Jamestown City Council

The agenda is rather light in comparison to recent months, even with the continued inclusion of the resolution to lift the hiring freeze to allow the city to hire eight new firefighters using a $1.8 million SAFER grant.

Council also will review a resolution to replace two dump trucks for $356,240. This will be paid from the New York State DOT CHIPS funding. The trucks being replaced were taken out of service two years ago due to a cracked frame that would no longer pass NYS inspection

The Public Safety committee will vote on several special event permit applications requests including hearing a presentation from Lunar Pyros who are proposing to bring fire dancing to a May 27 Earlybird event and the July 20 through 22 Whirlybird Festival.

A public hearing regarding an amendment to the 2018 Annual Action Plan will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of city hall.

Due to this public hearing, there will not be a meeting of the Housing Committee. All other committees will meet at 7:00 p.m. with the full work session taking place at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend all meetings with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Aftermath of a fire at 258 Crescent Street which is the location of Danielson Oil Company (May 11, 2023)

A fire at a longstanding company in Jamestown has been ruled to be accidental.

Jamestown Police responded to 258 Crescent Street just after 4:00 a.m. Thursday for a burglary alarm and found smoke in the building. Jamestown Fire crews were called out and found heavy fire on the first floor. Crews had the fire under control in 45 minutes. There were no injuries.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said the building is home to family-owned Danielson Oil Company, “They do have fuel oil stored on site as well as various lubricants, greases, motor oils, and diesel fuel. So, we did through the Director of Development Crystal Surdyk the Department of Environmental Conservation was contacted as was the Chautauqua County Haz Mat Team. We did do an onsite assessment and it’s been determined that no chemicals have migrated off the property.”

Coon said there was no structural compromise to the building and the owners plan to continue business at the site.

He said a faulty appliance in a breakroom has been determined to have caused the fire.

Aftermath of a fire at 258 Crescent Street which is the location of Danielson Oil Company (May 11, 2023)

Jamestown Fire crews were called out to a structure fire on Crescent Street this morning.

Jamestown Fire officials report the call came in after 4:00 a.m. for a fully involved structure fire at 258 Crescent Street. The two-story building is home to Danielson Oil Company.

Officials say the building is not a total loss but there are concerns about oil on site.

There were no injuries and the cause remains under investigation.

The City of Jamestown is expected to provide an update late this afternoon.

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 City Council

Council is expected to have the opportunity to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency questions about the grant funding at a special work session that’s yet to be scheduled.

One of the questions Council is likely to ask is whether the number of firefighters to be hired under the SAFER grant can be reduced from the eight that were requested in the grant.

Council also will review a lease extension 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 5-year term lease with the option to renew the lease for two additional 5-year terms.

Council also will hear an update from Grants Writer Paula Pichon on pending grants.

The Public Safety Committee will vote on five special event permits.

The Housing Committee meets at 6:45 p.m. with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full council work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room located on the fourth floor of City Hall. The public is welcome to attend all meetings with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley speaks with Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist about the efforts by the administration to get approval to hire eight firefighters.

Eddie Sundquist

House fire at Allen and Willard Streets (Video Still from Jamestown Fire Department)

The Jamestown Fire Department is investigating the cause of a house fire in the east side.

Fire crews responded to Willard and Allen Streets around 11:30 p.m. Friday night to a house fire.

There were no reported victims or injuries.

Jamestown City Council voting session (April 24, 2023)

Jamestown City Council has approved a settlement to end litigation between the City and the company hired to renovate Tracy Plaza.

The City of Jamestown hired Patterson-Stevens in 2017 to renovate Tracy Plaza, which sits above and also serves as the roof for the city police and fire departments along with the city parking garage.

A lawsuit seeking $2 million was filed in February 2019 by the city and New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal, claiming Patterson-Stevens Inc. was responsible for not properly securing the area, which allowed rain water to damage the police and fire departments below.

That lawsuit was settled in September 2020.

