Jamestown City Council voting session (May 22, 2023)

Jamestown City Council has unanimously voted to lift a hiring freeze to hire eight new firefighters.

The decision after two months of discussions drew applause from an audience mostly made up of members of the Jamestown Fire Department at Monday’s meeting.

The hiring is contingent on the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association Local 137 agreeing to stipulations outlined in the resolution presented by Council Member Marie Carrubba.

Council President Tony Dolce said council members wanted some protections, including the union agreeing not to go back to impact in the event the city has to lay-off firefighters in three years, “Would they go back to impact, open an impact arbitration and go back to get more money? And that would be catastrophic for the city. So, we put in there.. and it was discussed back and forth about the fact on how they won’t seek to reopen the arbitration case for impact payments. It would just revert back to what it originally was under the 2002 Foster agreement. So that was one thing that we put in there. We also wanted some outside counsel to review the resolution.”

The resolution also states the union will waive its right to pursue litigation against the city should the city not be able to secure new funding for retention of the eight firefighters. Conversely, the resolution states the city will make a good faith effort to secure new funding to retain and continue the new positions.

The union will be required to ratify the tentative agreement, which will come back again to City Council for approval.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said “it’s much easier to say no, much harder to get to yes,” “And so I very much appreciate the city council, the fire union, our police and fire chiefs that have been working diligently to try to get to that end result. At the end of the day, what matters most is that we have a safer Jamestown. We’re going to be able to add eight new firefighters with no cost to our taxpayers and that’s truly an incredible thing.”

The City of Jamestown was awarded in February a three-year $1.8 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to do the hiring.

Based on financial projections provided by former City Comptroller Joe Bellitto, the total cost to the city is between $2.2 and $2.6 million, leaving at least $400,000 that the city has to make up.

Council member at large Jeff Russell pointed out that this figure does not include any overtime costs, “Now, we know that’s not realistic. So those numbers are actually going to be larger cause you know they’re going to be called in on off shifts and callbacks and everything else, so that’s been the question all along. How do we pay for this? Numbers are unknown.”

Council members have requested that any revenue received from the two ambulances that are being staffed by firefighters be dedicated to funding the Jamestown Fire Department. Mayor Sundquist has said the city received $300,000 in revenue through billing in 2022 for use of the first ambulance.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said the hiring process will now begin immediately, with new recruits going through training at the Fire Academy in Montour Falls. He said he expects that the new hires should be on staff by Thanksgiving.

Jamestown City Council holds special meeting with Federal Emergency Management Agency (May 16, 2023)

Jamestown City Council members were able to get more details about the SAFER grant received by the City during a meeting with FEMA Tuesday afternoon.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Project Manager Julia Barron answered questions council members had submitted about the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants program.

The city of Jamestown has received $1.8 million under the SAFER grant to hire eight additional firefighters.

Barron said the grant agreement included funding eight new full-time positions, “On the last page of the notice of funding opportunity announcement, it indicates that when you accept the award you accept the requirement to maintain the number of full time operational firefighter positions that you have on the day of grant award, plus the additional positions that were awarded under the grant.”

Barron said the city had 54 firefighters on the roster in February 2023 when the grant was awarded to the city, so the city must add eight firefighters for a total number of 62 firefighters on the roster. Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon confirmed that initial 54 does include the four firefighters hired in 2023 using American Rescue Plan funds. Barron said the city is required to maintain that staffing level of 62 over the three years of the grant with the understanding that the number may dip below that for short time periods due to resignations, retirements, or new firefighters going through the Academy.

Another question council members had was whether the city could reapply for the grant again and the likelihood of the city receiving funding again. Barron said it usually depends on local support for sustaining the new positions and that in order to get the same grant again, that means the city would be planning on hiring new firefighters, “If you currently have a grant and you’re required to be at 62, then, let’s say, next year you apply again or in three years you apply again, let’s say you’re exactly at 62 when you receive that new grant. Well, if you’re going to add another eight positions then the minimum required staffing level for that grant would be, and those previous firefighters had not left, then the new level for that grant would be 70.”

