Jamestown City Council

Council is expected to have the opportunity to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency questions about the grant funding at a special work session that’s yet to be scheduled.

One of the questions Council is likely to ask is whether the number of firefighters to be hired under the SAFER grant can be reduced from the eight that were requested in the grant.

Council also will review a lease extension 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 5-year term lease with the option to renew the lease for two additional 5-year terms.

Council also will hear an update from Grants Writer Paula Pichon on pending grants.

The Public Safety Committee will vote on five special event permits.

The Housing Committee meets at 6:45 p.m. with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full council work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room located on the fourth floor of City Hall. The public is welcome to attend all meetings with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

City Council Finance Committee joined by other council members, Mayor Eddie Sundquist, and Deputy Comptroller Catie Maycock (December 5, 2022)

The shared grant position for the City of Jamestown and Jamestown Community College has brought in over $11 million in funds.

An update on grants was provided to the City Council Finance Committee on Monday night. Of the 38 grants that Grant Writer Paula Pichon had applied for on behalf of the City of Jamestown, 15 were awarded, 13 denied, and 10 were still pending. The total amount of funds awarded to the city were $3,011,000.

She also had 10 grants approved for Jamestown Community College and five denied. The total amount of funds awarded to JCC were $8,083,000.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said while speaking to Pichon, she said municipalities tend to have a lot more pending grants, “That are just based on different funding cycles. The community college grants tend to go a lot quicker and, so, we’ve been thankful. We did meet with the community college to go through and do a review for our grant writer and to talk about the partnership. And from all accounts, we both felt that the partnership has been very successful both to the city and community college.”

Also at its work session, council reviewed a resolution to use $21,400 from the contingency fund to replace Fire Station #4’s roof. Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund suggested that since the project was originally funded using $100,000 in American Rescue Plan funds back in June, that the additional funding needed should also come from the ARP funds for auditing purposes. Sundquist said the contingency funds could be used in this case with no issues in an audit, thus not depleting the ARP fund balance further.

Sundquist also shared that the City of Jamestown Salary Review Commission is expected to present their recommendations to City Council at the December 12 work session. The commission had until the end of the year to present any updates to the Mayor or City Council salaries.

Paula Pichon was hired as the Grant Writer for both entities following the position being approved by City Council last year.

A staff report in the City Council work session pre-file states that Pichon has written 13 applications with 5 being awarded, 7 pending, and 1 denied. Total grant funding received in 2022 for the City is $2-million-764-thousand dollars.

A full report on this topic will be presented to City Council Finance Committee at its work session at 7:00 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room on the fourth floor of City Hall.

The Finance Committee will also revisit a resolution for the City to contract with the Jamestown Local Development Corporation to administer American Rescue Plan programs. The cost of that is $500,000. The resolution failed 3-5 at City Council’s April voting session with some council members expressing concern that having JLDC adminster the programs would take away oversight by City Council since only programs receiving $100,000 or more in funding would come to Council for approval.

Also on the Finance Committee’s committee’s agenda is a report from Comptroller Ryan Thompson on the 2021 Year End and 2022 Quarter One Financials.

The Public Works committee, which meets in the Department of Development Conference room on the fourth floor of City Hall, will hear an informational report on a request for a permanent memorial garden. That meeting also is at 7:00 p.m.

The Public Safety Committee will review a number of special event permit applications at its meeting tonight.

Included are applications for the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 30; the Third Thursdays concert series on the Wintergarden Plaza starting May 19, the Jamestown Public Market on West Third Street starting Saturday, June 11, the Juneteenth Festival in Jackson-Taylor Park for the weekend of June 17 through 19; and the return of the World Series of Wheels to Bergman Park on Saturday, July 23.

The Public Safety Committee meets at 7:00 p.m. in the 4th Floor Police Training Room of City Hall.

The full Council work session begins at 7:30 p.m. in the 4th Floor Police Training Room of City Hall as well.