The initiative by venture and consulting studio, Ally Co, is an initiative to celebrate creativity, grow collaboration, and inspire flourishing through a monthly breakfast that features Ted-style talks, activations, networking, and good vibes.

The launch event on Friday, March 3 will feature Dr. Lillian Ney as the speaker.

The meet-ups will occur every first Friday of the month from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. at The Atelier at 38 N. Main Street in downtown Jamestown.

Individual tickets can be purchased online at www.allyco.org/ally-community-mornings

Jamestown City Council voting session (January 30, 2023)

Jamestown City Council has approved a final installment of funds to the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program.

The additional $377,528 in American Rescue Plan funds will cover any remaining approved applications that could not be funded due to lack of funds in previous rounds.

The Finance Committee had recommended the previous week using $282,856 in ARP funds to make the program whole based on numbers provided by Assessor Lisa Volpe, but Finance Chair and Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund said those figures were incorrect, “So, last week when we went through this she (Volpe) had estimated a $94,000 savings that she approached to us. When I got the final numbers, in talking to her, in talking to the Acting Comptroller, it was provided in error. So, therefore, it had to go back in to make that the $377,000 to bring this whole so that everybody who applied and was accepted and approved will get the project done.”

Total funding for the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program now stands at $1.87 million.

Council also approved using $900,000 in ARP funds for water main replacements and street restoration on Roland Road and Juliet Street. The Department of Public Works and Jamestown Board of Public Utilities recommended the work be done after multiple water main breaks on both streets over the decades.

Ecklund said at this point, $26,230,703 has been spent in ARP funds out the over $28 million received.

A resolution for the City to adopt the New York State Climate Smart Communities Pledge was tabled for more discussion. Ecklund said while the pledge allows the city to apply for certain grants, there were some misunderstandings from the public and council that needed to be cleared up, “And I asked specifically if the legal team had looked at it before we signed anything and they had not. So, just to cover our bases and make sure we’re not locked into something that we can’t get out of, if you will, I would prefer the legal team to look at it.”

Council approved several appointments to boards and commissions from Mayor Eddie Sundquist including appointing Thomas Benson of 141 East Virginia Boulevard to serve on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Board. He replaces Tamu Graham-Reinhardt who has resigned. They also approved appointing Reverend Luke Fodor to the Jamestown Community College Board of Trustees. He will fill out the unexpired term of Dr. Lillian Ney who also had resigned.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley speaks with Chautauqua County Board of Health President Dr. Lillian Ney about recent changes at the County Health Department.

Dr. Lillian Ney (photo courtesy of Jamestown Community College)

Dr. Lillian Ney (photo courtesy of Jamestown Community College)

The Chautauqua County Board of Health President is expressing concern for the County Health Department with the departure of Christine Schuyler.

Schuyler’s last day as Director of the County’s Department of Health and Human Services was Tuesday, November 29 following Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel‘s decision not to renew her contract.

Health Board President Dr. Lillian Ney said she learned from local school district representatives who attended the Board of Health’s meeting Monday, November 28 that Schuyler was an incredible asset to districts in the county during the COVID-19 Pandemic, “The State Health Department was changing rules right and left, and guidelines right and left. It was very confusing. It was a dilemma. It was a tremendous dilemma. And she (Christine) had a calming and common sense of approach to it that the schools really, really appreciated. And as the time grew nearer for her leaving, they were reaching out and saying, ‘Oh my goodness. What are we to do now?'”

Ney said one of her concerns is that there are three major illnesses going on in the public health arena currently with the surge in Influenza A cases, an increase in RSV, as well as COVID still being an issue in the county, “And now we have a deficiency I say, I don’t know if that’s the right word. But we’ve lost two outstanding performers in the Health Department. One is Christine, because Christine is now gone. And Bree Agett, who was our epidemiologist, who is really outstanding as well, she’s now gone. And I just heard yesterday, much to my despair I guess I would say, that we’re losing another of our outstanding nurses.”

Ney added that it is difficult to recruit people to work for the Health Department and that she prays there isn’t another major public health problem, “You know, to recruit to the Health Department at that level in terms of Christine’s ability and Bree Agett’s ability in epidemiology, how are we going to find folks like that in the county? Thankfully, Dr. Michael Faulk, who is a great guy, is going to be chairing the department. I think it’s on an interim basis for now perhaps, but more than likely maybe more going forward.”

Wendel has said further details about the reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services with the Department of Mental Hygiene are expected in early 2023.

JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Mayor-elect Eddie Sundquist has put together a Transition Team and established a series of public input sessions as he prepares to launch his initial mayoral term on Jan. 1.

