Jamestown City Council voting session (April 24, 2023)

Jamestown City Council has approved a settlement to end litigation between the City and the company hired to renovate Tracy Plaza.

The City of Jamestown hired Patterson-Stevens in 2017 to renovate Tracy Plaza, which sits above and also serves as the roof for the city police and fire departments along with the city parking garage.

A lawsuit seeking $2 million was filed in February 2019 by the city and New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal, claiming Patterson-Stevens Inc. was responsible for not properly securing the area, which allowed rain water to damage the police and fire departments below.

That lawsuit was settled in September 2020.

Patterson-Stevens counter-sued the city for breech of contract in July 2020, claiming the city owed over $306,000 in back payment for work that was done at Tracy Plaza in 2018.

The settlement approved Monday night has the City paying Patterson-Stevens $155,000 with Patterson-Stevens paying the city $75,000. Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo said this ends all litigation between the city and Patterson-Stevens.

Council also approved lifting the hiring freeze to allow an Ombudsman to be hired. This position replaces the Associate Corporation Counsel position. The ombudsman will perform human resource duties in the Corporation Counsel’s office.

A resolution also was approved to purchase new finance and payroll software from Springbrook using $106,286 in American Rescue Plan funds. This software will replace the KVS system with the administration saying the upgrade will result in time-savings for staff.

Jamestown City Council

The Jamestown Salary Review Commission presented their recommendations for increases in December 2022.

The City Charter change calls to raise Council members’ salaries from $5,000 to $7,000. City Council President would receive $8,000. The mayor’s salary would raise from $72,000 to $82,000.

City Council members’ salaries haven’t increased since 1984 with the mayor’s salary remaining unchanged since 2008.

If approved, the salary increases would not go into effect until January 1, 2024.

Council also will vote on hiring an Ombudsman to perform Human Resource duties in the Corporation Counsel’s office.

They also will vote on purchasing new finance and payroll software from Springbrook using $106,286 in American Rescue Plan funds.

A work session will be held at 7:00 p.m. with the voting session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The public is welcome to attend with the voting session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo makes case for new ombudsman position to City Council (April 17, 2023)

Jamestown City Council heard the case for bringing back the Ombudsman position to fill human resources needs.

Corporation Counsel Elliot Raimondo has requested the title be brought back to replace the recently vacant Assistant Corporation Counsel position in his office. He said the salary range for the position is around $54,000 to $85,000. The position is currently funded through the end of 2023.

City Council President Tony Dolce voiced concern that the city would have to fund two full time positions when the ombudsman position was eliminated over 20 years ago to save money, “As you look into 2024, you have to consider, especially if you’re going to go to a higher range within that someone is hired and they move up and they keep moving up. That’s obviously going to have a long term effect down the road on the budget to have a full time Corporation Counsel and a full time Ombudsman. You could be at some time doubling the costs that you have.”

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said human resources needs of the city have changed “tremendously,” “We’re seeing more and more mental health issues. We’re seeing more and more disputes between employees that we’ve not seen in many, many years. And our EAP only covers so much of that. And so we’re trying to bring an HR position in to assist in that process on top of the litigation that Mr. Raimondo is currently engaging in, which council is aware of, that will take a significant amount of time.”

Council member Marie Carrubba agreed that there are more HR issues for businesses today than in the past and that it would be difficult for the Corporation Counsel to wear “both hats.”

Council also reviewed a request to purchase new accounting software.

The City chose Springbrook Software following a request-for-proposal process. Mayor Sundquist said the bid of $63,986.50 for the purchase and $42,300 annual maintenance cost is higher than the bid received in Fall 2022 due to the former request not including an accounts receivable feature.

The software would be purchased using American Rescue Plan funds and would replace the KVS accounting system that’s been in use by the city since the early 2000s.

Sundquist said the new software would help the city continue digitizing some of its paperwork, “It would also allow us to approve purchase orders and that sort of things for departments as well move all of our timesheets online. Right now we do all timesheets on paper, as well as paper slips for each different departments. It would also allow employees their own access, in fact this is something we’re getting from a lot of the newer employees, which is the ability to see their paystub and not get a paper stub, as well as to change their tax filings.”

