Lakewood Community Development Corporation and Village Officials gather in front of new playground at Hartley Park (November 10, 2022)

Construction is underway for a new $700,000 playground at Hartley Park in the village of Lakewood.

The new playground replaces a structure that had been deteriorating, with parts of the structure having to be removed in recent years due to being unsafe.

Lakewood Mayor Randy Holcomb said the project is a collaboration between the Village Board of Trustees and Lakewood Community Development Corporation.

LCDC President Bill Evans said the project began with a community fundraising effort that led to $456,000 being funded through Empire State Development.

He said there are multiple phases to the project, “So what is initially happening now is we’re replacing all of the equipment on both pads. New equipment, new engineered wood chips surface, there’s going to be slides built into the hill between the two pads, longest zip line in the region, that is phase one. Phase two will involve creating handicap accessible pathways to the different paths.”

Evans said landscaping will be added too.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022

George Borrello on Election Night after winning the special election for the State Senate’s 57th District

MAYVILLE – Republican and current Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello will be the region’s next State Senator.  On Election Day Borrello defeated Democrat Austin Morgan of Cattaraugus county. The two were running for the seat vacated earlier this year by former Sen. Cathy Young, who announced in late February she was resigning from the Senate to take a job at Cornell University.

In his victory speech at the Republican Headquarters inside the Double Tree by Hilton, Borrello thanked Young for her years of service and also said he will approach his new job in Albany the same way he’s approached his job in Mayville, while also standing up to what he feels in an extreme agenda from the Democratic controlled state legislature.

“We have a tremendous debt of gratitude that we owe to Sen. Cathy Young who did an outstanding job representing us for all these years. She has set a proud example for all elected officials and those are big shoes to fill. I will work hard every single day to fill those shoes,” Borrello said. “But now we have to step forward with a new path. We have a new reality in Albany right now and we are going to work hard to push back against this radical agenda. I will ensure that our voice is heard loud and clear in Albany from this district.”

Borrello will likely take over the Senate seat before the year is out, although it’s not clear who will be replacing him as county executive. That decision to nominate someone will fall on the Chautauqua County Republican Party Committee.

In August of this year the legislature unanimously approved a resolution that states if there is a county executive vacancy, the replacement should be from the same political party and should be nominated by the county committee of said party, which would then require the approval of the county legislature. If the legislature has not filled the vacancy within 45 days, the legislature can fill the position without the requirement that the person should be nominated by the county committee of said political party.

COUNTY LEGISLATURE TO SEE LITTLE CHANGE

Meanwhile, there won’t be a lot of changeover in the county legislature when January 1 comes. Based on the election day results, there will only be three new names added to the 19-member body.

In the Mayville-Findley Lake area, Republican newcomer Bill Ward defeated fellow Republican and incumbent Martin Proctor for the District 18 seat. Ward was cross-endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic Parties and Proctor had created his own party known as the Cornerstone Party to get his name on the ballot.

Over in District 6,  Republican Thomas Harmon of Dunkirk defeated Democratic incumbent Kevin O’Connell.

And in Jamestown’s District 11 legislature district, Democrat Bob Whitney ran unopposed to reclaim a seat he lost 6 years earlier to David Wilfong, who chose not to run for reelection to the county legislature so he could instead run for mayor of Jamestown.

Other election day results had Republican incumbent Jesse Robbins defeating Democratic challenger Rudy Mueller in the Busti Town Supervisor race, in the village of Lakewood Republican Randy Holcomb was elected mayor, in the Carroll Supervisor Race Republican Russell Payne defeated Conservative candidate and incumbent Laura Smith, and in Falconer Democrat and lone candidate James Jaroszynski was elected mayor.

For a complete rundown of election day results, visit vote votechautauqua.com.

On Monday the Jamestown City Council approved the appointment of Kevin Okerlund to be the city’s new assessor. Okerlund will replace former assessor Randy Holcomb, who retired from his post at the end of July.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi said Okerlund had previously served as the city’s part-time commercial property assessor.

“Keven knows the operation and knows the real property tax law quite well. He’s a licensed appraiser and in his spare time for years has served as the assessor of several small towns in Chautauqua County,” Teresi said. “He’ll be allowed to retain that authority and that function, doing it on his own time in the evenings and on the weekends, but he is now a full time employee and appointed assessor for the city of Jamestown, ending in September 2019.”

On Monday night the city council also approved a new agreement with Busti to provide assessment services to the town through Sept. 30, 2019. The agreement is an extension of the one that’s been in place for the past 10 years between the city and Busti, although the two sides have revised how the position will be paid, with Jamestown paying all of the position’s salary and billing Busti for any services he provides for the town. Previously the two sides split the cost 50-50.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi said the new arrangement will save the city between $20,000-$25,000 a year.