During a special announcement Friday morning at the National Comedy Center in downtown Jamestown, Sundquist was joined by several supporters and members of his transition team. According to Sundquist, his transition team is a voluntary committee designed to create a community conversation on his priorities, evaluate current city operations, and provide suggestions and recommendations for immediate and long term goals to help ensure a smooth transition from one administration to the next. He also said the team is non-partisan and includes representatives from a variety of community organizations and businesses will be broken down into four subcommittees.

Sundquist said the team will be focused on his top priorities for 2020:

• Creating a City for the Future;
• Strengthening Housing Initiatives and Supporting or Neighborhoods; and
• Tackling Financial Burdens.

“We are embracing openness as we focus on creating the Jamestown of the future,” Sundquist said. “To do that we will build on our strengths, work collaboratively with community partners, businesses, neighborhoods and employee groups. Community input is not only welcome, it is strongly encouraged. We hope to have a good turnout for these public meetings, and I am very pleased with the Transition Team that has been assembled.”

Economic and Business Development Subcommittee

• Rich Dixon, Chief Financial Officer with the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency
• Greg Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of the Gebbie Foundation
• Tory Irgang, Executive Director of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation
• Ricky Turner, President of Blackstone Advanced Technologies.

Housing and Public Safety Subcommittee

• Len Faulk, Professor Emeritus at SUNY Fredonia
• Rev. Luke Fodor, Rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
• Dr. Lillian Ney, former City Council Chair, and former Medical Director and VP of Medical Affairs and Cardiology at WCA Hospital
• Taylor Scott, real estate agent with ERA Team VP Realty.

Financial Stability Subcommittee

• Tom Benson, Managing Director of Vineyard Group, LLC
• Maria Kindberg, Dean of Arts Humanities, & Health Sciences at Jamestown Community College
• Todd Tranum, President and CEO of the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and Executive Director of the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier
• Kristy Zabrodsky, shareholder of Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, P.C.

City Operations and Human Resources Subcommittee

• Andy Johnson, Senior HR Advisor at TitanX Engine Cooling
• Peggy Kaltenmeyer, owner of Forté the Restaurant
• George Panebianco, President of Lewis & Lewis
• Patrick Smeraldo, Teacher/Education Consultant at Jamestown Public Schools/Chautauqua Connections Inc.

Serving as Communications and Public Relations Liaison for the Transition Team is Sheila Webster, Director of Marketing, Communications, and Governmental Affairs for the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce.

Public meetings have been scheduled for December to get input and recommendations from the community. They will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. as follows:

• Economic and Business Development Subcommittee, Thursday, December 5, at Jefferson Middle School
• Housing and Public Safety Subcommittee, Tuesday , December 10, at Washington Middle School
• Financial Stability Subcommittee, Wednesday, December 11, at Persell Middle School
• City Operations and Human Resources Subcommittee, Tuesday, December 17, at Jamestown High School.

“The purpose of these sessions is to listen and to open a dialogue. Primarily, we are seeking input, recommendations, and comments relative to each subject area. This will provide the subcommittees with crucial information as they begin their evaluation process in early January,” Sundquist said. “The experience and diversity of backgrounds in this group is a great starting point. We not only welcome, but invite, all input from all residents of Jamestown.”

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD

Originally airing Thursday, July 18, 2019

Local health officials discuss Lead Poisoning and the effort to remove lead from homes within the community. Guests include Dr. Lillian Ney with the city’s Health Care Action Team, Natalie Whiteman – the county’s Lead Program Coordinator, and Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller – Chautauqua County Health Department Healthy Communities Consultant.

Jamestown Salary Review Commission during its Dec. 5, 2018 meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Salary Review Commission has made a recommendation for salary adjustments for elected officials in the city.

On Wednesday morning the commission met for just over half an hour to discuss and vote on its recommendation for changes to the salaries of the office of mayor and all nine Jamestown city council seats.  It was the second meeting of the commission, with the first taking place last month.

The current annual salary for the office of mayor is $72,000. The annual salary for the nine city council members is $5,000 – with the council president receiving an additional $1000 in pay.

The last time the office of mayor received a salary adjustment was in 2008, while the last time the city council received any salary adjustment was in 1984, more than 30 years ago.

After reviewing what the salary would be if it followed a trajectory of an annual 2 percent increase, the commission voted 5-0 to recommend an increase to the mayor’s annual salary to $85,000 and increasing the council’s annual salary to $10,000, with the council president still receiving an additional $1000. The total increase to the city spending would equal $58,000.

During the discussion, commissioner member Peg Cornell said the salary adjustments are overdue.

“When [this recommendation] is presented to the city council I think we have to talk about the question of equity, because that’s so important. There hasn’t been another employee working in the city of Jamestown that hasn’t received some increase in their salary and I think that’s very important to state, because this is about equity,” Cornell said.

