Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo makes case for new ombudsman position to City Council (April 17, 2023)

Jamestown City Council heard the case for bringing back the Ombudsman position to fill human resources needs.

Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo has requested the title be brought back to replace the recently vacant Assistant Corporation Counsel position in his office. He said the salary range for the position is around $54,000 to $85,000. The position is currently funded through the end of 2023.

City Council President Tony Dolce voiced concern that the city would have to fund two full time positions when the ombudsman position was eliminated over 20 years ago to save money, “As you look into 2024, you have to consider, especially if you’re going to go to a higher range within that someone is hired and they move up and they keep moving up. That’s obviously going to have a long term effect down the road on the budget to have a full time Corporation Counsel and a full time Ombudsman. You could be at some time doubling the costs that you have.”

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said human resources needs of the city have changed “tremendously,” “We’re seeing more and more mental health issues. We’re seeing more and more disputes between employees that we’ve not seen in many, many years. And our EAP only covers so much of that. And so we’re trying to bring an HR position in to assist in that process on top of the litigation that Mr. Raimondo is currently engaging in, which council is aware of, that will take a significant amount of time.”

Council member Marie Carrubba agreed that there are more HR issues for businesses today than in the past and that it would be difficult for the Corporation Counsel to wear “both hats.”

Council also reviewed a request to purchase new accounting software.

The City chose Springbrook Software following a request-for-proposal process. Mayor Sundquist said the bid of $63,986.50 for the purchase and $42,300 annual maintenance cost is higher than the bid received in Fall 2022 due to the former request not including an accounts receivable feature.

The software would be purchased using American Rescue Plan funds and would replace the KVS accounting system that’s been in use by the city since the early 2000s.

Sundquist said the new software would help the city continue digitizing some of its paperwork, “It would also allow us to approve purchase orders and that sort of things for departments as well move all of our timesheets online. Right now we do all timesheets on paper, as well as paper slips for each different departments. It would also allow employees their own access, in fact this is something we’re getting from a lot of the newer employees, which is the ability to see their paystub and not get a paper stub, as well as to change their tax filings.”

Sundquist noted the software will free up staff time and have cost savings in paper purchases. He added that the last audit of the City recommended that the city move to this kind of system.

Jamestown City Council

The resolution would purchase Springbrook Software using $63,986.50 of American Rescue Plan funds to replace the KVS accounting system that’s been in use by the city since the early 2000s. The annual cost for the new software is $42,300.

Council held off on approving the purchase of this same software in October 2022 after learning it hadn’t been reviewed by the city’s IT department. Council member Marie Carrubba also requested that council be provided a reference list of other municipalities who use the software in New York State.

The resolution for the purchase at that time requested $91,683 in American Rescue Plan with annual maintenance costs being listed as $19,405. According to Council member at Large Kim Ecklund‘s comments at the meeting, the current KVS system’s annual maintenance costs are in the $17,000 range.

The staff report for the current resolution said the software was chosen after a Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process, adding that the Comptroller, City Clerk, and IT department performed various demonstrations to confirm functionality. The software has new features, including online portals for each employee to see payroll and tax data.

Council will resume discussions on the resolution to hire eight firefighters. Council members have been requesting additional information on the financial impact of the hirings, including how the administration proposes continuing to fund the positions once the three-year SAFER grant from the federal government runs out.

City officials have said that the purchase of a second ambulance will help bring in revenue that will help bridge that gap. Council members also requested a cost versus revenue comparison for the current ambulance owned by the city in addition to estimates on the amount of revenue that might be brought in by the second ambulance. A resolution to use $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to purchase that second ambulance appeared on Council’s agenda on April 10.

The operation of that vehicle depends on the additional hiring of firefighters.

Discussions on hiring an ombudsman will continue tonight, presuming the administration provides council with the salary schedule and cost-out requested by the City Council Finance Committee.

The position would replace the Associate Corporation Counsel position that’s now vacant in the Corporation Counsel’s office.

The City Council work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. There are no committee meetings due to lack of agenda items. The public is welcome to attend with the meeting being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.