That’s according to Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi, who told WRFA this week that his office has been meeting with County Executive Vince Horrigan and his staff to review a tentative consolidation model and iron out final details.

“That model basically is built around the notion of not doing away with any department, but pursuing economies of scale in the hiring and employment practice, and effectively hiring off the counties employment contract as a way of bringing down the replacement cost of officers in Jamestown as they leave through attrition,” Teresi said.

While the mayor said that the plan (also called the Draft Inter-municipal Agreement) is being finalized, a specific date of when it may be completed and presented to the public has not been set.

Since 2012, representatives of a Public Safety Consolidation Task Force have been meeting to discuss and determine how to proceed with a consolidation plan that would allow the Sheriff’s office to provide police services in the city, with many services of the Jamestown Police Department being phased out over an extended period of time through the process of attrition.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi

Teresi said once the draft agreement is completed, the next step will be to present it to the Chautauqua County Legislature and the Jamestown City Council for consideration. In addition, it would then also be presented to the public.

“That concept is elevated now to conversations, discussions and negotiations with the county,” Teresi explained. “We’ll see if we’re able to bring it to a proposal standpoint at some point down the line to bring to the county legislature, jointly with the city council, and then also to the general public for vetting and decision making.”

In addition to the legislative bodies and the general public, the finalized plan must still be reviewed by the collective bargaining units for both the sheriff’s deputies and Jamestown police. The mayor says both groups have been involved in the process, but so far, no one has endorsed the concept.

“There has been no endorsement of the concept, made on [The Jamestown Kendall Club’s] part, although they have been open to, participated with, and in dialogue with us about the concept,” Teresi said. “There has been no decision made at the level of the city council or the administration here at the city. Just a good, general openness to the concept and seeing where it goes.”

The mayor says that the most important thing to keep in mind about a consolidation plan is that it needs to be cost-effective, with no additional costs being incurred by the city or county, compared to what each is currently paying for current law enforcement efforts.

Facilitating the consolidation study and tentative plan is the Center For Governmental Research (CGR), based out Rochester. Funding for drawing up the consolidation plan – which so far has exceeded $300,000 – comes from the New York State Department by way of its Local Government Efficiency Grant.

Teresi made his comments during his June interview with WRFA. To hear the complete interview, including comments about the effort to look into having members of the JPD wear body cameras while on duty – tune in Thursday afternoon to Community Matters – now airing at its new time of 5 p.m.

The Jamestown City Council Monday night approved a resolution for the city to continue to work on developing a plan for potential consolidation, with the help of the Center For Governmental Research (CGR) in Rochester. The anticipated cost for completing the study is $10,000, with the money coming from a grant from the New York State Department by way of its Local Government Efficiency Grant.

Since 2012, representatives of a public safety consolidation task force having been meeting to discuss and determine details for a plan that would allow the Sheriff’s office to provide police services in the city, with many services of the Jamestown Police Department being phased out over an extended period of time through the process of attrition. However, any plan finalized by the task force must still be reviewed by the collective bargaining units for both the sheriff’s deputies and Jamestown police. The latest grant will allow CGR to facilitate that review and work with all parties to collect input and finalize any plan.

Once a plan has been completed, it would go to both the county and city legislative bodies for review. That part of the process may not happen until next year.

COUNCIL OKAYS LABOR CONTRACT

Another union in city government now has a new contract in place. Monday night the City Council approved a new contract with the Jamestown City Administration Association. The new contract is retroactive, and covers the time period from Jan. 1, 2012, through Dec. 31, 2016. The contract calls for zero percent salary increases for 2012 and 2013; a 1.5 percent salary jump for 2014; and 2 percent raises for 2015 and 2016.

The new contract also states there will be an increase for how much employees pay for health insurance and also includes a wellness program. Between 20 and 30 employees are currently members of the union.

MYGOV.US GETS GREEN LIGHT

A screen image of MyGov.us, the web-based code enforcement software the city of Jamestown, NY is considering implementing to help create more efficiency and transparency in local code enforcement.

The City Council last night also gave its approval for the city to spend $30,000 on MyGov.us, a software system and website that will make it easy to report, track and enforce housing code violations in the city. Money for the software came from the city’s contingency budget, which will still have more than $200,000 after the purchase. Once online, the software will have an annual subscription cost of about $20,000. Earlier in July, City Development Director Vince DeJoy went over the details of the software with the city council.

The new software will allow residents to report housing code violations online. It will also allow code enforcement officers, city officials, and the general public to track the status of current violations. It will take about 90 days for the city’s mygov.us website to be up and running.