Other commission members pointed out that even with the recommended increase the salary for the mayor’s position would still be in line with other communities of similar size across the state and what they pay their mayor and/or city manager.  And the issue of attracting the best qualified candidates was brought up, with the commission agreeing that a higher salary will bring in a larger pool of potential candidates for the mayor’s office and city council in future years.

The recommendation will now be brought before the city council for its consideration. The council can either act on the recommendation as it is or adjust it. The council also has the option to not take any action at all, in which case the salary would remain unchanged.

If the council were to adjust the salaries, they wouldn’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2020 – following the 2019 elections that includes the mayoral race in addition to the nine council seats that will also be up for a vote.

The last time commission recommendations were brought forward was in 2014. At that time it suggested the council salary be bumped up to $6,000 per year. It also recommended the mayor’s salary increase to $90,000 over a four-year period.  Once the recommendations were made, the council opted not to change the salaries due to ongoing financial challenges facing the city.

The salary review commission is created every four years in accordance with the city charter to review salaries for elected officials and bring forward a recommendation. Its members are selected by the Mayor and City Council president.

The six city residents serving on the 2018 commission are Cornell, Howard Brook, Tyler Case, Cornell, Dr. Lillian Ney, Rev. Chloe Smith, and Catherine Way. Case was the only commission member absent during Wednesday’s meeting and recommendation vote.

The city charter calls for the creation of a salary review commission every four years to review the salary for mayor and members of the council.

Earlier this year the mayor and city council appointed six city residents to serve on the commission. They are Tyler Case, Peg Cornell, Catherine Way, Howard Brook, Dr. Lillian Ney and Rev. Chloe Smith.

The current salary for the office of mayor is $72,000, which has not been increased since 2008. Since 1984, the annual salary for members of the council is $5,000, with $6,000 being paid to the president.

According to the Post-Journal, no official recommendation was made during yesterday’s meeting, where members primarily reviewed the history of the salaries as well as the previous recommendations that were made four years ago, which the city council did not act on.

The next meeting of the commission will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

Any change in salary would have to be acted on by the city council in advance of the 2019 election and wouldn’t go into effect until January 2020.

Jamestown City Councilman and Finance Committee Chair Tony Dolce (second from left) shares details on the Salary Review Commission during the Jamestown City Council voting session on July 30, 2018.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council Monday Night acted on the appointment of all six members of the city’s ad hoc Salary Review Commission.

According to the city charter, the city is required to establish the commission in order to review and make recommendations on the salary for both Mayor and the nine members of the City Council.

The six commission members appointed on Monday are Dr. Lillian Ney, Howard Brook, Chloe Smith, Peg Cornell, Catherine Way, and Tyler Case.

Acting on salary recommendations for elected officials is always a touchy issue, especially when the city is facing major financial challenges, which the city is currently dealing with due to being at its constitutional taxing limit.  That’s why city officials have not acted on any recommendations that have come forward the past 10 years.

Since 1984 the base city council salaries have been at $5,000, while council president’s salary is $6,000. Meanwhile the salary for the mayor is currently $72,000. The last time that was increased was at the start of 2008.

The last time commission recommendations were brought forward was in 2014. At that time it suggested the council salary be bumped up to $6,000 per year. It also recommended the mayor’s salary increase to $90,000 over a four-year period.  Once the recommendations were made, the council opted not to change the salaries due to ongoing financial challenges facing the city.

Any recommendations that come from the current commission will be reviewed by the city council and if officials chose to adjust salaries the changes would not take place until a new city council and mayoral term begins, which would be in the year 2020.

The council has until early 2019 to receive the recommendations and act on any salary increase.

In other news, the city council also approved the appointment John LaMancuso to be a member of the city Planning Commission and Dr. Ney to be reappointed to the Jamestown Community College Board of Trustees.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council held its inaugural voting session on Monday night at City Hall.

Councilwoman Marie Carrubba (D-Ward 4) was tapped to replace previous council president Greg Rabb, who lost reelection in November. She has served on the city council since 2013 and has chaired the council’s housing committee and also served on the public safety committee.  As city council president, Carrubba will preside over all council meetings, appoint its standing and special committees, and perform the duties of mayor in his/her absence. Carrubba will also serve as co-chair of the city’s Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission and was appointed by Mayor Sam Teresi to serve on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities (BPU).

Carrubba is just the second woman to serve as council president, following former council women Dr. Lillian Ney, who was council president a little over a decade earlier.

Rabb, meanwhile, will remain active in city government with a seat at the BPU and on the city Planning Commission. Rabb was appointed by Teresi to serve on the BPU to replace outgoing member Tyler Case. Rabb previously served on the BPU while president of the city council. Case, meanwhile, was appointed to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation.

