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Jamestown city councilman Andrew Liuzzo (left) shares his thoughts and concerns regarding recent amendments to the bylaws of the Jamestown Local Development Corporation during the council’s Feb. 12 work session. The bylaw amendments included a transfer of the power of appointment for three of the nine JLDC board seats. During the meeting the council learned it did not have the ability to amend any of the JLDC bylaws.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council has received an update on the question of whether or not it would be able to make changes to the bylaws of the Jamestown Local Development Corporation (JLDC).

On Monday night City Attorney Marilyn Fiore-Lehman and City Clerk Todd Thomas explained why changes were made to the JLDC bylaws late last year without needing approval by the City Council.

Under the JLDC’s original bylaws, it stated that any amendments approved by the JLDC board of directors must also be approved by the full city council before going into effect.  However, the JLDC approved its new bylaws at the end of November 2017 and they immediately went into effect, without approval of the city council.

• Original 1981 JLDC Bylaws [PDF]
• Updated 2017 JLDC Bylaws [PDF]

Fiore-Lehman explained that because the city council had signed off on a new Certificate of Incorporation earlier in 2017, it meant that the JLDC could unilaterally change its bylaws without needing final approval from the city council.

“With the adoption of the certificate of incorporation which was approved by the State of New York, it essentially eliminated the need for the council to approve any further changes or amendments to the JLDC bylaws,” Fiore-Lehman said.

The issue of the bylaws being changed without council approval became a concern earlier this year with new council member Andrew Liuzzo (R-At Large), who noted that among those JLDC bylaw changes was a rule that shifts the power of appointment for three JLDC board seats from the organizations they represent over to the mayor, when the president of any of those respective organizations is unable to serve.

Liuzzo said he felt the changes gave the mayor too much power in deciding the makeup of the JLDC board and asked if it was possible for the city council to act on amending that section of the bylaws back to how it was originally written.  Under the revised bylaws, Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi was able to appoint Jamestown Community College director of development Tim Smeal to represent the Manufacturer’s Association of the Southern Tier (MAST) on the JLDC board, rather than go with MAST’s selection of John Zabrodsky.

Last week Jamestown Mayor Teresi asked both Fiore-Lehman and Thomas to research the matter.

“What came out [of the research] is that the city council has never had the authority to change the [JLDC] bylaws,” Thomas explained. “Previously under the older documents there was the possibility of approval for changes that originated with the corporation, but it is a separate not-for-profit corporation akin to the Humane Society, or Infinity, or anything else. It’s just that the genesis [of the JLDC] came out of the city.”

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Following Thomas’s explanation, Liuzzo then asked if it was possible for any of the three city council members who serve on the JLDC board to bring a resolution forward at the next JLDC meeting so it can at least be voted on.

“I’m just saying that we have an opportunity to make things right,” Liuzzo said. “Not everything we do is correct. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we just need to look at it and say, ‘maybe we should change this and make things right.'”

The three council members that currently serve on the JLDC board are council president Marie Carrubba (D-Ward 4) and finance committee chair Tony Dolce (R-Ward 2) who each serve due to their respective roles on the city council. In addition, councilwoman Kim Ekclund (R-At Large) also serves as a city council appointee of the mayor.  All three appeared to be in support of the bylaw changes and as a result it’s unlikely they would bring the requested amendment resolution to the JLDC board.

The JLDC is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Jamestown City Council in April 1981 which serves as the lending agency of the City of Jamestown’s Department of Development. Recently it has been proposed that the JLDC serve as the purchasing agent of the city’s wastewater treatment plant by borrowing money to make the purchase and then using rates from the Board of Public Utilities Wastewater division to pay back the loan. The plan could generate as much as $16 million and serve as a capitol fund to address various city needs, including infrastructure, equipment and vehicles, and property tax stabilization.

JAMESTOWN (Jan. 26, 2018) – The mayor of Jamestown now has more power when it comes to making appointments to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation’s (JLDC) board of directors.

The JLDC was established in 1981 to serve as the not-for-profit lending agency of the city, in order to provide low interest loans to help spur economic development. The JLDC was originally set up to include a board of directors, that would authorize loans while also providing oversight of the organization. As part of its establishment, the JLDC was required to follow a set of bylaws to serve as a guide for governance and regulation of its affairs.

