The Chautauqua County Democratic Committee announced on Tuesday that District 12 candidate Margaret “Peg” Cornell declined her party’s nomination to run for that seat, which covers the north side of Jamestown. The seat is currently held by Republican Elisabeth Rankin, who is seeking reelection.

As WRFA noted Tuesday, that race was to be the only contested race taking place in the greater Jamestown area before Cornell’s announcement. It was also only one of seven contested races expected for November. Unless Democrats can find a replacement, the number of contested races will drop down to just six out of 19.

The Jamestown Democratic Committee is continuing to accept applications to run for the $9,000 per year job, regardless of personal party affiliation. The Committee to Fill Vacancies will be meeting Thursday in Jamestown in hopes of identifying a replacement.

Anyone in District 12 interested in running for the seat is asked to contact city Democratic Chairman Jim Walton by email at jimwalton422@msn.com or County Democratic Chair Norman Green at chqdem@gmail.com.

Candidate petitions were submitted to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections last week and of the 19 seats that will be up for a vote, just seven have more than one candidate running.

JAMESTOWN AREA WILL FEATURE ONE CONTESTED RACE

In Jamestown, the lone contested race will be for District 12 on the north side of the city. Currently, Republican Elisabeth Rankin holds that seat and she is running for reelection. She will face Democratic challenger Margaret “Peg” Cornell.

All other candidates from the Jamestown area who serve on the county legislature are running unopposed. That includes the candidate for District 11, a seat currently held by Republican David Wilfong. Because Wilfong is running for mayor of Jamestown in this year’s election, the district 11 seat will be an open race. However, only Democrat and former county legislator Robert Whitney has submitted petitions to run for that seat. Whitney last served on the legislature in 2013, when he was defeated by Wilfong in that year’s election.

The other Jamestown-area seats all have incumbents running unopposed. They include Chuck Nazzaro, D-District 9 (Jamestown); Paul “PJ” Wendel, R-District 10 (Busti/Lakewood and Jamestown); Paul Whitford, D-District 13 (Jamestown); Daniel Pavlock, R-District 14 (Ellicott north of I-86, Gerry, Ellington, Charlotte/Sinclairville); Lisa Vanstrom, R-District 15 (Ellicott/Falconer, West Ellicott/Celoron); John Davis, R-District 16 (Carroll, Kiantone, Poland); and Frank Gould, R-District 17 (Busti, Harmony/Panama, Clymer, French Creek).

REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES SCHEDULED FOR DISTRICT 1 and DISTRICT 18

Other races of note include District 18 (Chautauqua/Mayville, Mina, Sherman), which is now an open seat after the untimely passing of Republican David Himelein. The two candidates running for that seat are Richard Syper and Bill Ward, both of Mayville. Both Ward and Syper and seeking the Republican party endorsement, meaning they will square off in the June 25 primary. Syper has also been endorsed by the conservative party, while Ward is the lone candidate for the Democratic, Independence, and Working families parties.

Another Republican Primary will take place in District 1 (Dunkirk), where current incumbent Kevin Muldowney (R) is being challenged for the party line by Ronald Hall. Muldowney has also been endorsed by the Independence party, while Hall has been endorsed by the Conservative party. Meanwhile, a third candidate – Phillip Collier – is the lone candidate for the Democratic and Working Families parties. That means regardless of how the Republican primary shakes out in that district, there will still likely be a three-way race come November.

Other contested races for the legislature will take place in District 3 (Pomfret/Fredonia) with incumbent Robert Scudder (R, C) facing challenger Christopher Schaeffer (D, I), in District 4 (Fredonia) with incumbent Christine Starks (D, I, WF) facing Melanie Mann (R, C), in District 5 (Arkwright, Cherry Creek, Sheridan, Villanova) with incumbent Terry Neibel (R, C, I) facing Jeffry Sayers (D, WF), and in District 6 (Hanover/Silver Creek/Forestville) with incumbent Kevin O’Connell (D, I, WF) facing Thomas Harmon (R, C).

The other four legislature incumbents running unopposed include Robert Bankowski, D-District 2 (Dunkirk); Mark O’Dell, R-District 7 (Chautauqua, Portland/Brockton, Stockton); Pierre Chagnon, R-District 8 (Ellery/Bemus Point, North Harmony), and John Hemmer, R-District 19 (Ripley, Westfield).

While the petition deadline has passed for candidate to get their name on the ballot for a specific party, it’s still not to late for the party to place a candidate on the ballot. Any party that currently doesn’t have a candidate listed for any office up for election can still file for an Opportunity to Ballot, or could circulate an Independent petition accompanied by mail, pointing out that the candidate is endorsed by the party.

Jamestown Salary Review Commission during its Dec. 5, 2018 meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Salary Review Commission has made a recommendation for salary adjustments for elected officials in the city.

