Good Jobs, Great Cities

The City of Jamestown is one of 16 cities nationwide to be selected to participate in the “Good Jobs, Great Cities” Academy.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the program is through the U.S. Department of Labor and National League of Cities, “The grant in particular sends individuals from the Department of Labor to Jamestown to work with all of our workforce development partners on creating a pipeline for workforce development, that’s aiding our manufacturing, health care, construction, anything else in between.”

Sundquist said American Rescue Plan monies set aside by the city for workforce development will be used for this effort. He did not specify how much would be allocated.

He said there are currently over 300 manufacturers with over 2,000 unfilled advanced manufacturing jobs in the Jamestown area today.

The program will run through 2024.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist meets with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Washington D.C.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist discussed workforce development concerns with representatives in Washington D.C. on a recent trip.

Sundquist was in the nation’s capitol for the National League of Cities‘ lobby day where he was able to meet with Congressman Nick Langworthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

He said part of day was spent discussing the Infrastructure Act and the concern from the White House over there being enough people to do the work of building new roads, bridges, and more, “And there was a really great discussion from senior leadership officials in the administration on how can cities be the driving force for workforce development? And how can we create models that can replicate across this country to train people to work on those items, that infrastructure, rebuilding our infrastructure across this country.”

Sundquist said one workforce development model is being worked on with the construction trades here in Jamestown, “The City Council allocated over a million dollars in workforce development funding. Half of that going to construction trades and the other half going to workforce development in terms of manufacturers, and other builders, and things like that. So, we’re working through that process now and we’re hoping to make sure that our workforce is on the cutting edge for what’s to come.”

Sundquist also discussed the importance of SNAP benefits and the need for the return of Essential Air Service to the Jamestown Airport with representatives.

Hear his comments on those topics and more on tonight’s Community Matters at 5:00 p.m. on 107.9 FM and streaming online at wrfalp.com

Jamestown City Council

Five of the positions will fill current and anticipated vacancies in the Jamestown Fire Department. Funding is included in the 2023 City Budget for these positions. The other eight positions also will fill vacancies and are being funded through the 2021 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program.

Council also will review a proposal to replace the Assistant Corporation Counsel position with hiring an Ombudsman. Ben Haskins, who is the current Assistant, is leaving City Government for a different job.

A resolution to use $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for the construction of Splash Pads at Allen and Jackson-Taylor Parks is now officially on the agenda. Council had heard a presentation on proposed projects earlier this month.

Council also will review a local law to increase the mayor’s salary to $82,000 and increase city council member’s salaries to $7,000 with council president receiving an additional $1,000. These salary increases were recommended by the Jamestown Salary Review Commission and, if approved, would not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

They also will review an amendment to the Jamestown City Code to change the number of appointments to the Human Rights Commission from 12 to 9 members.

Council will review a American Rescue Plan allocation of $327,925 to the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation for Chadakoin River bank stabilization work. As the request is over the $100,000 threshold, it requires Council approval.

Council also will review a resolution to accept a $50,000 from the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth for a one year tourism and marketing campaign.

The Housing Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight and their agenda includes continuing a discussion on lead issues. The Finance Committee, which meets at 7:00 p.m., will hear a report on a National League of Cities grant.

Other committee meetings will start at 7:00 p.m. with the full work session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. All meetings are open to the public with the full work session being livestreamed at jamestownny.gov.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist presents budget vetoes to City Council (December 5, 2022)

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist has issued four vetoes on the 2023 city budget that would restore $15,100 in cuts by Council and reduce the sales tax revenue increase Council had passed.

Sundquist cited a slowed increase in sales tax revenues for 2022 and a concern that the City could fall short of projected revenues for this year as the reason he was vetoing a $75,000 increase to that revenue line that Council passed by amendment.

Another line vetoed by Sundquist was the $6,500 cut to the Mayor’s Office travel and education line. Council member at large Jeff Russell asked if the Mayor’s office was traveling more than before with Sundquist responding that he is compared to 2020 and 2021, “The former mayor spent around, anywhere from $8,000 to $9,000 in travel expenses per year. So, I think the budgeted amount that we had this year was somewhere around $11,000. We’re currently at about $9 or $10,000 for traveling this year. The majority of it is for conferences for the New York Conference of Mayors. We do also have conferences for the National League of Cities, which we’re a partner with.”

Sundquist said some of the travel has been reimbursed as well.

He also vetoed a $5,600 cut to the Engineering supplies line citing the increased amount road work the City is doing, “Most of it is due to federal and state funding for roads and others. The engineering line in particular usually goes to blueprints, other engineering costs for streetscapes. Sometimes it’s other miscellaneous engineering items, but really we’re focused on the items it takes to redesign some of the street work.”

The third cut Sundquist aims to restore through a veto is $3,000 from the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency, saying in his message that the cut “reflects poorly for our shared concern for the extraordinary housing issues Jamestown faces.”

A fifth veto by Sundquist is to the Appropriated Fund balance, which is to allow Council to reappropriate additional funds to balance the 2023 budget should they not override some or all of the vetoes.

Sundquist also proposed a further budget amendment to eliminate a bond interest payment in the amount of $52,964 that was related to the bond payment cut by Council from the budget. He said that by passing the amendment, Council could avoid a full veto override of the three cuts. It would also reduce the sales tax revenue increase needed by $37,864.

City Council now has until Thursday, December 15 to try to override any of the Mayor’s vetoes. It requires a 2/3 majority, or six votes, to do so.

Based on discussion at Council’s work session, Council will hold a special meeting on Monday, December 12 prior to the regular work session where they will vote on overriding any of the vetoes.

Eddie Sundquist

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist has been elected to the National League of Cities Board of Directors.

Sundquist was elected to a 2-year term and will provide strategic direction and guidance for NLC’s federal advocacy, governance and membership activities. NLC is the largest and most representative organization for cities, their elected leaders and municipal staff, and advocates for city priorities in Washington by building strong federal-local partnerships.

As a member of the board, Sundquist will meet in March, June and November to guide NLC’s strategic direction. Board members are selected by a 15-member nominating committee and are confirmed by a vote from NLC’s membership at the organization’s annual business meeting.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist presents to Human Rights Commission (August 19, 2022)

The Jamestown Human Rights Commission is being asked to help the City of Jamestown research social equity platforms.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, at the HRC meeting on August 19, said the city has been discussing providing equity in services and where those services are delivered. He said the city has been working with a provider through the National League of Cities to use property information to determine how healthy a neighborhood is and to use that data to create a social equity index.

Sundquist cited a social equity index being used by Tacoma, Washington, “Which is their equity index that will highlight areas of higher and lower opportunity for services and helps them be a little more equitable in how they provide services across the city. So they use 29 indicators. They use 197 census blocks. And they also use a racial demographics overlay to create this equity index.”

Sundquist said Tacoma uses the index to prioritize funding, resource planning, and loan distribution, “They use it to figure out where they spend their budget on, which is interesting. But more importantly, their City Council, after they created this index, directed all departments to use the index to help determine services in those departments.”

Sundquist asked the HRC to help research other equity index programs in the country and whether Jamestown should create one, including what metrics they’d recommend. He said the Department of Development has been looking into programs as well and that the HRC would assist them in the task. Sundquist also recommended the HRC reach out the IDEA Coalition as part of the process.