Jamestown Community College President Dr. Daniel DeMarte presents to Chautauqua County Legislature’s Audit & Control Committee (April 21, 2022)

Jamestown Community College President Dr. Daniel DeMarte made an initial ask for nearly $1.3 million for projects at the college before the County Legislature’s Audit & Control Committee.

DeMarte said a formal request will be coming before the County Planning Board later this year for two on-going projects and one new one.

The first project request for $53,000 is to finish the last phase of construction at the Scharmann Theatre to bring it into compliance with an Office of Civil Rights issue. Once that work is completed, the college will be able to re-open the theatre. The total cost of that project is $212,000. The second request would be $250,000 to install LED lighting on the Jamestown campus. The third and largest request is for almost $1 million, DeMarte said, to put turf down on the soccer field, “I can’t compete with Corning and other schools down the road if we don’t have the facilities to attract those students to JCC. They want to come. They want to be here. They like it here. They want to stay here. But we’re at a point where I simply cannot compete with our neighboring institutions if we don’t start making some improvements with the facilities and it starts with turfing the soccer field.”

The total cost for that project would be nearly $4 million.

DeMarte also discussed with legislators that in regards to the college’s two north county facilities, he’s not sure if that’s the best location for JCC to be. He said they are working on adding programming this Fall in Dunkirk similar to what’s offered at the Manufacturing Technical Institute in Jamestown, “What we offer there now is essentially the first year of the two-year transfer degree. We don’t offer any CTE programming in Dunkirk. I think that perhaps there’s a void. You know I often hear, as I’m sure you do too, that there are people who will not travel over the great divide, over the hill in Cassadaga into Jamestown, for an education at JCC.”

DeMarte said CTE training also will be offered this Fall in Dunkirk. He said the college is working on a new memorandum of understanding with the Job Corp in Cassadaga for them to have students go to both Jamestown and Dunkirk for CTE training.

DeMarte said the number of out of area students coming to JCC has helped offset the decrease in students from local high schools. He said they’re setting enrollment and recruitment goals at the pre-pandemic 2019 levels, “In that year we stopped a nine-year decline. So we’ve been sliding in enrollment for nine years. Not unusual. Most colleges in the country have been sliding. We stopped that in ’19. So our immediate goal is to get back to where we were in ’19 and then determine where we can go from there. We don’t anticipate that there will be much growth, but some stability.”

DeMarte said the college is working on workforce development, including creating a water treatment training program two years ago. He said the next closest location for this training is in Morrisville, New York, “We’ve trained over 300 individuals locally in water treatment. We’re now looking at wastewater treatment training because that need is there also. This one program has been so successful that we’re not being asked to come into other counties to help deliver the training which poses other challenges for us but that’s a good problem to have. So we’ve been asked recently if we’d take the training to Niagara County and help begin to train their municipalities in water treatment.”

DeMarte said in an effort to get students back to campus, they offered one free on-campus class to high school juniors and seniors. The goal was to get 60 students to take part and 100 students signed up before the program was even marketed. He said the same program will be run this summer and 90 students have already signed up for the 150 spots available.

DeMarte added that there was no good news in the state budget for community colleges. He said that community colleges fared worse in the 2022-23 budget than they had in the previous three state budgets.

The Working to Implement Reliable and Equitable Deployment of Broadband Act (WIRED Broadband Act) establishes a new Division of Broadband Access that will deploy a series of ConnectALL grant programs. The initiatives include $300 million for the ConnectALL grant program, and another $1.145 billion in federal funds.

The ConnectALL Municipal Assistance Program will provide local governments with funding for broadband infrastructure projects that provide reliable internet service speeds of at least 100mbps for download and 20mbps for upload.

The ConnectALL Innovation Grant Program will develop, pilot, and promote innovative models and technologies for the delivery of new broadband solutions for rural and low-income areas, and foster collaboration between research and business sectors.

And the ConnectALL Digital Equity Grant Program will promote equitable access to broadband for all New Yorkers and support effective implementation of the State Digital Equity Plan.

The budget also repeals the DOT Right-of-Way fee for all projects. These fees added considerable one-time and annual costs to many broadband projects, which reduced the return on investment from these projects.

