Jamestown City Council (December 19, 2022)

Jamestown City Council has approved two local laws regarding new ward boundary lines and allowing video conferencing for public meetings.

Council President Tony Dolce said the video conferencing law just codifies what the city has been doing for the last three years, “So our boards, commissions, council meetings, everything is livestreamed. Also, we now have the ability to, if we’re sick or out of town, we can zoom in on the meeting and participate in the meeting as well.”

New York State lifted restrictions on video conferencing of public meetings, but public bodies like city council, school boards, or county legislatures must adopt a local law to authorize it locally.

Under the local law, council must have the minimum number of members present to meet quorum requirements in the same physical location where the public can attend.

The livestream of the meeting must also be recorded and posted on a public website within five business days of the meeting, with the recordings remaining available for a minimum of five years.

Dolce said the local law that establishes new ward boundary lines has been approved as the part of the final steps of redistricting.

He said the city’s Reapportionment Commission took the path of “least resistance,” with few changes to existing wards, “I believe Ward 3 didn’t change at all. The other wards, I think the biggest change I think was between 5 and 6. There was a little bit of a change around Allen Park area. There was a little change between Ward 2 and Ward 1 that actually, where Brent (Sheldon) and I were kidding I’m giving back two streets that he gave to me last time ten years ago, so, to even it back out again.”

The redistricting process takes place every ten years following the Census.

Public hearings have been scheduled on both local laws for Wednesday, December 28. The hearing on the videoconferencing law will take place at 4:45 p.m. with the ward boundary law hearing taking place at 5:00 p.m. Mayor Eddie Sundquist will sign the laws following those hearings.

Jamestown City Council

The new map recommended by the Jamestown Reapportionment Commission has few changes in ward boundaries.

Council also will vote to spend $249,610 to purchase a new excavator for the Department of Public Works. The funding for the equipment is coming from CHIPS (Consolidated Highway Improvement Program)

A resolution to allocate an additional $21,400 for the replacement of Fire Station #4’s roof also will be voted on. The funding will come from American Rescue Plan monies. The project initially was allocated $100,000 in ARPA funding, which was approved in June.

Council also will vote to accept a donation of $2,000 from Rand Machine Products to purchase smoke alarms for the Jamestown Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Outreach Program. All smoke alarms purchased from this donation would be made available through the Fire Department’s existing distribution policy.

And Council will vote on a local law authorizing the use of video conferencing for meetings of public bodies. This law will formally codify the ability for the City to livestream public meetings and to allow council members to attend meetings remotely, if needed.

Council will hold a brief work session at 7:00 p.m. in the fourth floor Police Training Room with the voting session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the second floor Council Chambers in City Hall. All meetings are open to the public with the voting session being livestreamed at jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown City Council work session (September 12, 2022)

Jamestown City Council is looking at how to increase funding to a Senior Citizen Home Improvement program while not completely removing funding for another home improvement program.

Two resolutions being considered would add an additional $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to the Senior Citizen Program and move $500,000 from the Home Improvement Incentive Program. The latter would effectively de-fund the Home Improvement Incentive Program.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said there had been over $1.8 million in requests for the senior citizen program, which had initially been funded with $500,000 of ARPA funds. He said the Home Improvement Incentive Program, which would provide cash rebates to anyone who made over $5,000 in repairs to their home, hadn’t been opened yet

Finance Chair and Council member at Large Kim Ecklund expressed concern over not taking care of senior citizens and neglecting another group, “And making sure that we’re covering everybody and not just one or two groups with ARPA funding. So the lower-income and seniors is great, but we’re missing that middle group who maybe it’s a struggling family, a single parent, doesn’t meet all those other needs. They have a job but they could use some incentives so I think, that I want to be sure of.”

Councilmember Marie Carrubba agreed, saying that people under 62 and not disabled can’t be ignored.

Council members requested an updated application list from City Comptroller John Sellstrom for the Senior Citizen Program.

A local law on the proposed redistricting of City Council Boundaries passed through committee. The City’s Reapportionment Commission voted in August to recommend a set of maps that have little change from the current ward boundaries.