Barron said the city could apply for retention fund for the eight new firefighters in a case where they don’t have the funds to keep those new positions, “There’s a lot of tricky rules around retention positions. You have to have issued them a lay-off notice within a certain period of time and you can’t lay-off during the current grant. So, it starts to get a little bit tricky with retaining these exact same positions versus hiring new and sort of allowing attrition to happen and just adding on with new firefighters.”

Barron said that while other grantees had received additional years of funding, the grant process is very competitive. She said the city has until August when they should start billing to draw down grant monies for the new positions.

Council members requested from city administration that the roster of firefighters on staff when the grant was received by the city be shared with them as well as the financial information on fringe benefits costs.

Council President Tony Dolce said the resolution to lift the hiring freeze to approve the hiring of eight firefighters with the SAFER grant funds will be on City Council’s voting agenda for Monday, May 22.

Aftermath of a fire at 258 Crescent Street which is the location of Danielson Oil Company (May 11, 2023)

A fire at a longstanding company in Jamestown has been ruled to be accidental.

Jamestown Police responded to 258 Crescent Street just after 4:00 a.m. Thursday for a burglary alarm and found smoke in the building. Jamestown Fire crews were called out and found heavy fire on the first floor. Crews had the fire under control in 45 minutes. There were no injuries.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said the building is home to family-owned Danielson Oil Company, “They do have fuel oil stored on site as well as various lubricants, greases, motor oils, and diesel fuel. So, we did through the Director of Development Crystal Surdyk the Department of Environmental Conservation was contacted as was the Chautauqua County Haz Mat Team. We did do an onsite assessment and it’s been determined that no chemicals have migrated off the property.”

Coon said there was no structural compromise to the building and the owners plan to continue business at the site.

He said a faulty appliance in a breakroom has been determined to have caused the fire.

Jamestown City Council meeting (May 8, 2023)

Jamestown City Council will meet with FEMA representatives to ask questions about the SAFER grant at a special council work session on May 16.

Council President Tony Dolce said there were four basic questions that council members had including if eight firefighters had to be hired with the $1.8 million grant, “The second question was, can the city reapply for the SAFER grant in three years and what is the likelihood of being approved again? Three, would the city have to wait a specific period before applying for the grant for the second time? And the other question was, have other SAFER grantees been approved for a second round of funding and how soon after the second application were they approved?”

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon shared that the purchase of a second ambulance that was approved by Council was ready to go out to bid and that the vehicle could be received as soon as one to two months.

The meeting with FEMA will take place at 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 16 in the Mayor’s Conference Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. It is open to the public.

City Council Finance and Public Works committees also reviewed and approved a lease extension request for the owner of the Chautauqua Belle to dock at McCrea Point Park.

U.S. Steam Lines has been using the dock at the park since 2019 and is asking for a new 5-year term lease with the option to renew the lease for two additional 5-year terms. The resolution now goes onto the voting session on May 22 for formal approval.

Jamestown City Council discusses resolution to hire eight fire fighters (April 24, 2023)

Jamestown City Council once again tabled a resolution to hire eight new firefighters at its voting session.

Council member at large Jeff Russell made the motion, citing extenuating circumstances, following a lengthy discussion before a packed council chambers that included most of the members of the Jamestown Fire Department.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund cited financial concerns with the three-year $1.8 million SAFER grant, saying that costs presented to council for those three years is $2.1 million which didn’t include overtime costs, working out of title, and comp time.

She said in 2022, personnel expenses in the Fire Department were $250,000 over budget, “Talking financially, this grant will not provide all those previously mentioned items I just talked about as well as training, estimated at $46,000, uniforms estimated at $46,000, and other incidental expenses. While people don’t want to hear this, we as a council have to remain fiscally responsible and understanding the needs of our departments and empathetic to the future of Jamestown.”

Ecklund said based on these numbers, the city could be faced with a $450 to $500,000 total shortfall over the three years of the grant. She said the American Rescue Plan funds used to hire four firefighters in 2022 runs out the the last year of the SAFER grant, which leaves another $382,000 for the city to fund.

Crowd for the Jamestown City Council meeting (April 24, 2023)

Ecklund said a second ambulance would bring in more revenue but running the two ambulances would not bring in the $750 to $900,000 needed. Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon had informed Council previously that the estimated revenue from running two ambulances is about $400,000 total a year.