In 2016 and 2017 the Jamestown City Council approved three separate resolutions related to updating the JLDC bylaws. Action was taken during the June 2016 council voting session, the April 2017 council voting session, and the August 2017 council voting session. In all three instances the council voted unanimously in support of the resolutions.

• Original 1981 JLDC Bylaws [PDF]
• Updated 2017 JLDC Bylaws [PDF]

At the time of each vote, the action received little to no attention by the media or public in general. The proposed updates were also not discussed in any council committee meeting or work session prior to action. In fact, during each respective voting session the resolutions were introduced as “new business,” meaning there was no advanced public notice that they were going to come before the council. Also, when it finally came time for the council to vote on the updates, they were mainly described as a “procedural update” that involved “minor revisions” or “clean up language.”

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi did discuss the proposed changes during a 2016 JLDC meeting, saying that the proposed updates were the result of recommendations from legal counsel.

“Several months ago it was advised by Corporation Council and City Bond Council that the by-laws and certificate of incorporation be reviewed. Everything is in good order, but there was recommendation that some of the language be updated,” The minutes report the mayor saying during the JLDC’s October 2016 meeting. “City Council authorized submission of updates to the Department of State. When received back, the Board will be updated and provided with copies of updated by-laws and certificate of incorporation.”

However, earlier this month the revised JLDC bylaws were posted on the city website and they show the changes involved more than just minor revisions and clean up language.  Not only do the changes account for the possession of assets (likely in anticipation of a proposal to have the JLDC purchase the city Wastewater Treatment Plant), but some also involve transferring the power of appointment for three of the nine JLDC board seats.

MAST, Jamestown Chamber, JRC Presidents Can No Longer Appoint Their Own Representatives

Under both the original and revised JLDC bylaws, three JLDC board seats are to be filled by the presidents of the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce, Manufacturer’s Association of the Jamestown Area (today the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier, or MAST), and Downtown Jamestown Business Association (today the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation, or JRC).

The original bylaws also stated that if the president for each of those respective organization was unable to serve on the board (because they are not a resident of the city, for example), he/she would then have to appoint a qualified member from his/her organization to serve. But under the recently revised bylaws, that appointment power was removed from each of the three respective presidents and given to the mayor:

(Editors Note: WORDS CROSSED OUT are removed text from the original 1981 by-laws. WORDS IN RED are added text from the revised 2017 by-laws)

“Every Each Director shall be a resident of the City of Jamestown. In the event a Director, to be seated by virtue of office or title, is not a resident of the City of Jamestown, he shall appoint a member from his organization to serve on the Board of Directors, said appointee shall reside in the city of Jamestown or chooses not to serve on said Board, the Mayor of the City of Jamestown shall appoint an official from said organization, who resides in the City of Jamestown to serve on the Board of Directors.”

Another change in appointment power deals with how vacancies will be filled, giving that power solely to the mayor.  The original bylaws stated:

“Any vacancy on the Board of Directors arising at any time and from any cause, including an increase in the number of Directors by amendment of the Certificate of Incorporation or the By-Laws, may be filled within ninety days at any meeting of the Board of Directors by a majority of remaining Directors or the Directors then in office, as the case may be, or thereafter, by members at a special meeting of members called for the purpose.”

The revised bylaws state:

“Any vacancy on the Board of Directors arising at any time and from any cause, including an increase in the number of Directors by amendment of the Certificate of Incorporation and the By-Laws, may be filled within ninety days by the Mayor of the City of Jamestown.”

Yet another change was the addition that tthe city council president would serve as Vice President of the JLDC board.

• REVIEW ALL REVISIONS TO JLDC BYLAWS [PDF]

MAST President Disappointed with Changes to the Bylaws

Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers’ Association president Todd Tranum

Among those critical in the changes to the bylaws is Todd Tranum, president of MAST.

Tranum is precluded from serving on the JLDC Board because he is not a resident of Jamestown. Under the original JLDC bylaws, he would have the ability to select who serves in his place.

When the MAST seat on the JLDC board was vacated by Justin Hanft in mid 2017 because he moved out of the city, Tranum wanted to appoint former BPU chair John Zabrodsky to the seat and he tells WRFA he informed the Department of Development of his decision in May 2017.  However, that appointment wasn’t acted on when the JLDC held its next meeting in December 2017. Instead, according to the Post-Journal, the JLDC acted on accepting the new bylaws.