The recommendation was based off of the minimal changes to Jamestown’s population within the last ten years. According to Mayor Sundquist, the local law must sit for 30 days and have a public hearing. Council will likely approve the redistricting at its October voting session.

Council President Tony Dolce said due to a number of council members and staff who will be absent, the September 19 work session for City Council has been canceled. The next meeting of the Jamestown City Council will be their voting session on Monday, September 26.

Jamestown City Council

One resolution would move $500,000 from the Home Improvement Incentive Program to the Senior Citizen Home program. Another resolution would designate an additional $500,000 in American Rescue Plan monies to the program.

According to the staff report, there were over $1.8 million in requests for the program, which had initially been funded with $500,000 of ARPA funds.

Council also will review a local law on the proposed redistricting of City Council Boundaries. The City’s Reapportionment Commission voted in August to recommend a set of maps that have little change from the current ward boundaries.

The recommendation was based off of the minimal changes to Jamestown’s population within the last ten years.

Also on the Council’s work agenda for tonight is a 3-year lease agreement with the Center for Resolution and Justice Program. The CRJ has leased space on the third floor of the Municipal Building for a number of years and the new agreement is for 886 square feet of space. Under the proposed agreement, the organization will pay $350 the first year, $375 the second year, and $400 the third year.

A resolution to accept a $10,044 grant from the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee Police Traffic Services Program will be reviewed. The funding directed at Police Traffic Services will be focused on child safety initiatives. According to the staff report, the Jamestown Police Department will run details to curtail speeding and stop sign violations.

The Housing Committee will hear an informational report on 19A Homeownership Program guidelines.

The Housing Committee meets at 6:45 with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full work session then begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. The meetings are open to the public with the full work session being streamed online at jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown Reapportionment Commission meeting (August 9, 2022)

The Jamestown Reapportionment Commission has unanimously approved new ward lines for election districts in the City.

City Council President and Reapportionment Commission member Tony Dolce said the commission chose to go with the plan with the least changes to ward boundaries, “There weren’t a lot to begin with. Most of the wards were very close to compliance, so it was just moving a neighborhood here or there. And Ward One had the biggest change because they were significantly under (population), so they grabbed a portion of Ward Two and a couple of areas in Ward Six. Other than that, there were a couple areas of Ward Six that went over to Ward Five as well.”

Dolce said the new map didn’t change any major neighborhoods along with maintaining the integrity of current wards, “Nothing changed. There weren’t huge chunks. We didn’t even look at registration numbers. We don’t believe that we’re supposed to do that. There was no concerted effort by anybody to try to reinvent anything or try to draw a whole new map that would favor one side over the other.”

The six-ward map will now go as a recommendation to City Council to approve. Council has until the end of 2022 to approve the map.

Jamestown Reapportionment Commission

The Jamestown Reapportionment Commission has narrowed down possible new district maps to two versions that have 6 wards each.

Jamestown City Council President and Reapportionment member Tony Dolce said the map that changes districts the least in regard to new 2020 census numbers and the map that divides districts along geographic boundaries are the two still being discussed.

He said some Commission members want to see the political breakdown of registered voters in the districts that have lines that are shifting, “Just to make sure we’re keeping them as even as possible. So we want to get the numbers through the Board of Elections to see what are the current political breakdowns – Democrat, Republican, Independent, Conservative. And would the changes we’re proposing in either of the plans make a huge difference one way or another in either of the plans. Just to see how it all sifts out. Because what we want to avoid is any possibility of someone saying, well, we gerrymandered one ward or the other.”

Dolce said the minimal change map shifts only a few hundred people city wide. He added he anticipates it will only take a couple more meetings to wrap up the work.

The next meeting of the Reapportionment Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, July 19. The Commission has until September to submit a plan to City Council for a vote.

Jamestown Reapportionment Commission (May 31, 2022)

The Jamestown Reapportionment Commission has voted to move forward with creating a six ward map for new district boundaries.

