Jamestown City Council

The agenda is rather light in comparison to recent months, even with the continued inclusion of the resolution to lift the hiring freeze to allow the city to hire eight new firefighters using a $1.8 million SAFER grant.

Council also will review a resolution to replace two dump trucks for $356,240. This will be paid from the New York State DOT CHIPS funding. The trucks being replaced were taken out of service two years ago due to a cracked frame that would no longer pass NYS inspection

The Public Safety committee will vote on several special event permit applications requests including hearing a presentation from Lunar Pyros who are proposing to bring fire dancing to a May 27 Earlybird event and the July 20 through 22 Whirlybird Festival.

A public hearing regarding an amendment to the 2018 Annual Action Plan will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of city hall.

Due to this public hearing, there will not be a meeting of the Housing Committee. All other committees will meet at 7:00 p.m. with the full work session taking place at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend all meetings with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, who sits on NYCOM’s Finance Committee, said the last time the state increased aid to municipalities was 14 years ago.

He said the City receives about $4 million in that aid, “Think about the cost of living, think about how our own pocketbooks have changed across the years, and so we’d like that to be more equitable and we’d like the state to share some of its resources with the cities on the ground doing the work.”

Sundquist said NYCOM is requesting a 38% increase, or a cost-of-living adjustment, to the current $715 million AIM program. The equates to an increase of $270 million.

Sundquist said mayors also would like to see the state create an annual dedicated funding stream for water and sewer infrastructure costs, similar to the Consolidated State and Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPS.

He said currently municipalities have to apply for grant or loan funds through the State, and that they’d prefer to see a dedicated fund that’s coordinated with the CHIPS fund, “Often times water repairs don’t coincide with your road repairs. So you may have just completely redone a road, and trust me, I get this from our residents all the time. They’re demanding to know why we just did this great new road, now we have to tear half of it up because we have to replace the water main, right? And so we’re saying, let us as a city help better coordinate those things by just creating this fund we can draw down from and apply it at the same time as CHIP funding if we need to do road repairs.”

Sundquist said another agenda item is to amend bail reform to increase the number of offenses that are bail eligible and to allow judges more consideration when assessing the “dangerousness”as a fact when making bail determination.

He added that lobby days will be held in February where mayors from across the state will meet with state legislators in Albany to encourage them to pass legislation in the NYCOM agenda.

To read the full legislative agenda report, visit nycom.org

DPW Street Projects 2021

The Jamestown Department of Public Works completed a record amount of street projects in 2021.

A total of $2,468,000 in Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPS, funding along with Pave New York, Emergency Winter Recovery, and State Touring Roads funds bolstered projects this year.

Department of Public Works Director Jeff Lehman said they were excited to get additional funding from CHIPS but it was difficult getting projects bid on by contractors, “Particularly during the COVID years when the contractors were backed up already because they couldn’t get into a good start. But we did manage to get everything out the door. But because of the amount of projects, a couple of projects didn’t get done. They’re still contracted but will be finished up next year. But we were pretty excited about it and got quite a bit of work done.”

In Jamestown, the DPW used the funds to:
– Construct over 5,800 feet of new sidewalk.
– Build 8,100 feet of new curbs.
– Build 90 new handicap ramps.
– Blacktop 18,300 feet of pavement
– Surface treat and maintenance coat over 57,000 feet of pavement surface
– Applied 2,300 gallons of liquid asphalt crack seal .
– Repaired 7,900 square feet of brick pavement.
– Built 65 new driveway aprons.
– Laid 1,400 feet of new storm sewer pipe.
– And built new or reconstructed 30 Catch Basins and Drain Inlets.

DPW Director Jeff Lehman said with the capital projects, he feels like “a kid at Christmas who gets a bunch of toys but still wants more,” “There’s a considerable amount of equipment in here, but there’s not that much equipment in here, in my opinion. This is a one time shot where we’re getting a considerable amount of money and I think we should be trying to pick up some of this equipment, try to catch up.. Tony will tell you.. Marie will tell you.. We’ve been playing from behind the eight-ball for quite some time.”

Lehman said that two of the sidewalk plows the city uses were bought in 1979. Fleet Manager Pat Monaghan said his biggest concerns are for the city’s dump trucks, but even if they ordered the four new ones proposed in the budget by January 1st, vendors are telling him they’re two years out from delivery.

Council Member Marie Carrubba said she supports using the American Rescue Plan funds toward the needed equipment replacement and infrastructure improvements. She said she would prefer buying now to avoid bonding later.