WOMEN HOLD MAJORITY

For the first time in its history, a majority of women will hold seats on the City Council. Joining Carrubba are council members at large Kim Ecklund (R) and newcomer Vanessa Weinert (D), along with councilwoman Vicki James (D-Ward 3) and Maria Jones (D-Ward 4).  Jones will continue serving on the BPU. Ecklund will serve on the JLDC board.

Councilman Tony Dolce (R-Ward 2) will once again serve as the council’s finance committee chair.

City resident Tim Smeal was appointed to the JLDC as a representative of the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST).  Smeal currently serves as Director of Development at Jamestown Community College and previously had served on the mayor’s ad hoc Downtown Parking Committee.

Also appointed to another four-year term to Public Safety Director was Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings, who’s held that dual role since 2010.

A Complete list of appointments is available below.

LIUZZO VOTES ‘NO’

Prior to voting the council members took their oath of office. Joining Carrubba, Ecklund, Weinert, James, Jones and Dolce were returning council members Brent Sheldon (R-Ward 1) and Tom Nelson (D-Ward 6) along with newcomer Andrew Liuzzo (R-At Large).

Liuzzo was the only council member to vote “not” to electing Carrubba as president.  In all Carrubba received five nominations as president (all from the Democratic members of the council). Others who received nominations were Dolce (two nominations from Sheldon and Ecklund) and Ecklund (one nomination from Dolce). Liuzzo had nominated Jones.  Once nominations had ended, Liuzzo made a motion to vote for the president by secret ballot rather than a roll call vote. His motion didn’t receive a supporting second and was declared dead by city clerk Todd Thomas. The council then voted 8 to 1 in favor of Carrubba as president.

Liuzzo also voted against Teresi’s 27 agency appointments, which were blocked together into a single vote. After the appointments were announced, a motion was made to suspend the rules and vote on the appointments collectively, to which Liuzzo voted “absolutely no.”  He also voted “no” on the actual appointments. All other council members supported both the motion to suspend the rules and the actual appointment vote and they passed 8 to 1.

The Council’s first work session of the new year is set for Monday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room (4th floor) of City Hall.

2018 Mayoral Appointments

* New Appointment
** Council member appointed by Mayor
*** Council President appointment

Department Head:

• Harry L. Snellings  – Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police – Term Expires: 12/31/2021

Zoning Board of Appeals

• Sally Martinez – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• Patricia Calanni – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• Richard Hanson – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• *James Olson – Term Expires: 12/31/2020

Board of Assessment Review

• *Thomas Vitale – Term Expires: 09/30/2022
• Board of Electrical Examiners
• James MacTavish – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• Steve Nowell – Term Expires: 12/31/2019

Board of Public Utilities

• Martha Zenns – Term Expires: 12/31/2019 (filling unexpired term of T. Case/resigned)
• Ralph Wallace – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• Charles Cornell – Term Expires: 12/31/2021
• *Gregory Rabb – Term Expires: 12/31/2021
• **Maria Jones – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• **Marie Carrubba – Term Expires: 12/31/2019

Parks, Recreation and Conservation

• **Vanessa Weinert – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• **Kimberly Ecklund – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• *David Reinhardt – Term Expires: 12/31/2022
• *Aubrey Russell – Term Expires: 12/31/2022

Planning

• Jeffrey Nelson – Term Expires: 12/31/2022
• *Gregory Rabb – Term Expires: 12/31/2022 (Chair)
• ***Thomas Nelson – Term Expires: 12/31/2019

Property Rehabilitation and Conservation Board of Appeals

• *Sandra Stewart – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• Mary Lynne Videll – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• ***Brent Sheldon – Term Expires: 12/31/2019

Riverfront Management Council

• **Kimberly Ecklund – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• *Vanessa Weinert – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• Jade Barber – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• William Stevenson – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• *Luke Fodor – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• *Aubrey Russell               12/31/2020

Strategic Planning and Partnerships Commission

• Paul Leone – Term Expires: 12/31/2022
• ***Marie Carrubba – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• ***Anthony Dolce – Term Expires: 12/31/2019

Veterans Memorial Commission

• Sharon Terwilliger – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• Russell Diethrick, Jr. – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• Tom Abbott – Term Expires: 12/31/2020
• *Daniel Kell – Term Expires: 12/31/2019

Jamestown Local Development Corporation

• **Kimberly Ecklund – Term Expires: 12/31/2019
• *Tyler Case – Term Expires: 12/31/2018 (At Large member)
• *Timothy Smeal               – Term Expires: 12/31/2018 (MAST representative)
• Russell Diethrick, Jr – Term Expires: 12/31/2018 (Chaut. Co. Chamber of Commerce representative)
• John Whittaker – Term Expires: 12/31/2018 (JRC representative)