George Borrello

JAMESTOWN – The Republican candidate in this year’s Chautauqua County Executive race has received the support of the union representing Jamestown Police Department officers.

On Tuesday the George Borello Campaign announced that the Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association has endorsed Borrello (R, C, I -Irving) in the upcoming election for Chautauqua County Executive.

According to the media release, members of the union met on September 13 and “overwhelmingly passed” a motion endorsing Borrello in his election bid for County Executive.

“I am truly humbled to receive the endorsement of the men and women who work the front lines every hour of every day in the city of Jamestown ensuring safety and security for those they serve. During my tenure as a County Legislator I have always supported our first responders, and I am honored the Kendall Club PBA has recognized my efforts, Borrello said in a media release.

Borrello is an Irving area businessman who’s served on the Chautauqua County Legislature since 2010, representing the town of Hanover in the north county. He is also the chair of the county’s Regional Solutions Commission, which helped to create the county’s Shared Services Plan that is being considered for a $20 million state grant.

Part of the shared services plan includes a proposal to consolidate the JPD with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office by allowing vacant patrol positions in the JPD to be filled by sheriff’s deputies. Over a 20 year period, the JPD’s overall cost basis would be significantly reduced, at no additional cost to the county. Sources tell WRFA that members of the Kendall Club are against the proposal.

In July of 2017, as part of the state’s Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition (MCEC), County Legislator and Regional Solutions Commission Chair George Borrello (pictured at left) presented an efficiency plan to the New York State Department of State (DOS). The efficiency plan includes a proposal to consolidate the JPD with the County Sheriff’s Office. (Image from Chautauqua County Shared Service Plan.

While Borrello has endorsed the full Shared Services Plan, he tells WRFA that he feels the JPD-Sheriff Consolidation proposal needs to be reviewed and further discussed.

“This agreement has languished for at least five years and does not appear to have the support of the rank and file members on either side, which is key,” Borrello told WRFA on Tuesday, following the endorsement announcement. “So I think some fresh thinking is needed on how best to address this concept.”

Borrello is running against Mike Ferguson (D-Fredonia) in the county executive race. Ferguson comes from a law enforcement family with his father serving as a Buffalo Police Officer. Ferguson has several ties to the Jamestown area, including being a former General Manger of the Northwest Ice Arena and of the past Jamestown Jammers professional baseball team.

The Kendall Club has not stated the reasons why it’s members selected Borrello over Ferguson in giving its endorsement.

The winner of this year’s County Executive race will succeed Vince Horrigan (R-Bemus Point), who announced his decision not to seek reelection earlier this year.

MAYVILLE – The Chautauqua County Legislature got an opportunity to review 13 different proposed shared services and consolidation projects that will soon be formally presented to the state as part of a Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Countywide Shared Services Initiative (CWSSI). The initiative involves Chautauqua County and five other counties in the running for a $20 million competitive grant.

County Executive Vince Horrigan (left) gives a presentation to the county legislature on the county’s proposed Shared Services plan during a meeting on Aug. 23, 2017.

On Wednesday night Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan walked legislators through each of the 13 proposals, which include consolidating the Jamestown Police Department with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, developing a more regional plan for coordinating and operating the county’s 42 fire departments, dissolving and merging the towns of Gerry and Charlotte along with the village of Sinclairville, and improving shared services and offices spaces between Dunkirk and Fredonia as well as between the village of Lakewood and the town of Busti.

• VIEW THE COMPLETE LIST OF PROJECTS

The projects were point together through the county’s Regional Solutions Commission.

The public will also have the opportunity to learn more about the proposals during a series of three scheduled public hearings that Horrigan will host next week.

The hearings will be held on:

• Tuesday, August 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Fredonia Technology Incubator in Dunkirk;
• Wednesday, August 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the County EMS Office in Mayville;
• and Thursday, August 31 at 6:30 p.m. in the CCIDA Board Room, 201 W. Third St. in Jamestown.