Council Member At Large Kim Ecklund asked Lehman if he requested the addition of the Assistant Director of Public Works position. He replied that he sees it as a “placeholder” position for whenever he’s ready to retire so someone could be trained to fill his position. The assistant is proposed to be funded at a $75,000 starting salary using American Rescue Plan monies.

Lehman said he’s concerned the budget has summer laborer positions being funded using CHIPS, or Consolidated Highway Improvement Projects, monies, “Which is something we tried this year because we didn’t budget any money. I’m just afraid now you’re going to pick away that CHIPS money and if this starts to happen it’ll never change. You know what I mean? And that could be two streets right there that aren’t going to get done in the future by doing this. So in my opinion, it’s a concern I have.”

Lehman added one of the items not funded was $400,000 in roof repairs, which included the roof repair for Fire Station 4 in his request.

Parks Manager Dan Stone said the inclusion of three new laborers using American Rescue Plan funds would help with increased Park maintenance, “The addition of the Riverwalk and the Bike Trail are fantastic. And our department can build anything, any playground you give us, any building, any trail. Maintaining them is the hardest part to do. So those two entities together basically become their own park. And because of that they’re not getting the attention that I feel that they should have. I don’t want to sacrifice quality of what we have here in the city for quantity of work.”

Stone said Bergman Park alone should have two full-time employees with all the activities and amenities there now, not even including what’s proposed in the future. He added more manpower is needed as projects have been added to the department’s work list like the mowing of delinquent properties, saying one property hasn’t been mowed in two months.

Stone said the city’s parks system saw a big increase in use during the pandemic. He said a number of new projects are proposed to be funded using American Rescue Plan funds including a frisbee disc golf course and a $250,000 dog park at Bergman Park, “For the last two years, three years, we haven’t been using field one. That’s the first one as you come in, the second entrance across from City View into Bergman. I figured that would be a great location for a dog park. That way it’s close to the sidewalk itself, so even on those nice winter days we have, it could still be accessible.”

A new playground at Nordstrom Park has proposed ARP funding as well. Stone said that park is home to the City’s youth rec baseball league and the future adult kickball league. He said the city is also proposing bringing back the summer playground program at four park locations.

The building of a splash pad had been mentioned in budget presentations by Mayor Eddie Sundquist but a closer reading of the budget book shows that project is not being funded using general fund or lost recovery monies under the American Rescue Plan at this time.

Finance Committee Chair and Council Member At Large Kim Ecklund expressed frustration during Monday’s budget session that the budget as presented isn’t transparent, “I literally went through this entire budget line item by line item, and what you sent me, writing down what we expended, and trying to find stuff. And I’m experienced with budgets. I can’t imagine how some of these people feel. It’s terrible. [Comptroller Thompson responds, “Thank you”] It’s not your fault. I’m not blaming you 100%, but you’re expecting us to make multi-million dollar decisions with ARPA and with all this stuff and I gotta bug you a million times for information. That’s not fair to us. That’s not fair to you. And that’s not fair to the public.”

Ecklund’s comments came after she made multiple requests at the meeting to Comptroller Ryan Thompson to provide breakout costs for the building mechanic’s overtime, summer laborer salaries, and other salary related items.

Four resolutions related to American Rescue Plan funds, including two new positions, have been postponed for discussion until November. Ecklund said this is due in part to how ARP funds are co-mingled into the proposed budget, which won’t be voted on until November. She also requested the administration provide a detailed budget of how the ARP funds will be spent.

Comptroller Thompson said he had attended the New York State Conference of Mayors recently and that no other city or village there had started spending their ARP funds yet, “And really, the advice was to slow down and take your time because there’s a lot of things that could change in the next year or so between the infrastructure bill and everything else going on.”

Thompson reported out on third quarter financials, saying sales tax is continuing to perform well. He said sales tax receipts are up $271,000 for this year, or up 13.67% from 2020. He said revenues were up $328,000 from before the pandemic in 2019, or up 17%.

However, Thompson said of the revenues for the parking meters, parking violations, and the parking ramps and garages, only 55.5% has been collected, “Our revenues for our parking garages are still not enough to cover the operating costs between all of the clean-up inside and all of the payroll and that kind of thing. We’re not even matching our expenditures, so we’re not turning a profit and that doesn’t include our debt service on them, so concerning for sure.”

Mayor Sundquist said the city is looking at possible costs savings through automating the parking garages. Thompson said expenditures are in good shape overall with health insurance remaining on budget.