The revised JLDC bylaws were finally reviewed and authorized by the state at the end of 2017. As a result, Mayor Sam Teresi – using his new power of appointment for that seat – appointed JCC development director Tim Smeal to the board as part of his slate of 2018 appointments. Those appointments were all approved by the city council, 8 to 1, during its Inaugural Meeting on Jan. 8.

“This is a continuation of Mayor Teresi’s and (Department of Development) Director Vince DeJoy’s attempts to limit the voice and input of the business community,” Tranum said in an email to The Post-Journal in December following the JLDC meeting, and also reiterated to WRFA. “The mayor and the director of development’s methods are not business friendly, inspire distrust and undermine efforts to improve the local economy. The business community will not be silenced.”

When WRFA spoke with Mayor Teresi about the bylaw changes, he said they were done to reflect what had already been taking place in practice and pointed out they were the culmination of a year-and-a-half long process. While it’s evident the bylaw updates were approved by the council in three separate public votes, it’s also worth noting there appears to be no actual public discussion or detailed explanation of what specifically was being changed before voting actually took place.

EDITORS NOTE [Jan. 28, 2018]: A previous version of this story erroneously reported the original JLDC bylaws had no language in place regarding who would serve as president. This is incorrect. The language regarding the Mayor being elected as President of the JLDC board, was listed in another area of the 1981 bylaws (Article IV).

TIMELINE OF JLDC BYLAW CHANGES

As noted above, it appears that none of the changes in the bylaws were publicly reviewed and discussed by the city council prior to their action. A timeline of the related action, along with comments from city officials, is outlined as follows:

June 2016 – City Council Voting Session

Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association president and CEO Todd Tranum talks during the Jamestown City Council’s public hearing on the 2018 city budget.

[Editors Note: This story was revised on Jan. 12, 2018 to correct the details regarding how a member of the JLDC board of directors can be appointed, both under the original bylaws and under the new bylaws.  WRFA had incorrectly stated the rules regarding bylaws in the original version of this story. We apologize for the inaccuracy.]

JAMESTOWN – The head of the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST) is offering his thoughts on the recent inaugural meeting of the Jamestown City Council.

The meeting on Monday night saw the election of a new council president in Marie Carrubba, (D-Ward 4) along with the appointment and reappointment of more than two dozen city residents to various city agencies, boards, and commissions.

Chamber president Todd Tranum told WRFA on Tuesday that it was truly an historic moment with the swearing in of the new council, which for the first time in the city’s 132 year history, is comprised of a female majority.

“This is certainly a major achievement and something we should celebrate. Hopefully this will be an inspiration for more women to enter leadership roles in our community. Certainly want to congratulate Marie Carrubba in being voted on as president of the city council,” Tranum said.

While offering his comments on the new city council, Tranum also acknowledged the actions of newly elected councilman Andrew Liuzzo (R-At Large), who voted against not only suspending the rules of order for voting on 27 different mayoral appointments, but also voted against the appointments themselves. Rather than voting for each appointment on its own as the city charter requires, a motion was made Monday night to block all the appointments into a single vote and it was approved 8 to 1, with Liuzzo casting the lone “no” vote.

Andrew Liuzzo

Liuzzo also felt the election of the city council president should have been done by secret ballot rather than a public roll call vote. He told WRFA on Tuesday that he felt a ballot vote would encourage more honesty by each individual council member. No other council member supported his motion for a ballot vote and he was the only council member to not vote for Carrubba as council president.

“I want to acknowledge councilman Liuzzo’s efforts to challenge the status quo. We need more of that in the community,” Tranum said. “We are certainly glad he is in a position to be able to ask some of the important questions.”

Tranum wouldn’t comment on any specific appointments that were made Monday night, but did say that, generally speaking, some were not in line with the needs of the Chamber and MAST.

“This is certainly a continued effort to alienate the business community and our organization. We are used to it. The business community is used to it. I’m used to it,” Tranum said. “This has been going on for a long time. We and many others have tried to work collaboratively and proactively with this mayor for the past 17 years. He clearly does not value what we have to say and he thinks he has better ideas.”

Tranum has been critical of Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi for not appointing individuals who are recommended by the Chamber and MAST to agencies like the BPU and JLDC.

Under the current JLDC bylaws, the board must include the presidents of MAST, the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce, and the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation. When those individuals are unable or unwilling to serve, the mayor then has the power to “appoint an official from said organization, who resides in the City of Jamestown to serve on the [JLDC] Board of Directors.”