Each hearing will include a brief presentation of projects and an opportunity for county citizens to ask questions and give input on the plan.

The shared service initiative establishes panels in each county across the state, which was tasked with developing a shared services plan. That plan must be reviewed by the Legislature for comment and presented to the public before it can be sent to the New York State Division of Budget for consideration of the $20 million in funding.

For more information on the plan or next week’s hearings, contact the County Executive’s Office at (716) 753-4211.

According to the Post-Journal, the forum – which was hosted by the county executive Vince Horrigan and Regional Solutions Commission Chairman and county legislator George Borrello – highlighted 13 proposed projects that would be included in the application.

The projects’ list includes:

• Merging the Jamestown Police Department and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office;
• Researching a possible merger between the Lakewood-Busti and Ellicott police departments;
• A comprehensive study on the delivery of fire services within the county;
• Dissolution of the village of Sinclairville;
• Consolidation of services among the towns of Gerry and Charlotte;
• Merging the Mayville, Dewittville and Hartfield fire departments;
• Sharing police and court facility in Dunkirk and Fredonnia;
• Sharing courts in the towns of Harmony and North Harmony sharing courts;
• Sharing a municipal facility for the Village of Lakewood and Town of Busti.

Several other north county proposals were also included in the outline.

The application detailing the projects and cost savings is due to the state June 28. The county is being assisted with the completion of the application by the Center for Governmental Research consulting firm. The winner will be announced in August.

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Chautauqua County Legislature during the May 24, 2017 meeting.

MAYVILLE – The Chautauqua County Legislature Wednesday night voted in favor of a plan that would assist with any future government reduction initiatives taken place between two or more municipalities in the county.

By a vote of 17 to 1, the legislature approved its Government Reduction Initiative (GRI) plan, which outlines the parameters for how the county would assist other municipalities in the county to accomplish the consolidation and dissolution of local government entities. Proponents of consolidation say it would result in reduced property taxes, improved business climate, and spur economic development.

The plan comes forward as a result of the county being a finalist in the state’s Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition for local governments, which involves a competition for $20 million in grant awards, where counties in the state were encouraged to submit government reduction proposals. Chautauqua County is one of six counties in the state to be a finalist for the money.

Bonnie Peters

During the earlier public comment portion of the meeting, Cassadaga resident Bonnie Peters, who also serves as president of CSEA Local 807, said that any consolidation effort put forward as a result of the plan wouldn’t necessarily save taxpayers money, citing the recent dissolution of the village of Seneca Falls, which resulted in residents taxes going up, not going down. She said that in early every dissolution that has taken place across the state, the actual tax savings have been significantly lower compared to what was promised before a vote took place.

“Hopefully you see that passing a resolution which predicts all dissolutions and mergers to be beneficial to the county is premature at best,” Peters said. “The last thing we need is the county legislature here in Mayville telling the residents of Silver Creek, Fredonia, and Lakewood – just to name a few – what’s best for them.”

Peters also said that if saving money for residents was the top priority, the legislature should instead focus its attention on the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, which recently cancelled a $1 million loan for the failed Jamestown MVP Plastics.

“As a taxpayer, I wholly applaud the county’s attempt to save tax dollars. However, I would encourage the county to look at all the waste in the IDA, before you encourage towns to strip away the vital services their residents have come to depend on,” Peters said, adding, “The Chautauqua County IDA uniform tax exemption policy and guidelines number F addresses the recapture of benefits. Has the IDA ever utilized this clawback of funds? Did we get any of the money back from the aforementioned Jamestown MVP plastics?”

The only legislator who voted against he plan was Dunkirk Democrat Robert Bankoski, who said that while he appreciated the work put into the plan by fellow legislator Terry Niebel, he agreed with Peters.

In response to Peters’ statements, legislator George Borrello, a Republican from Hanover who chairs the county’s Regional Solutions Commission and is running for County Executive in the 2017 election, said that consolidations and dissolutions have been successful in Chautauqua County and have also resulted in saving taxpayer money. Borrello, who is also a member of the county IDA, didn’t respond to Peters’ criticism of the IDA.