Chautauqua County is receiving $6.6 million dollars total in CHIPS, Pave-NY, and Extreme Winter Recovery Funding. County Department of Public Facilities Director Brad Bentley said the additional funding is critical to supporting the economy and will make a difference, “This will allow us to pave about 32 miles of our 550 miles of road this year. Typically we get about 15, so about half of that so we’re going to see a significant difference in the quality of our roads. As well as we’ll be able to repair 16 to 18 our 308 bridges in our county, which is an increase above what we normally do.”

Bentley said his budget usually has $4.5 million dollars to spend on road and bridge work and the County DPF is receiving an additional $2.1 million dollars this year.

State Senator Borrello said the State Touring Program is a new program this year that addresses fixing a state road that doesn’t have an identifier, so it’s known as a “touring route,” “These are often roads that, sometimes you turn off a major road and you get on a kind of bumpy side road but it goes through a neighborhood and area. Those are those touring routes. And they often get forgotten, quite honestly, but not by the people who have to drive on them every day.”

The City of Jamestown will receive $561,924 to do maintenance and upgrades for these state touring routes.

Schlemmer said while there are a couple street reconstruction projects planned, one of the more interesting projects is an in-place pavement recycling project that’s scheduled to take place on Newland Avenue from Hallock to Huxley Streets. He said the first time this method was done was on Marvin Parkway, “There’s a long train of equipment that grinds up, and then adds more stone and oil, and then lays it back down. And that’s all done in place, so we’re basically recreating a pavement using what’s there and then adding more to it. So that section of street is long overdue for some work.”

Schlemmer said a benefit of this method is that the process takes just over a day versus many weeks in a regular reconstruction project.

Street work projects are planned to be completed by the end of the fall season, depending on the weather, the flow of public funding, contractor availability and the changing price of materials.

City of Jamestown 2021 Streets Program List

Miscellaneous Streets Projects – Approximate Start Date: Various
 Van Buren Street from Main to Prendergast: Brick and curb repair
 Potters Alley from 4th St. to 5th St.: New storm sewer and pavement
 Hughes Street at Allen Park: Repair storm sewer, new sub-base and pavement
 Hazeltine Avenue from Sampson to Raymond: Remove brick and pave
 Andrews Avenue from Harding to 3 rd : Curb replacement
 Briggs Street from Institute to Foote: Brick and curb repair
 Kidder Street from Prospect to Main: Total reconstruction
 5th Street from Main to Pine, South Side Re-align parking spaces, new curb
 Jefferson Street from 8th to Isabella: Total reconstruction
 King Street from Allen to Ellicott: curb repair
 Scioto Street from Allen to Hedges: Repair storm drains and curbs
 Lincoln Street from 4th to 5th : Brick and curb repair
 Bowen Street from Bush to Falconer: Brick and curb repair
 Newland Avenue from Hallock to Huxley: In-place pavement recycling
 Roseland Park: Storm water detention work (underground detention pond)
 Allen Park Glen: Repairs to bridges and pools
 Riverwalk extension at the new Skate Park: Fairmount Ave
 Wildwood Avenue: Brick and curb repair
 Tower Street from Pullman to King: Remove brick and pave
 Miscellaneous pipe relining

Mill and Overlay – Approximate Start Date: June 1, July 15 & Aug 15
 Fairview Avenue from Harding to 100 ft North
 City View Avenue
 Prendergast Avenue from 2nd to 3rd
 Tiffany Avenue from 2nd to Falconer
 5th Street from Main to Prendergast
 Ivy Street from South to Sabin
 Brad Street from Ivy to Foote
 Sabin Avenue from Main to Howard
 Cole Avenue from Sampson to Forest
 Parkview
 King Street from Allen to Ellicott
 Tower Street from Willard to English
 Scioto Street from Allen to Hedges
 Newland Avenue from Huxley to Hallock
 Crescent Street from Winsor to Bishop
 17th Street
 Huxley Street from Front to Kenmore
 Chestnut Street from Lakeview to brick
 James Street from 2nd to Falconer
 Charlotte Street from Margaret to Falconer

Nova chip – Approximate Start Date: July 15
 Parkdale Drive
 South Avenue from Whitehill to Main
 Brad Street
 Maple Street from Camp to Allen
 Loretta Avenue
 Laura Street from Pardee to Swan
 Buffalo Street from Bowen to Main
 Sanford Drive
 Martin Road from Arterial to City line (County)