Council member Marie Carrubba commented that former City Comptrollers Joe Bellitto and Ryan Thompson had both previously stated that the hiring of the four ARPA funded firefighters would “stretch the city’s budget to its limit,” “The idea that we’d hire an additional eight would be unsustainable and we have to look at that. And I don’t always agree with Mr. Champ, but I think you said it very well tonight. We have to be concerned not only with the present, but the future and the financial condition of the city when we are reaching our constitutional taxing limit, when we’re not able to raise taxes, my question to all of the citizens are what do you want us to cut?”

Ecklund asked Mayor Eddie Sundquist if the SAFER grant would allow the city to hire less than the eight firefighters proposed.

Sundquist responded that if Council provides him a number, he can ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency about that. None of the previous discussions by the city administration until Monday’s voting session indicated that the grant allowed the city to hire less than eight fire fighters under the grant.

The motion to table the resolution until May passed with just Council member Regina Brackman voting no.

In a related resolution, Council did approve purchasing a second ambulance for the fire department with $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon addresses Jamestown City Council (April 10, 2023)

Jamestown City Council will vote tonight on whether to hire eight new firefighters.

The positions would be partially funded through a three-year $1.8 million SAFER grant. Council learned at its last work session that the estimated costs of the salaries and the city’s contributions to social security, state retirement, health insurance, worker’s compensation, and a one time purchase of turn-out gear comes out to $2,119,678 over a three year period. That equates to a total of $319,678 the city would have to cover over that three-year period.

City Council members have said their main concern is that they’d be faced with laying off the eight firefighter positions should the city not qualify for another round of federal funding in three years.

In a related resolution, Council also will vote on purchasing a second ambulance for the fire department with $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon told Council that the estimated revenue from running two ambulances is about $400,000 total a year.

Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund goes over fire fighter hiring financials (April 17, 2023)

Jamestown City Council members voice concern over costs and future layoffs on the issue of whether to hire eight new firefighters.

Council was provided by former City Comptroller Joe Bellitto the estimated costs to the city for hiring the firefighters as well as the estimates of costs once a three-year federal SAFER grant ends.

While the grant is $1.8 million, the estimated costs of the salaries and the city’s contributions to social security, state retirement, health insurance, worker’s compensation, and a one time purchase of turn-out gear comes out to $2,119,678 over a three year period. That equates to $319,678 the city would have to cover.

Council member at large Jeff Russell noted those estimates only covered the annual base salary, “These numbers do not include any overtime at all. They do not include comp time sell back, or any kind of impact pay, or other form of compensation from what I’m seeing. So, these are assuming that these firefighters do not work a single hour of overtime in 36 months, which is unrealistic. There’s going to be overtime involved.”

Russell said, should the city not receive the SAFER grant again after it ends in mid-2026, the costs to the city over the next three years would be $2,428,453, “We all know that our budget cannot increase by $2,428,000, which means, ultimately, if we apply for this grant three years from now and we don’t get this grant and we don’t get this grant money, we’re going to be laying off at least eight firefighters.”

Council members asked Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon if a proposed second ambulance could still be staffed if the additional eight firefighters were not hired. He responded that the four American Rescue Plan funded firefighters hired in July 2022 could staff that vehicle.

Coon said the estimated revenue from running two ambulances is about $400,000 total a year.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund said of the list of potential retirements in the fire department, that there were only eight employees she saw who may actually retire by 2026, which raised her concern that once the grant and ARPA funding runs out, there may be more than just the eight firefighters who would have to be laid off.

Council President Tony Dolce said while the city has an obligation to public safety, council also has a fiduciary responsibility, “So that’s why we’re sitting around the table, looking at numbers, and scratching our heads. And we want to provide service and we want to do this, but we also want to look at can we afford it and how long can we afford it for? What happens when this runs out and we can’t, we or whoever is at the table, can’t do this anymore? Then what happens?”

Dolce requested Council members continue looking at the numbers and talking to those in City Administration about questions they have. It is anticipated that Council will vote on this resolution at the voting session scheduled for Monday, April 24.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon addresses Jamestown City Council (April 10, 2023)

Jamestown City Council heard more details at its work session about a proposed purchase of a second ambulance for the Jamestown Fire Department.