However, those bylaws were only recently changed midway through 2017. The original bylaws, enacted at the formation of the JLDC in 1981, stated that the president of each of the three organizations shall be the one who makes the appointment when he/she is unable to serve.

Prior to the updated bylaws being finalized, Tranum said he notified the JLDC that he wanted to appoint former BPU Chair and city resident John Zabrodsky the JLDC board of directors as a representative of MAST.  The vacancy for the MAST representative opened up after the previous MAST representative, Justin Hanft, left the board in mid 2017 due to moving out of the city.  Transum said that instead of honoring his appointment as laid out in the original bylaws, the JLDC opted to leave the seat vacant until after the new bylaws were in place, giving the power of appointment to the mayor, who then appointed Jamestown Community College Development Director and city resident Tim Smeal to fill the vacancy. That appointment was approved by the city council during Monday’s meeting.

According to the Post-Journal, the JLDC bylaws were recently revised to address filling a vacancy on the board, because the former bylaws didn’t address it. As a result in the changes, the bylaws state the mayor can appoint city resident to serve as the MAST representative when a vacancy occurs, so long as that resident is affiliated in some way with the agency. Because JCC is a member organization of MAST and Smeal is an employee of JCC, he qualifies as a representative for MAST.

In addition to several re-appointments to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, the council also approved several appointments to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation (JLDC) board of directors, including one individual to ensure representation by the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST).

City resident Tim Smeal, who currently serves as Director of Development at Jamestown Community College and previously had served on the mayor’s ad hoc Downtown Parking Committee, was appointed as the MAST representative.

The appointment comes following concerns voiced last month by MAST president Todd Tranum that the board needs to have MAST representation, as outlined in the JLDC Bylaws, following the departure of former MAST representative Justin Hanft, who moved out of the city last year. Tranum said MAST had requested that former BPU chair John Zabrodsky be appointed to replace Hanft, but that request was not acted on and instead, Teresi opted to go with Smeal – who qualifies as MAST representative because of his employment at JCC.

Teresi was allowed to appoint his own MAST representative because of a recent amendment to the JLDC Bylaws that removed the JLDC appointment power from the MAST president. Under JLDC bylaws, the MAST president is to serve on the JLDC only if he is a resident within the city. But because Tranum resides outside of the city, another individual connected to MAST must be appointed in his place.

Other JLDC appointments included:

• Kimberly Ecklund (Jamestown City Council representative);
• Resident Tyler Case (At Large member)
• Russell Diethrick (Chaut. Co. Chamber of Commerce representative)
• John Whittaker (Jamestown Renaissance Corporation representative)

Also on the JLDC board are newly elected council president Marie Carrubba and city council finance chair Tony Dolce, by virtue of their positions on the council.

The JLDC is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Jamestown City Council in April 1981 which serves as the lending agency of the City of Jamestown’s Department of Development. No taxpayer dollars are used as loan money.  Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi has also proposed having the agency purchase the city’s wastewater treatment plant in an effort to raise capitol for the city to help pay for infrastructure improvements and equipment purchases, along with going toward a tax stabilization fund.

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JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council has approved a resolution to move forward with selling the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) Wastewater Treatment Plant to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation (JLDC).

The Jamestown City Council during the Dec. 18, 2017 voting session.

During Monday Night’s City Council voting session, nine different people spoke to the council and asked members to vote against or table the waste water treatment resolution.

Despite the concerns, the council eventually voted unanimously to approve the resolution. However, prior to the vote city councilman and finance committee chair Tony Dolce assured those in attendance that the vote was not to sell the plant, but only to keep the process moving forward.

“There have been some excellent questions/concerns brought forward by many of the members tonight,” Dolce said. “I just want to assure the public and the people that are here that this marks the beginning, or the initiation, of the possible process…. This has to go through JLDC, it has to go through the BPU board, it has to come back through a series of resolutions to the city. Many of the questions that came up tonight are questions that will have the be answered before an actual sale can take place.”

Some in attendance said that matter appeared to be an 11^th hour effort by the city to address its financial challenges, which Dolce said is simply not the case.

“tonight’s vote is not an eleventh hour thing. It has to take weeks and possibly months to vet this out, look at the possibility, and if there are legal objections, or either of the boards or this council feel that that this is not an appropriate way to go, there will be plenty of time to put a halt on it, to stop it, and go in a different direction,” Dolce said.