Slurry Seal – Approximate Start Date: June 1
 Hillcrest Avenue
 Hilldale Avenue
 Highland Avenue from Pershing to Palmer
 Arden Parkway
 Colfax Street from Hazeltine to Wilton
 McKinley Street from Charles to Colfax
 Charles Street from McKinley to Newland
 Charles Street from Hazeltine to Elliot
 Mission Street
 Prather Avenue from Barrett to Forest
 Broadhead Avenue from Prather to Kidder
 Broadhead Avenue from South to Smith
 Prospect Street from South to Smith
 Fairfield Avenue from Park to Myrtle
 Hazeltine Avenue from Park to Myrtle
 Smith Avenue from Myrtle to Main
 Evelyn Drive
 Jackson Avenue
 Fairdale Avenue
 Ahrens Avenue from Elm to Oak
 Ellicott Street from English to brick
 Tower Street from English to brick
 Pearl Avenue from Kinney to Ensign
 Charlotte Avenue from 2nd to Falconer
 James Avenue from Falconer to 1st JCC Driveway
 Prendergast Avenue from 3rd to 4th
 Buffalo Street from Bowen to Weeks
 Shady Lane from Everett to Elm
 Dearing Avenue

Chip Seal – Approximate Start Date: June 15
 Lister Street from Jones and Gifford to railroad tracks
 Pennsylvania Avenue from Schuyler to Trenton
 Trenton Street Pennsylvania to Newland
 Maplewood Avenue (double)
 Pennsylvania Avenue from Baker to City View
 Porter Avenue
 Olson Avenue from State to dead-end
 Hazzard Street from South to Montauk
 Fowler Avenue from Montauk to Cole
 Broadhead Avenue from Newland to Cole
 Alfred Street
 Oak Street from Hunter to Shaw
 Auburn Avenue
 Pleasant Avenue
 Institute Street from Harrison to dead-end
 Benedict Avenue from Pratt to Vega
 Scott Street
 Cheney Street from Scott to Crescent
 Minsker Street
 Pratt Avenue from Allen to Buffalo
 Clifton Street from Fluvanna to cul-de-sac
 Barr Street from Gustavus to Charlotte
 Charlotte Street from Margaret to Barr
 Benedict – Dead-ends
 Shady Lane from Ahrens to Everett

Crack Fill – Approximate Start Date: May 1
 Seymour Street
 Hallock Street from Livingston to dead-end
 Hallock Street from Newland to 3rd
 Hunt from McDaniel to City line
 Front Street from Mercury to McDaniel
 Colfax Street from Newland to Hazeltine
 Hazeltine Avenue from Baker to Sampson
 Barrett Avenue from Prather to Newland
 Ivy Street from Foote to Cole
 Prospect Street from Newland to Prather
 Myrtle Street from Newland to Locust
 Barker Street
 Evelyn Drive
 Jackson Avenue
 Cole Avenue from Foote to Forest
 Prather Avenue from Foote to Arterial
 Shaw Avenue from Elm to Oak
 Ahrens Avenue from Elm to Oak
 Country View Estates
 Prendergast Avenue from 6th to 8th
 Falconer Street from Niagara to Curtis
 Falconer Street from Stowe to Lakeview
 James Avenue from Falconer to 1st JCC Driveway
 Holman Street
 Kinney Street
 Allen Street from Institute to Foote
 Winsor Street from Harrison to Allen
 Winsor Street from 2nd to Falconer
 Swan Street from Crestline to Laura
 Anderson Street from Crestline to Laura
 George Avenue
 Willow Avenue at Willard
 Tiffany Avenue from Allen to Buffalo
 8th Street from Fairmount to Monroe
 6th Street from Bridge to Winsor
 5th Street from Fairmount to Washington
 4th Street from Washington to Main
 4th Street from Prendergast to Spring
 4th Street at Fairmount
 3rd Street from Washington to Spring
 2nd Street from Washington to Main
 Fluvanna Avenue from Washington to Main
 18th Street
 12th Street
 N. Main Street from W. Oak to Marvin
 N. Main Street from 15th to 17th

“Which, according to the New York State DOT (Department of Transportation), average annual traffic data has 3,000 more cars a day than what Barrett has. We’ll realign Prather Avenue to have a 90 degree angle connection with Baker and the same with the very end of Barrett to make sure these intersections are 90 degrees”

DPW Director Jeff Lehman said the intersections were flagged as potential safety hazards, having been first constructed in the early 1900s for horse and carriage traffic. The project will be paid for with CHIPS funding.

Sundquist said the City can regulate using zoning to establish time, place and manner of use,

“We cannot have dispensaries or other on-site establishments so many feet from a school or house of worship, so that does limit locations that those can go. In addition, any dispensary or on-site consumption establishment must notify the municipality, so we will be notified before any of those are opened to ensure they comply with any type of regulations or zoning requirements.”