George Borrello

SILVER CREEK – A four-term member of the Chautauqua County Legislature is announcing his candidacy for Chautauqua County Executive.

On Wednesday afternoon George Borrello (R-Irving) announced his intention to run for the office of county executive at the Silver Creek Firemen’s Club.

Borrello is a Chautauqua County native who graduated from Fredonia High School in 1985 and is a 1989 graduate of Purdue University.

He’s the founder of Top-Shelf Marketing, which is a supplier to the hospitality industry, and which eventually merged with Progressive Specialty Glass Company, where Borrello currently serves as vice president of Marketing. He is also involved with the hospitality and tourism business in Sunset Bay.

Borello first ran for public office in 2009 for a seat on the Chautauqua County Legislature. Since then he’s been involved with starting the the Lake Erie Management Commission – which he currently chairs, and also is the chair of the county’s Regional Solutions Commission (RSC), which was created last year. He is also a current member of the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency’s Board of Directors.

Earlier this year current Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan (R-Bemus Point) announced he would not be seeking reelection in the November elections.

Borrello and his wife Kelly live in Sunset Bay, in the town of Hanover, and are both active in several charity and community efforts.

County executive Vince Horrigan delivering his 2017 State of the County address on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan will be focusing a lot on regional solutions and shared services during his final year on the job.

On Wednesday night Horrigan delivered his 2017 State of the County message to the legislature, which, as it turns out, will also be his last. At the end of the address, Horrigan announced he would not be running for reelection in 2017. However, Horrigan said that even though he has less than a year left on the job,  he still plans to focus on a variety of initiatives, including those involving regional solutions.

In fact, Horrigan said the county has already laid groundwork in that effort with its Regional Solutions Commission, which focused on several projects in 2016 and will also put together a plan on a dozen other projects this year that could lead to significant financial assistance from Albany.

“The commission has identified 12 projects to either merge, consolidate, or share services,” Horrigan said during his State of the County. “These projects have been submitted to the state as part of a municipal consolidation and efficiency competition and last week, as many of you know, our county was awarded $50,000 as part of Phase 1 of the state program. This will require us to develop a plan for the final round of the competition to try and take home $20 million for regional solutions.”

CONSOLIDATION PROPOSAL BETWEEN CITY, COUNTY STILL IN PLANNING PHASE

One of the regional solutions proposals is a consolidation plan between the city of Jamestown and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office. The plan, which has already received state funding to help guide it along, has been in the discussion phase for more than four years.

While Horrigan didn’t specifically mention the consolidation in his state of the county address, WRFA did ask him about it following Wednesday night’s presentation. He said 2017 may be the year that it is finalized and put before city and county lawmakers for review and action, although some details still need to be ironed out.

“What I found is that the way we were going about it is that we were trying to merge collective bargaining units and it’s very hard to do that,” Horrigan. “We have a model where we provide contract services to Cherry Creek, and all over the county. We’re happy to do that to the city as well, and maybe there’s some adjustment there as well. We’ll see how that goes.”

Horrigan also said that any public safety agreement between the county and city also needs to be mindful of labor relations with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Deputies Association, as well as with the JPD’s bargaining unit, the Kendall Club.

“Whatever we do, I’ll have to be able to sell it to the legislature. That’s very important. And the last thing I want to do, where we have very good labor relations with our team, all of a sudden get into a situation where collective bargaining agreements become a point of contention, or we’re stepping on the [city’s labor groups], I’m not sure that’s going to help anybody.”

In 2012 Jamestown received a state grant to hire Rochester-based consulting firm the Center for Governmental Research to help develop a plan to have the city contract with the sheriff’s office in order to help save the city money, at no additional cost to the county.

An initial report from CGR stated that the savings from such an agreement could be as high as $1.4 million annually, once fully in place. The savings would be due to the city reducing the number of JPD officers who provide public safety and instead bringing in Sheriff Deputies, who work under a labor agreement that has less costly benefits than what officers in the JPD union receive.