Earlier this Month Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi announced the city was looking into selling the plant to the JLDC as a way to inject a large amount of capital into the city coffers so it could be used to pay for infrastructure and equipment needs that will run into the millions of dollars, while also putting some of the money into a tax stabilization fund.  The plant is valued at $18 to $20 million. The BPU would then pay the JLDC to use the plant, with the money coming from wastewater fees collected by the BPU and used to pay off the bonds the JLDC would have to take out to make the purchase. The plant itself would be used as collateral.

• VIEW CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT PROGRAM (PRESENTED DEC. 4)

Teresi said that because the city has reached its constitutional tax limit, it can’t borrow money through traditional bonding methods. He said that the proposal gives the city an alternative method of raising a large sum of money and instead of using taxes to pay it back the city would use rate payments from wastewater customers, located both inside and outside of the city.

• LISTEN TO WRFA’S INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR REGARDING WASTEWATER PLANT PROPOSAL

PUBLIC CRITICAL OF PLAN, REQUESTS MORE DETAILS

Some of those who voiced concerns about the proposed sale of the Wastewater Treatment Plant during Monday’s city council meeting included (clockwise from upper left): Todd Tranum, Greg Lindquist, Dan Heitzenrater, and Edward Premo.

Members of the public, including the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST), question the plan and feel that it will hurt business and economic development while also risking the stability of the BPU and JLDC.

Attorney Edward Premo – from the Rochester area law firm Harter Secrest & Emery – is representing MAST on the matter and spoke to the council about the issues the organization has with the proposed sale.

“Members of MAST are very concerned about what the city council is considering doing. They are very concerned about this being a step in the dismantling of the BPU,” Premo said. “We believe that the sale of the wastewater treatment plant and facilities not only violates the laws in the city of Jamestown, but also violates the laws concerning the JLDC.”

Premo then raised five legal concerns MAST has with the proposal. They are:

1. The Wastewater System cannot be sold without a majority vote of all residents, per the city charter;
2. The Wastewater System cannot be sold while it is still in use;
3. The BPU cannot pass through JLDC debt service to system users;
4. Users will be charged double for the same system;
5. As a lending agency, the JLDC doesn’t have the power to acquire nor bond for the Wastewater System.

• READ FULL LETTER TO CITY OUTLINING MAST CONCERNS/ISSUES

Also addressing the council and raising concerns were Todd Tranum, president of MAST and the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, former BPU chair John Zabrodsky, former BPU member and Weber Knapp financial officer Wayne Rishell, who said that so far there has been no transparency regarding what impact the sale would have on waste water rates, as well as specific details on how the money from the sale would be spent.

Others who voiced concerns included labor representative David Wilkinson, town of Ellicott councilman-elect Dan Heitzenrater, and residents Doug Champ, Greg Linquist,  Raven Thompson.

The matter will continue to be discussed, perhaps as early as Tuesday afternoon when the JLDC board meets at 4:30 p.m.

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JAMESTOWN – Jamestown city officials were bombarded with concerns and questions regarding a proposal to sell the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities wastewater treatment plant to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation (JLDC) in an effort to leverage money for infrastructure, vehicle and other capitol purchases, and to help address the city’s growing financial challenges.

Last week Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi presented the proposal to sell the wastewater treatment plant, located in the Town of Poland, to the JLDC for between $18 and $20 million. The JLDC would take out bonds to purchase the plant outright from the city of Jamestown, and the city would then then pay to lease the plant for use until the bonding was fully paid off. At that time, the property would revert back to city ownership. The payments for the lease-to-own agreement would come from wastewater rates collected from throughout the wastewater service area, which includes areas outside of the city limits.

The mayor said such a move would be a monetization of assets, allowing the city to not only pay for infrastructure and capital improvements for the BPU and city operations, but also help establish a tax stabilization fund for the city.  In return, the mayor has said the move would benefit local business and even help spur job creation.

Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association president Todd Tranum.

On Monday night, the Jamestown City Council held a work session in the mayor’s conference room, which was filled with individuals who had questions about the proposal, as well as numerous concerns.

Among those who spoke was Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier president Todd Tranum, who called the plan reckless.