A resolution proposes using $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for the purchase.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said the number of mutual aid calls has been rising steadily since 2019, with 324 calls that year, 342 calls in 2020, 419 calls in 2021, and 468 calls in 2022, “I have little reason to believe that number would be under 500 this year. Our call out continues to increase. Again, these are all calls Jamestown Fire does respond to but we have to use mutual aid for that transport vehicle.”

After the question of the life expectancy of the vehicle was raised, Coon said ambulances generally last in the 10 to 15 year range.

The Fire Department’s current ambulance is a 2013 model. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the city received $300,000 in revenue through billing in 2022 for use of the first ambulance.

Coon said he’d have to get Council estimates on what could be gained through billing for a second ambulance.

Council member Marie Carrubba asked specifically what expenses were involved with running the ambulance and how that compared with the revenue brought in.

Council members had requested additional information from the administration before the voting session in March about how the purchase of the second ambulance could help bring in revenue to support the proposed hiring of eight firefighters after the three-year $1.8 million federal grant funding those positions ran out.

Sundquist said that information will be made available at the April 17 work session. He cited the issue that former Comptroller Joe Bellitto is only assisting the city on a contractual basis and isn’t full time while the city continues to look for a full-time Comptroller.

Jamestown Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon addresses Jamestown City Council (March 20, 2023)

Jamestown City Council members raised questions over long term funding for new firefighters from a federal grant.

The City of Jamestown was awarded $1.8 million in funding through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program that would allow the hiring of eight new firefighters. The grant through FEMA would cover three years of salaries.

Council member at large Jeff Russell expressed concern over what would happen if the City applies for funding again after three years and is denied, “I’ll say it now because I want to be very transparent about this. That there’s a possibility that we could lay off firefighters. I don’t want to move forward three years from now and then when we come back and say, ‘Well, we have to lay firefighters off,’ and people act like it was smoke and mirrors going on and we weren’t forthright by telling people that was a possibility.”

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said the number of firefighters eligible for retirement in three years could help, through attrition, avoid lay-offs if the city doesn’t get grant funding again.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund recalled that the four firefighters hired using American Rescue Plan funds with the intention that attrition through retirement also would help prevent lay-offs once that funding ran out. She requested the administration provide a year-by-year cost of the twelve new positions funded by ARP and SAFER monies prior to the March 27 voting session.

Coon said if the new positions are approved and can be hired, it would allow all fire stations to be fully staffed at all times. He said a second ambulance, yet to be approved for purchase, also would be able to be manned, bringing in additional revenue to the city.

The 2022  was released on the city’s website, jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown Police Chief Tim Jackson said while crime is up, it’s important to note that the number of arrests increased by 10.9% in 2022. He said in the report that this is due to more targeted police enforcement as well as using GIVE funding for supplemental officers to be used in areas of high crime.

In terms of crime, in 2022 there was a 30.8% increase in cases involving reported use of a firearm compared to 2021 and 24 confirmed shootings. All of the firearm related violence was targeted and related to narcotics trafficking.

Jackson said JPD will be conducting more targeted impact patrols in areas with a high crime rate this year. He said the department will use GIVE funding to conduct hotspot and micro hotspot policing in targeted areas.

80 firearms were seized last year and the SWAT Team was deployed 34 times for search warrants.

The number of overdoses known to JPD also increased by 12.6% in 2022 compared to 2021; however, the fatality rate from overdoses decreased by 23.5% in 2022.

The Jamestown Fire Department responded to 61 fires in 2022. Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said of that total 1 person died and 5 fires were arson. He said the number of fires is down from a total of 74 in 2021, but still remain high when compared with 52 fires in 2020.

Coon said in 2022, JFD responded to a total of 4,788 calls for medical emergencies, including 1,298 ambulance transports. This is an increase from 1,130 transports last year.

Coon said neighboring volunteer departments were dispatched into the city over 500 times in 2022.

He said goals for 2023 include

• Continuing to expand fire prevention and life safety services throughout the community,
• Providing better transparency and availability through social media platforms,
• Continuing work with local agencies to provide the best services to the community with an attempt to not duplicate said services;
• And continuing expansion of partnerships county-wide by sharing resources to provide education to not only city residents, but anyone who desires it.

The full report may be viewed here: https://www.jamestownny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2022-Annual-Report-FINAL-V2.pdf