Following discussion on whether to go with a five ward map as proposed by Democratic Committee City Chair Jim Walton, including whether to have it go to a referendum, City Council President Tony Dolce motioned to have maps designed with six wards. Alyssa Porter seconded the motion. Walton was the only no vote.

Dolce stated during discussion that reducing the number of wards would mean more work for council members and that the Internet has made it easier to contact and communicate with council members on top of council meetings being online. He said he’s receiving more communications about concerns now than in past decades despite population changes.

The commission received a “least change” map from Executive Assistant Zach Altschuler that moves ward boundaries by just a few blocks. This map, like the staff map submitted on May 24, all have populations within 1% of each other.

Ellen Ditonto expressed her desire to be sure the new wards on the maps keep neighborhoods together so they feel they have proper representation.

Ditonto also emphasized that the Commission will have to be diligent about making sure there is quorum of eligible members at meetings coming up, given that some members of the Commission have inconsistent attendance. One Commission member, Billy Torres, has not attended any of the Reapportionment meetings so far.

According to the City Charter, a member “shall lose his or her voting privilege if not present for a majority of meetings.”

The next meeting of the Reapportionment Commission will be held Tuesday, June 21.

Jamestown Reapportionment Commission member and city councilman Brent Sheldon points to an area of his Ward as he discusses redrawing Ward boundaries with his fellow commission members during the May 24 meeting. 

Jamestown’s Reapportionment Commission reviewed the initial drafts of two separate redistricting maps during its meeting on Tuesday as the 11-member panel continues its work of bringing the city’s Wards into compliance.

Commission members reviewed a draft redistricting plan that contains the current number of six wards, with all populations within 1% of one another. The commission also reviewed an alternate five-ward map – which also saw near-equal populations – after it was initially proposed two weeks ago by commission member Jim Walton.

Both maps were presented by Zach Altschuler, the mayor’s Executive Assistant who is also helping the commission by creating digital copies of the maps, based on the input of commission members.

Altschuler said he focused changing the maps by starting with a portion of Ward 3 that extended into the center of the city, just south of the Chadakoin River.

“That’s kind of what the starting point was, and that creates a whole list of downstream effects, so it was about 1,200 people in that little section there. It’s about a quarter of the ward,” Altschuler said, adding that he was then able to shift other populations into Ward 3 to return it to balance, and worked to do the same to all other Wards until they all were within 1% of one another.

Not only did the draft plan bring near-equal populations to all wards, it also utilized more of the city’s natural boundaries, including the river, railroad tracks and major roadways, as noted by commission chair Pete Johnson. “Well, the thing that jumps out right away to me about that map is just the optics test,” Johnson said. “The optics test very nicely.”

Even though the revised map presented more uniform-looking wards, it was at the expense of making large adjustments to nearly every existing ward boundary. That’s something that didn’t go unnoticed by city councilman and commission member Brent Sheldon.

“I just wanted for you to kind of tweak the wards to get them close and not do such drastic changes,” said Sheldon, who represents Ward 1. “Because there’s some pretty radical changes here. I mean, it does smooth out the wards, but I thought we were just going to do some small changes here and there, just try to equalize the population. I thought that’s what my motion was.”

Five Ward versus Six Ward Map proposals to Jamestown Reapportionment Commission (May 24, 2022)

The commission also reviewed Walton’s proposal to reduce the total number of wards to five – who again cited the city’s shrinking population and the call for smaller government as reasons for reducing the size of the city council. But not all commission members appeared in favor of the proposal, with council president and commission member Tony Dolce again saying it would only mean more work spread out over fewer council members.

Commission member Ellen Ditonto also felt that regardless of how many wards the final plan will have, the commission needs to consider more than just whether or not the boundaries follow natural boundaries.

“I like the natural boundaries, actually. I like using the train tracks and the river as a boundary, but when you look at the people who live in those areas, they’re very different. We have a lot of apartments in certain areas versus many more one-family homes in others. So, I think we need more discussion on some of those topics,” Ditonto said.

At the conclusion of the meeting, all commission members felt the draft maps were a good first step, but would like to see a better comparison. As a result, Committee chair Pete Johnson said they will meet again Tuesday, May 31 to continue the discussion.

