.m. with the voting session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The public is welcome to attend with the voting session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown City Council work session (January 23, 2023)

Jamestown City Council is proposing to increase both Council and the Mayor’s salaries with some caveats following recommendations by the Jamestown Salary Review Commission.

Finance Chair Kim Ecklund said the consensus from Council members is to raise the City Council member’s salary to $7,000; the Council President’s salary to $8,000; and the Mayor’s salary to $82,000.

The current salaries are $5,000 for Council members, $6,000 for Council President, and $72,000 for the Mayor.

Council Member at Large Jeff Russell proposed adding language to the local law that states the Mayor’s position is a full-time job, “Meaning, he or she that holds the office going forward should forgo any other paying employment or engagements unless City Council grants approval on a case by case basis, by request from the City Council.”

Russell said when employed by the Jamestown Police Department, he had to make a written request to the Police Chief to get approval if he wanted to take on secondary employment.

Council member Marie Carrubba agreed with the proposal, saying the practice is common for a lot of non-profits where the executive director needs permission from the board for outside employment, “Because again, as you state, they consider it a full-time job and that they want all your attention focused on that job and that job alone. It also eliminates conflicts of interest with outside employment for any number of reasons. I would support that. I tend to agree. I think as government and problems become more complicated, it really requires full time and attention.”

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the proposed change would require a Charter change. The current Charter simply says the Mayor’s position is full-time with no language about outside employment.

Currently, in addition to being Mayor, Sundquist is a Court Examiner for the County, still maintains a practice at Raimondo & Sundquist LLP; and according to the Jamestown Post-Journal, is an adjunct professor at St. Bonaventure University. Sundquist announced earlier this month he is running for re-election this November.

If approved, the salary increases would not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

Jamestown Salary Review Commission holds first meeting (October 18, 2022)

The Jamestown Salary Review Commission is looking at options for the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities to pay a stipend toward an increase in the Mayor’s salary.

The Commission held its first meeting Tuesday to discuss salaries for the Mayor and City Council. By City Charter, the advisory commission is required to meet every four years and present a recommendation for any adjustments to salaries to City Council. Council then can choose to accept or take no action. Any changes would not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

City Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo made a suggestion that the commission approach the Jamestown BPU about contributing to the mayor’s salary, “One of the suggestions we had is that the Mayor in his current role serves as Chairman of the BPU Board. The Commission, as a whole, would like to know how much time the Mayor is spending as the Chairman of the BPU Board and whether that time should be compensated by the BPU Board. So that is something we have to explore as a Commission.”

The mayor’s salary is $72,000 and hasn’t been increased since 2008. Council member salaries are $5,000 with the Council President receiving an additional $1,000 stipend. Those salaries haven’t been increased since 1984.

Commission member Pat Smeraldo asked how much salaries have increased for union contracts going back five years, now that all bargaining units are current. Raimondo replied that with looking back five year until now, it’s a 10-12% increase.

General consensus by members is that both the mayor and city council have had an increased workload, especially with social media making it easier to reach out to elected officials.

Tage Hall was selected as the Chair of the Commission. Their next meeting will be 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

Resident Doug Champ (standing at right) addressed the Jamestown City Council on Monday night, Nov. 6, 2017 and questioned why they haven’t been following the city charter during the annual budget process. Specifically, he questioned why Mayor Sam Teresi didn’t present a balanced budget proposal, despite that being a requirement in the city charter.

JAMESTOWN – A city resident took Jamestown officials to task earlier this week for not following the rules of the city charter when it comes to dealing with the city budget.

• READ THE JAMESTOWN CITY CHARTER

During Monday Night’s Jamestown City Council work session, city resident Doug Champ handed out a copy of a section in the city charter dealing with the city budget (Article V: Finance, Section C-39: Budget, Part D. Budget submittal and message) and highlighting the text that stated the mayor is to submit a balanced budget to the council for its consideration.

“It’s somewhat  perplexing that we have a charter and we have laws in the charter that were adopted by this body, and then we kind of don’t follow it,” Champ said. “I understand why you might not want to follow it, because we have a deficit. But then, on the other hand, that deficit needs to be met at some point in time.”

A full copy of portion of the city charter Champ provided for the city council is provided at the end of this report.

Mayor Sam Teresi presented his $35.7 million spending plan last month that included a $947,000 deficit. The previous year he also submitted a spending plan that wasn’t balanced, though the council was able to finally balance it by adding additional state aid to the revenue side of the ledger.  It’s not known yet how the council plans to deal with the budget deficit for 2018.

• Review the Mayor’s Budget Message

In response to Champ’s concerns, Teresi explained that city officials should follow the charger whenever possible, but also added that the financial challenges facing the city in recent years have made it impossible when dealing with the budget. He added that the only way he could present a balanced budget is by using unrealistic revenue projections, and that’s something he doesn’t believe in doing.

“I’m not going to go and lie to my colleagues on the city council and lie to the people of the city that we work for and say the budget is in a balanced position when it’s not. And currently on my own and legally there is no other way to make it balanced, other than in name,” Teresi said. “We’ve got work to do and we’re doing that work right now. In years past where I have been able to deliver a budget that is actually and legally in balance, we’ve done that. But I’m not going to sit here and lie to the members of the public as well as the city council and call something balanced when it is not.”

During his budget presentation, Teresi said that all of the city’s $35.7 million in expenses are required by due to state mandates such as minimum staffing requirements and contract language the city is legally obligated to adhere to. The city has also reached its constitutional taxing limit, so it can not raise property taxes in order to close the spending gap.

The line-by-line budget proposal can be viewed at city hall in the Clerk’s Office or the mayor’s office or at the James Prendergast Library.

In addition to the balanced budget from the mayor, Champ was also concerned that the council is not following the charter when it comes to the budget hearing. The charter states that any amendments to the mayor’s budget proposal should be presented prior to a budget hearing. But just like last year, the council doesn’t plan to have any amendments ready to present to the public during the Nov. 20 budget hearing, and will instead present amendments on the day the budget is actually voted on, which is expected the following week on Nov. 27 during the council’s regular voting session.

The budget deadline is Dec. 1.

A copy of the handout provided by resident Doug Champ to the Jamestown City Council