Sundquist noted the software will free up staff time and have cost savings in paper purchases. He added that the last audit of the City recommended that the city move to this kind of system.

Jamestown City Council

The resolution would purchase Springbrook Software using $63,986.50 of American Rescue Plan funds to replace the KVS accounting system that’s been in use by the city since the early 2000s. The annual cost for the new software is $42,300.

Council held off on approving the purchase of this same software in October 2022 after learning it hadn’t been reviewed by the city’s IT department. Council member Marie Carrubba also requested that council be provided a reference list of other municipalities who use the software in New York State.

The resolution for the purchase at that time requested $91,683 in American Rescue Plan with annual maintenance costs being listed as $19,405. According to Council member at Large Kim Ecklund‘s comments at the meeting, the current KVS system’s annual maintenance costs are in the $17,000 range.

The staff report for the current resolution said the software was chosen after a Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process, adding that the Comptroller, City Clerk, and IT department performed various demonstrations to confirm functionality. The software has new features, including online portals for each employee to see payroll and tax data.

Council will resume discussions on the resolution to hire eight firefighters. Council members have been requesting additional information on the financial impact of the hirings, including how the administration proposes continuing to fund the positions once the three-year SAFER grant from the federal government runs out.

City officials have said that the purchase of a second ambulance will help bring in revenue that will help bridge that gap. Council members also requested a cost versus revenue comparison for the current ambulance owned by the city in addition to estimates on the amount of revenue that might be brought in by the second ambulance. A resolution to use $250,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to purchase that second ambulance appeared on Council’s agenda on April 10.

The operation of that vehicle depends on the additional hiring of firefighters.

Discussions on hiring an ombudsman will continue tonight, presuming the administration provides council with the salary schedule and cost-out requested by the City Council Finance Committee.

The position would replace the Associate Corporation Counsel position that’s now vacant in the Corporation Counsel’s office.

The City Council work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. There are no committee meetings due to lack of agenda items. The public is welcome to attend with the meeting being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown City Council

Council will hear budget presentations by the Department of Public Works and Parks Department at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Police Training Room.

The proposed 2023 executive budget features no tax increase and 3 new positions. The tax levy is proposed to remain at $23.69 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which it has been since 2020. It has a 0.06% increase in the overall levy.

The spending plan increases appropriations by $660,000. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said due to the growth of the Jamestown’s tax base, the City has decreased the percentage available to tax under the New York State Constitutional tax limit to 88%, down from 99.1% in 2020.

Expenditures in the budget continue to be driven by health insurance, but the budgeted amount is down $1.61 million dollars from last year in part due to 170 retirees signing up for a Medicare Advantage plan that saved the city money. Jamestown will receive $500,000 from the New York State Financial Restructuring Board for implementing that Medicare plan.

Under revenues, sales tax is projected at $8.54 million, which is an increase from the 2022 budget of 5%.
The new positions proposed include two positions initially proposed in the 2022 executive budget but never hired: a new building maintenance mechanic and a Deputy Public Works Director. The third new position being proposed is a Parks Assistant. All three positions would be funded using general funds.

Jamestown City Council is required to adopt a final spending plan by the end of November.

The budget summary and full budget packet can be found on the city’s website at jamestownny.gov/budget.

During the regular work session, Council will review a resolution to purchase a Bearcat SWAT vehicle for $247,516.

They also will review a resolution requesting $91,683 in American Rescue Plan funds to purchase Springbrook financial accounting and payroll software. This new software would replace the KVS accounting system implemented in the early 2000s that has had service phased out. The staff report said the new software has new features, including online portals for each employee to see payroll and tax data. The annual cost of the software would be $19,405 with those maintenance costs included in the 2023 executive budget.

Council also will continue discussion on proposed ARP funded programs.

The Housing Committee will meet at 6:15 p.m., followed by budget hearings at 6:30 p.m., and then the remainder of committee meetings at 7:00 p.m. The full work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the fourth floor Police Training Room. The public is invited to attend all meetings with the full work session being streamed online at jamestownny.gov.