Mayor elect Eddie Sundquist discusses his transition strategy during a press conference on Friday, Nov. 22.

[UPDATE (DEC 31, 2019 – 1:40 p.m.)] – The Jamestown City Council reorganization meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 1 at noon at Jamestown Community College’s Scharmann Theater. New Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist will be sworn into office, along with the new members of the Jamestown City Council.

JAMESTOWN – When Jamestown mayor-elect Eddie Sundquist is sworn into office on Jan. 1, his first official duty as mayor will be to fill several administrative positions as well as make appointments (or reappointments) to more than three dozen seats on various city boards and commissions (including three citizen representative seats and one city council representative seat on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities).

As written in the city charter, the mayor is tasked with making appointments to a variety of director positions, along with various boards, commissions and city officers. However, the city council is given the power of consent, meaning any appointment by the mayor must be approved by at least a simple majority of the Jamestown City Council.

“Obviously there is a very limited amount of time for us to find everyone – again 38 spots along with department positions. So if we are able to and after we receive approval from the council – the council will receive the list about a week or two before the (appointment) vote – if we have approval to release it we will do so,” Sundquist said during his transition strategy announcement on Friday.

It should be noted that there is no requirement in the city charter that the mayor first provide a list his prospective appointees to the city council before making it public, let alone that the council must give the mayor persmission to provide the list prior to its review.

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS UP FOR APPOINTMENT ON JAN. 1

Among the administrative appointments Sundquist must make are for the following positions:

• Director of Administrative Services/City Clerk (currently held by acting clerk Jim Olson through Dec. 31, 2019)
• City Comptroller (currently held by Joe Bellitto through Dec. 31, 2019)
• Director of Development (vacated Nov. 12 by Vince DeJoy)
• Director of Public Works (currently held by Jeff Lehman through Dec. 31, 2019)
• Corporation Counsel/HR Director (currently held by Peter Larson through Dec. 31, 2019)

Both current city clerk Jim Olson and current city comptroller Joe Bellitto plan to retire in the near future, though in Bellitto’s case he has stated he would be willing to stay on in 2020 to help transition a new comptroller.

In the case of the director of development, currently city principal planner Crystal Surdyk is coordinating the department through the remainder of this year.

Public works director Jeff Lehman is the longest-serving department head, having been in his position since 1994 and serving under two different mayors (Republican Richard Kimball and current mayor and Democrat Sam Teresi). Lehman has not indicated any plans to step down from his position and it will be up to Sundquist to determine if he should be reappointed for another four years or go with someone else.

Larson was appointed city attorney this past March to fill out the remainder of the term of former corporation counsel Marylin Fiore-Lehman, who announced her departure to take a position with the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office. He has also continued to work for the private practice of Bly, Sheffield, Bargar & Pillittieri since his appointment.

The position of Jamestown Public Safety Director / Police Chief is also an appointed position, which is currently held by chief Harry Snellings. However, the term of that position will not end until Dec. 31, 2021.

THREE BPU SEATS HIGHLIGHT BOARD AND COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS

According to information provided to WRFA by the city clerk’s office, there are 38 different city board and commission seats up for appointment or reappointment on Jan. 1.  Among them are four seats on the Jamestown BPU.

For the BPU, both citizen board members Martha Zenns and Terrance Horner are in the final year of their four-year term. In addition, citizen board member Ralph Wallace is in the final year of his two-year term on the board. Sundquist will also have to appoint a city council representative to the BPU. Currently Maria Jones is serving as the city council’s BPU member, but she lost reelection on Nov. 5 and as a result, another member of the new city council will have to be appointed to her seat. Rounding out the BPU citizen members are currently BPU chair Gregory Rabb  along with Jim Olson (both terms end on Dec. 31, 2021).  The remaining three BPU members will be Eddie Sundquist, who serves as board president by way of his position as mayor, along with the public works director (currently Jeff Lehman) and the president of the city council (currently Marie Carrubba).

(Note: Because Carrubba is a Democrat and the Republican party will take control of the council on Jan. 1, it’s expected a new city council president will be named and, as a result, that person will then assume that seat on the BPU. Speculation is that councilman Tony Dolce will be voted Council president on Jan. 1.)

– OTHER BOARDS/COMMISSIONS –

There are ten other board and commission seats and officer positions that will also need appointment are reappointment come Jan. 1. They include:

Jamestown Local Development Corporation  (4 year term)

• Two seats currently held by George Spitale and Mark Morton plus one city council representative seat, currently held by Kim Ecklund (2 year term)

Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency (4 year term)

• One seat currently held by Martha Zenns

Zonning Board of Appeals (3 year term)

• Three seats currently held by Ellen DiTonto (current chair), Sally Martinez, and Judith Sandson.

Planning Commission (5 year term)

• One seat currently held by Paul Whitford.

Property, Rehabilitation and Conservation Board of Appeals (3 year terms)

• Seven seats currently held by Nanzy Griswold, Mary Maxwell, Sharon McKotch, Gary Sorenson,  and three vacancies.

Parks, Recreation and Conseration Commission (5 year term)

• Two seats currently held by Russell E. Diethrick, Jr. and John Bauer

Riverfront Management Council (3 or 5 year terms)

• One Vacancy; Two designated Parks, Rec. and Con. Commission Member (Currently Russell Diethrick Jr. and John Bauer); One Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Representative; One Roger Tory Peterson Institute Representative; One Jamestown Audubon Society representatives; One Jamestown High School represenative; and three JHS Student representatives (all 5 year terms).

Veterans Memorial Commission (3 year terms)

• Three seats currently held by Charles Telford (chair), Daniel Kell, and Theresa Baginski.

Board of Electrical Examiners (2 year term)

• Two seats currently held by James McTavish and Steve Nowel.

Constable (4 year term)

• Three positions  up for reappointment: Marie Hill (holdover), Camille Krawczyk (holdover), and Michael Berg.

Marriage officer (4 year term)

• Three officers up for reappoinment: Gregory Rabb, Paul Whitford, and Lillian Ney.

“These can be voted on collectively on January 1 or tabled until the next regularly scheduled meeting, probably January 27,” explained city clerk Jim Olson when providing the list to WRFA.

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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.