Sundquist said the City would receive 3% of the 13% sales tax the state will impose on the sale of cannabis. He added that the law establishes the creation of the State Office of Cannabis Management, which will be the entity that implements regulations and guidelines

The City of Jamestown will be receiving its full New York State Aid to Municipalities payment as well as an increase in CHIPS monies in the recently approved New York State Budget. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the city had budgeted for a 20% decrease in aid this year,

“In addition, we’ve been notified that the state had prior withheld 5% of last year’s AIM payment. We will now be receiving that back to the budget so we’re very excited to get the full state funding back after the state has been made whole by the federal government.”

Sundquist said the CHIPS funding hadn’t been increased since the 1980s. DPW Director Jeff Lehman said the City will receive $1,102,000; which is a 24% increase from prior years. CHIPS funding is used to repair roads for which the City is reimbursed.

City Council will vote on replacing 63 Police Body Cameras at its voting session on April 26th. The cameras will have an annual cost of $70,000 dollars for five years, with this year’s cost being pro-rated at an amount of $46,746 dollars. Jamestown Information Technology Director Mark Dean says the old cameras, which were only 3 years old, had been failing for the last year and a half,

“And some of them haven’t been able to be replaced and with ones that do need to be replaced take up to a few months to get replaced. So right now some officers have to share body cameras to have the ability to have a body camera. So we’re proposing to replace every one of those including detectives.”

Dean said the Axon cameras will allow police to save the video recordings in the cloud and the city will have the option to give the District Attorney access to the videos as well. The money for the cameras will come out of the City’s contingency fund this year and then will be a regular part of budget for the remainder of the contract.

Council also will vote on a resolution to purchase an electronic fingerprinting system for the City Jail. Police Chief Tim Jackson said the current equipment for booking prisoners is outdated and needs to be updated in order to comply with the state. The fingerprinting system is being paid through a grant with the city being required to pay a 25% match of $7,100 dollars.

For a second year, there will not be a Memorial Day parade in the City of Jamestown. Parks Manager Dan Stone updated City Council last night that the Blue Star Mothers will still have a small ceremony in Veterans Park on Memorial Day weekend with the Veterans Council holding an invite only ceremony at Lakeview Cemetery on Memorial Day.

Potholes, like the one shown here, can be found on roadways throughout Chautauqua County – thanks to freezing and thawing combined with a high volume of traffic. Additional funding in this year’s state budget will help to address several of the problem streets in Jamestown.  (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

ALBANY – Local municipalities will be seeing addition money to assist with repairing local roadways, thanks to record–funding that was included in the recently passed State Budget.

Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean) said the funding is great news for local governments and taxpayers, adding that the influx of CHIPS and Extreme Winter Recovery funding will keep New York State moving, enhance public safety, and reduce the heavy financial burden infrastructure maintenance and repairs can have on area taxpayers.

For the third straight year, the budget includes record funding for local transportation with $438 million for Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS), plus another $50 million in Extreme Winter Recovery Funds.

WRFA will have more details about the impact of CHIPS funding locally – as well as the process for identifying and planning road and street repairs here in Jamestown – Thursday night when Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi appears on our weekly Community Matters program at 6 p.m.

Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

ALBANY – Senator Cathy Young says more state aid should be given to highway departments across the state to help repair and maintain area roadways.

Young was one of several lawmakers who joined local highway superintendents from across the state this week during a “Local Roads Matter’ Rally at the state capitol.

The elected officials are calling for a $160 million increase to the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) – which is the program in the state budget that provides funding for local governments to help pay for the cost of road construction and repair.

The group is also calling for a $40 million increase for the Winter Recovery funds. And they also called for the creation of a new, five-year $500 million ($100 million per year) dedicated fund for roads and bridges, carved from the $5.4 billion settlement funds the state recently received, to bring relief to local governments and taxpayers.

Potholes, like the one shown here, can be found throughout Chautauqua County and throughout Upstate New York. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

Senator Young said that it is wrong that the governor has proposed a billion dollars for the Tappan Zee Bridge from the settlement fund, but has provided no settlement funding for our upstate roads and bridges.

Young said that 32 percent of bridges are deficient and 40 percent of roads have pavement rated as fair, poor or getting worse.

Several local officials have also called for an increase in CHIPS funding, including Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi, who’s acknowledged that the city can only do so much with the current funding level it receives, despite there being a large number of streets that need attention.