“Our next opportunity to look at the maps, we’re going to try to hone in with greater detail on what these proposed changes might look like neighborhood to neighborhood. It doesn’t look like there’s any crazy gerrymandering type of thing going on, so from a purely eyeball perspective it’s a good looking map but the devil’s often in the details,” Johnson said.

The commission has until September 1 to finalize a plan and present it to the full Jamestown City Council for its review and approval.

The reapportionment process takes place every 10 years following the results of the U.S. Census, and the city commission is tasked with proposing new ward boundaries to get the average number of people within each ward to be as equal as possible.

City of Jamestown Ward Map

Jamestown’s Reapportionment Commission will continue the process of redrawing ward boundary lines Tuesday, May 24.

Reapportionment takes place every 10 years following the results of the U.S. Census, and the city’s reapportionment commission is tasked with proposing new ward boundaries to get the average number of people within each ward to be as equal as possible.

Each of the current six wards would need to have 4785 residents apiece in order to have 100% equal population, but the commission agrees that is not possible. State law allows the population numbers to be within 5% of each other, but the commission is hoping to get them within 1% or less.

Based on the 2020 census numbers, all but one of the city’s wards saw population shifts of 130 residents or more. The ward with the largest swing in population was Ward 1, which lost 254 residents. Ward 6 also lost 197 residents. Meanwhile, Wards 2, 4 and 5 each gained 136, 161, and 151 residents, respectively. Ward 3 saw little-to-no change, with an increase of just 5 residents.

Because of the changes in population, the commission will likely have to adjust boundaries for all six wards in order to meet its goal of populations that are within 1% or less.

During its last meeting on May 10, the commission actually voted to move forward with drawing two different versions of the updated city ward maps – one with the current number of six wards and another with only five wards. When it meets on Tuesday, it will review those draft maps and then consider any further adjustments as requested by its 11 voting members.

Once the maps are finalized, the commission will make a final vote on what to recommend to the city council, which has final approval on the reapportionment process. The deadline for that recommendation is September 1.

On Tuesday, the city’s Reapportionment Commission held its second meeting of the year and further looked into the process of drawing ward boundaries. The commission also voted to move forward on drawing two maps – one that would maintain the current number of six wards, and another which would remove a ward and reduce the number down to five.

The idea of removing the ward seat was put forward by commission member and chair of the city’s Democratic party Jim Walton. He said the city’s shrinking population justifies eliminating a ward, adding that he also would support removing all three at large seats as well, “I’d like to get rid of all the at-large numbers. I’d like to go to five council people. The trend even with the county is to end up with less people, less legislators cause there’s less people.”

Walton added that each council member is $5,000 a year in salary, so by eliminating four seats, it would help to save money, “If you take out four that’s $20,000. If you wind up taking out two that’s $10,000. That’s the advantage. Everyone is looking for smaller government. I think we ought to be out there championing that cause instead of trying to figure out a way we can stay in the status quo as the population continues to decline.”

Not everyone on the commission was in favor of reducing the number of wards. Commission member Tony Dolce, who is also the current City Council President, voiced concern about an increased workload with fewer council members, “The problem with that is that it changes the whole structure of committees and work load and stuff like that because as it is you have four committees. Some people are on multiple committees. It’s a lot of extra work.”

In addition to his proposal, Walton put forward a draft map that contained only five wards. It will be developed into a more detailed, interactive map. Meanwhile, an updated six-ward map will also be created by tweaking the existing ward lines so that they all come within one percent of containing 4,785 residents – the number needed to have an equal number of residents in all six wards under the 2020 census count.

Commission chair Pete Johnson said city staff will develop two proposals in the coming weeks and the commission will meet again to review, “We’re going to see whether the current six wards can be tweaked to try to get a balance across those six, hopefully within 50 individuals, plus or minus. Then also to consider the possibility of moving from six down to five wards and what that might look like.”

The commission will meet again on May 24 to continue the discussion. Under the city charter, it is required to finalize and approve a plan by September 1.