Patterson-Stevens counter-sued the city for breech of contract in July 2020, claiming the city owed over $306,000 in back payment for work that was done at Tracy Plaza in 2018.

The settlement approved Monday night has the City paying Patterson-Stevens $155,000 with Patterson-Stevens paying the city $75,000. Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo said this ends all litigation between the city and Patterson-Stevens.

Council also approved lifting the hiring freeze to allow an Ombudsman to be hired. This position replaces the Associate Corporation Counsel position. The ombudsman will perform human resource duties in the Corporation Counsel’s office.

A resolution also was approved to purchase new finance and payroll software from Springbrook using $106,286 in American Rescue Plan funds. This software will replace the KVS system with the administration saying the upgrade will result in time-savings for staff.

Jamestown City Council discusses resolution to hire eight fire fighters (April 24, 2023)

Jamestown City Council once again tabled a resolution to hire eight new firefighters at its voting session.

Council member at large Jeff Russell made the motion, citing extenuating circumstances, following a lengthy discussion before a packed council chambers that included most of the members of the Jamestown Fire Department.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund cited financial concerns with the three-year $1.8 million SAFER grant, saying that costs presented to council for those three years is $2.1 million which didn’t include overtime costs, working out of title, and comp time.

She said in 2022, personnel expenses in the Fire Department were $250,000 over budget, “Talking financially, this grant will not provide all those previously mentioned items I just talked about as well as training, estimated at $46,000, uniforms estimated at $46,000, and other incidental expenses. While people don’t want to hear this, we as a council have to remain fiscally responsible and understanding the needs of our departments and empathetic to the future of Jamestown.”

Ecklund said based on these numbers, the city could be faced with a $450 to $500,000 total shortfall over the three years of the grant. She said the American Rescue Plan funds used to hire four firefighters in 2022 runs out the the last year of the SAFER grant, which leaves another $382,000 for the city to fund.

Crowd for the Jamestown City Council meeting (April 24, 2023)

Ecklund said a second ambulance would bring in more revenue but running the two ambulances would not bring in the $750 to $900,000 needed. Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon had informed Council previously that the estimated revenue from running two ambulances is about $400,000 total a year.

Council member Marie Carrubba commented that former City Comptrollers Joe Bellitto and Ryan Thompson had both previously stated that the hiring of the four ARPA funded firefighters would “stretch the city’s budget to its limit,” “The idea that we’d hire an additional eight would be unsustainable and we have to look at that. And I don’t always agree with Mr. Champ, but I think you said it very well tonight. We have to be concerned not only with the present, but the future and the financial condition of the city when we are reaching our constitutional taxing limit, when we’re not able to raise taxes, my question to all of the citizens are what do you want us to cut?”

Ecklund asked Mayor Eddie Sundquist if the SAFER grant would allow the city to hire less than the eight firefighters proposed.

Sundquist responded that if Council provides him a number, he can ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency about that. None of the previous discussions by the city administration until Monday’s voting session indicated that the grant allowed the city to hire less than eight fire fighters under the grant.

The motion to table the resolution until May passed with just Council member Regina Brackman voting no.

In a related resolution, Council did approve purchasing a second ambulance for the fire department with $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon addresses Jamestown City Council (April 10, 2023)

Jamestown City Council will vote tonight on whether to hire eight new firefighters.

The positions would be partially funded through a three-year $1.8 million SAFER grant. Council learned at its last work session that the estimated costs of the salaries and the city’s contributions to social security, state retirement, health insurance, worker’s compensation, and a one time purchase of turn-out gear comes out to $2,119,678 over a three year period. That equates to a total of $319,678 the city would have to cover over that three-year period.

City Council members have said their main concern is that they’d be faced with laying off the eight firefighter positions should the city not qualify for another round of federal funding in three years.

In a related resolution, Council also will vote on purchasing a second ambulance for the fire department with $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon told Council that the estimated revenue from running two ambulances is about $400,000 total a year.