It’s not so much a consolidation of the two departments with one going away, but more of a contractual arrangement with between the city and county that as officers at the Jamestown city level retire or should otherwise leave employment would be replaced by a contracted county employee, because of the savings differential on salary, retirement, and other expenses,” Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi explained last July.

During his 2016 State of the County address, Chautauqua County executive Vince Horrigan mentioned that he would create a Regional Solutions Commission as a way to identify and assess shared government service proposals.

The commission will hold its first meeting Thursday at 10 a.m. in the training rooms at the office of emergency services in Mayville.

The commission will be chaired by Chautauqua County Legislator George Borrello (R- Irving).

Several other government and community representatives will also serve on the commission, including Jamestown development director Vince DeJoy, Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Tranum, and Chautauqua County Labor Coalition chairman David Wilkinson.

The Regional Solutions Commission will focus on the areas of public safety, infrastructure and local government as it facilitates public forums, identifies regional initiatives, and develops initiatives into proposals for implementation.

According to Horrigan, Thursday’s meeting will provide an overview of the commission’s goals and include presentations from guest speakers. The meeting will be open to the public.

On Wednesday night Horrigan delivered the 2016 state of the county to the Chautauqua County Legislature, spending half an hour detailing recent successes while also outlining his agenda for the current year.

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• STATE OF THE COUNTY: FULL TEXT

Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan delivers his 2016 State of the County report to the Chautauqua County Legislature in the legislature chambers in Mayville, NY on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.

Some of the highlights of the past year include returning the sales tax to 8 percent, which allowed the county to then cut the property tax by 6 percent. He also focused on the creation of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which helped to find ways to reduce the local inmate population at the county jail. Other highlights included the finalization of the countywide shared services plan, the Northern Chautauqua County Water District, various economic development efforts, and continued work to improve the health of Chautauqua Lake.

But Horrigan also focused on several major challenges, including the mothballing of the NRG power plant in Dunkirk which could lead to the combined loss of up to $8 million in tax payments for the county, city of Dunkirk, and Dunkirk school district. Horrigan said NRG has already planned to reduce its PILOT payments, although he’s confident it wouldn’t have an immediate impact on local government.

“At this point I feel very confident that should NRG’s PILOT drop by $6.8 million as NRG has told us, we will be assisted through the state budget process to reduce the impact on the delivery of our critical services,” Horrigan said. “However, help will be transitional. It will be short term in nature and we have to have an endgame where we come out the other end of this with the right size structure.”

He also pointed to the current financial challenges of nearly every municipality in the county, including Jamestown, saying now more than ever the county needs to focus on shared services. As a result, he said he’ll create a Regional Solutions Commission, chaired by legislator George Borrello and including representatives from both local and state governments as well as the public and private sectors, to identify ways to share services and reduce the cost of running local government.

“The commission will be charged with facilitating public forums, identifying regional initiatives and then developing those initiatives into specific proposals for implementation. We will be tapping into the Governor’s municipal consolidation incentive funding which has been very helpful in achieving the successes we have seen in our 2015 regional solutions,” Horrigan said.

And Horrigan also pointed to the continued social and health challenges – including the heroin and opioid epidemic as well as poor nutrition and overall health for many residents. During his address, he acknowledged that more needs to be done if the county is to turn the corner on the drug crisis.

“In spite of progress in treatment, education, law enforcement, and mobilizing the public, we are struggling to find real progress,” Horrigan said. “I will continue to do everything I can in partnership with our health care providers, our law enforcement agencies, our judges, and our state and federal leaders to continue to fight this enemy of our community. We need all hands on deck including our families and faith based institutions to win this fight here in Chautauqua County.”

Horrigan also hinted at another major economic development opportunity, saying there have been talks about the possibility of bringing a major commercial vehicle parts manufacturer to the county. However, he also said that right now that project is in the early discussion phases and there’s no guarantee it will be a reality.