“A point of concern is that no preliminary numbers or perfoma have been put together related to this transfer. It puzzles us as to how a decision can be made next Monday without at least a preliminary understanding of how this could impact rate payers, of how this is going to cash flow, and how this is going to be funded. From our perspective this sale to the JLDC is a reckless scheme,” Tranum said.

Tranum also said that it’s his understanding that the sale of the plant, even if from one city agency to another, would require a public referendum before it could be completed, saying that the council’s unilateral action to sell the plant would be a violation of the city charter.

“Under Sections 51 and 52 of the City Charter, neither the City Council nor BPU can sell or lease the waste water treatment plant to any person or corporation unless authorized by a special election vote. Our counsel has advised us that even a sale to a local development corporation still requires voter authorization under the Charter,” Tranum said.

A portion of Section 51 of the city charter states:

Neither the City Council of said City nor the Board of Public Utilities shall have the power or authority to sell or lease any public utility system to any person or persons, corporation or corporations except when authorized by a vote of the resident taxpayers of the City at a special election.

Joining Tranum in voicing concerns was former Jamestown BPU member and chairman John Zabrodsky.

“This sale will do nothing but subject this city and our greater community to legal, financial, and political difficulties, Zabrodsky said. “This type of decision needs careful consideration, a formal plan, and significant due diligence. One could say making such a decision without planning and due diligence is reckless. It seems as though the city administration is taking the approach in order to avoid transparency and make it easier to take profits of a successful enterprise fund to try and fill the bottomless holes of its budget.”

John Zabrodsky addresses the Jamestown City Council during its Dec. 11 work session.

Also addressing the council was city resident, development consultant, and former Jamestown Renaissance Corporation Executive Director Greg Lindquist.

“From my perspective and as a property tax payer in the city of Jamestown, I as much as anyone else would like to have property taxes under control. I would love to pay less in property taxes, but I do not want to leverage our future in order to accomplish that and that, I feel, is what would occur with the sale of the wastewater treatment facility to JLDC,” Lindquist said.

Lindquist was also concerned with what would happen to the lending funds at the JLDC’s disposal, since they may have to be used to leverage the bonding needed for the agency to purchase the wastewater plant.

City Officials Don’t Respond to Concerns, Questions, Due to Litigation

Tranum also stated Monday night that the chamber and MAST have hired the law firm Harter Secrest & Emery LLP as legal council and will be in touch with the city corporation council later this week. As a result, city attorney Marylin Fiore-Lehman instructed the council members and mayor that they shouldn’t address any questions or publicly comment on the matter because of the possibility of litigation.

“Based on Mr. Tranum’s comments that he has retained council, and that that council will be contacting the city, I would recommend that both the council members and the mayor refrain from making comments at this time until we have the opportunity to discuss the matter further with Mr. Tranum’s council,” Fiore-Lehman said.

Afterward, Tranum voiced his frustration with the city’s unwillingness to address the various concerns and questions that had been brought forward…

“responsible government is transparent and what we saw today at this meeting is one more example of things being done behind the scenes, things being manipulated in such a way that certainly doesn’t benefit the taxpayers or in this case the ratepayers when it comes to a utility and its really unfortunate that it’s come to this,” Tranum said.

Earlier this month Teresi had said that a draft resolution on moving the proposal forward would come before the council, though one wasn’t presented or discussed during last night’s work session.

WRFA will talk with Mayor Teresi about the proposal during this week’s Community Matters program, which will air at 5pm Thursday on WRFA.

The meeting will be the first for the three new members of the BPU, who were appointed by Mayor Sam Teresi and approved by the Jamestown City Council at the start of the year to replace three previous members. The three new members will be Tyler Case, Terrance Horner, and Ralph Wallace who are replacing John Zabrodsky, Wayne Rishell and Carl Pilliterri, after Teresi made the controversial decision not to reappoint the three long-time board members.  Zabrodsky, Rishell, and Pilliterri were each opposed to Teresi’s proposal in recent years to use BPU profits as a revenue stream to balance the city’s annual operating budget.

Because Zabrodsky had served as the chair of the BPU, there will also be a new board chairman for the first time in several years. An article in Monday’s Jamestown Post-Journal says the new chair will likely be Chuck Cornell or Martha Zenns, who are the two other community representatives who serve on the board and who were both appointed in 2014.

Monday’s board meeting begins at 4 p.m. at the BPU administrative offices and is open to the public.