On Wednesday morning the commission met for just over half an hour to discuss and vote on its recommendation for changes to the salaries of the office of mayor and all nine Jamestown city council seats.  It was the second meeting of the commission, with the first taking place last month.

The current annual salary for the office of mayor is $72,000. The annual salary for the nine city council members is $5,000 – with the council president receiving an additional $1000 in pay.

The last time the office of mayor received a salary adjustment was in 2008, while the last time the city council received any salary adjustment was in 1984, more than 30 years ago.

After reviewing what the salary would be if it followed a trajectory of an annual 2 percent increase, the commission voted 5-0 to recommend an increase to the mayor’s annual salary to $85,000 and increasing the council’s annual salary to $10,000, with the council president still receiving an additional $1000. The total increase to the city spending would equal $58,000.

During the discussion, commissioner member Peg Cornell said the salary adjustments are overdue.

“When [this recommendation] is presented to the city council I think we have to talk about the question of equity, because that’s so important. There hasn’t been another employee working in the city of Jamestown that hasn’t received some increase in their salary and I think that’s very important to state, because this is about equity,” Cornell said.

Other commission members pointed out that even with the recommended increase the salary for the mayor’s position would still be in line with other communities of similar size across the state and what they pay their mayor and/or city manager.  And the issue of attracting the best qualified candidates was brought up, with the commission agreeing that a higher salary will bring in a larger pool of potential candidates for the mayor’s office and city council in future years.

The recommendation will now be brought before the city council for its consideration. The council can either act on the recommendation as it is or adjust it. The council also has the option to not take any action at all, in which case the salary would remain unchanged.

If the council were to adjust the salaries, they wouldn’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2020 – following the 2019 elections that includes the mayoral race in addition to the nine council seats that will also be up for a vote.

The last time commission recommendations were brought forward was in 2014. At that time it suggested the council salary be bumped up to $6,000 per year. It also recommended the mayor’s salary increase to $90,000 over a four-year period.  Once the recommendations were made, the council opted not to change the salaries due to ongoing financial challenges facing the city.

The salary review commission is created every four years in accordance with the city charter to review salaries for elected officials and bring forward a recommendation. Its members are selected by the Mayor and City Council president.

The six city residents serving on the 2018 commission are Cornell, Howard Brook, Tyler Case, Cornell, Dr. Lillian Ney, Rev. Chloe Smith, and Catherine Way. Case was the only commission member absent during Wednesday’s meeting and recommendation vote.

The city charter calls for the creation of a salary review commission every four years to review the salary for mayor and members of the council.

Earlier this year the mayor and city council appointed six city residents to serve on the commission. They are Tyler Case, Peg Cornell, Catherine Way, Howard Brook, Dr. Lillian Ney and Rev. Chloe Smith.

The current salary for the office of mayor is $72,000, which has not been increased since 2008. Since 1984, the annual salary for members of the council is $5,000, with $6,000 being paid to the president.

According to the Post-Journal, no official recommendation was made during yesterday’s meeting, where members primarily reviewed the history of the salaries as well as the previous recommendations that were made four years ago, which the city council did not act on.

The next meeting of the commission will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

Any change in salary would have to be acted on by the city council in advance of the 2019 election and wouldn’t go into effect until January 2020.

Jamestown City Councilman and Finance Committee Chair Tony Dolce (second from left) shares details on the Salary Review Commission during the Jamestown City Council voting session on July 30, 2018.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council Monday Night acted on the appointment of all six members of the city’s ad hoc Salary Review Commission.

According to the city charter, the city is required to establish the commission in order to review and make recommendations on the salary for both Mayor and the nine members of the City Council.

The six commission members appointed on Monday are Dr. Lillian Ney, Howard Brook, Chloe Smith, Peg Cornell, Catherine Way, and Tyler Case.

Acting on salary recommendations for elected officials is always a touchy issue, especially when the city is facing major financial challenges, which the city is currently dealing with due to being at its constitutional taxing limit.  That’s why city officials have not acted on any recommendations that have come forward the past 10 years.

Since 1984 the base city council salaries have been at $5,000, while council president’s salary is $6,000. Meanwhile the salary for the mayor is currently $72,000. The last time that was increased was at the start of 2008.

The last time commission recommendations were brought forward was in 2014. At that time it suggested the council salary be bumped up to $6,000 per year. It also recommended the mayor’s salary increase to $90,000 over a four-year period.  Once the recommendations were made, the council opted not to change the salaries due to ongoing financial challenges facing the city.

Any recommendations that come from the current commission will be reviewed by the city council and if officials chose to adjust salaries the changes would not take place until a new city council and mayoral term begins, which would be in the year 2020.

The council has until early 2019 to receive the recommendations and act on any salary increase.

In other news, the city council also approved the appointment John LaMancuso to be a member of the city Planning Commission and Dr. Ney to be reappointed to the Jamestown Community College Board of Trustees.