Governor Kathy Hochul speaking at LGBT Community Center 2022 Dinner

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced major advancements in equity initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community as part of the enacted 2023 State Budget.

The Budget includes $13.5 million for the Department of Health to support the LGBTQ+ community and more than doubles annual LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services funding. It also requires all state agencies that collect information about a person’s gender to provide an option for people to mark their gender as ‘X’ on state forms and include that information in data collection. The budget also enables transgender New Yorkers to change their names or gender designations on marriage certificates without leaving their dead names on them.

Hochul said, “The past two years have been hard for us all, but especially hard for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers who have always been forced to deal with levels of isolation due to homophobia and transphobia. That’s why it’s so important that our newly enacted budget presses forward in the fight for equality with historic levels of state funding and initiatives for LGBTQ+ equity.”

The 2023 Budget includes $13.5 million for the Department of Health – an increase of $8 million over the prior fiscal year – to support the LGBTQ+ community and network of providers, with direct health services, cultural competency education and training, organizational capacity building and transgender wellness initiatives.

The Budget also invests $12.5 million — an increase of $3.7 million over the prior fiscal year — to support the Division of Human Rights‘ efforts in protecting New Yorkers, including the LGBTQ+ community, from unlawful discrimination based on who they are. The Division of Human Rights uses investigation, prosecution, and education to enforce and promote the Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, race, national origin, disability, and other specified classes.

The State Budget also directs $25 million for Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes (SCAHC) grants. Additionally, benefits will be expanded for victims of hate crimes, who will now be able to obtain up to $2,500 in reimbursement – an increase of $2,000 from past years.

The Division of Human Rights will create a Hate and Bias Prevention Unit, first announced in Governor Hochul’s State of the State Address, to provide a coordinated, rapid, and community-focused response to hate and bias incidents. The unit’s general charge will include leading efforts around public education and outreach, serving as an early warning detection system in local communities, and rapidly mobilizing to areas and communities in which a bias incident or incidents have occurred.

The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce held its annual State Legislative Breakfast on Friday, April 8, 2022. State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell appeared via Zoom to discuss their initial thoughts on the new 2022-23 State Budget agreement.

Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast with State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell

State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell shared their initial takes on the 2022-23 State Budget at the Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast Friday.

The two legislators appeared via Zoom to attendees of the annual breakfast as the State Legislature was still in session and voting on budget bills at the time of the event.

Assemblyman Andy Goodell said the $220 billion deal reflects a huge increase in spending in recent years, “Last year, the majority raised taxes by about $8 billion. And this year the state has received a lot of, I mean, billions and billions of dollars in Federal stimulus funding. So that’s what’s funding this huge increase in spending.”

Senator Borrello said the budget process was dysfunctional with the Democrats seeming to not be able to get out of their own way.

Borrello also criticized how policy issues, like bail reform, were discussed as part of the budget process, “But they do that to provide cover for some of their members who can say, ‘Well, it was part of a massive budget bill. I had to vote yes on it,’ or ‘I had to vote no on it,’ however it is. But the bottom line is, is this is probably the biggest topic for New Yorkers everywhere from the tip of Long Island to North Country.”

Borrello added that Governor Kathy Hochul‘s release of a 10-point plan shows that even she’s aware of the need to fix some of the issues happening in courts due to bail reform.

The full comments by Borrello and Goodell will be aired on this Thursday’s Community Matters at 5pm on WRFA.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist sat down with us to talk about the state budget, including bail reform, as well as other issues including where things stand with cannabis.

Eddie Sundquist

Governor Kathy Hochul announces 2022-23 State Budget deal

New York State legislators and Governor Kathy Hochul have come to an agreement on a $220 billion state budget.

Hochul announced the agreement nearly a week after the budget was due. Lawmakers were expected to begin voting on bills Thursday night and finish those on Friday.

The agreement includes some changes to the state’s bail reform laws, the renewal of a popular pandemic-era rule that allows restaurants to serve alcoholic drinks to go, and a temporary halt to the state’s gasoline taxes.

The changes in bail reform include making several gun-related crimes once again eligible for bail, and to ease some of the timelines on discovery laws, which require that prosecutors provide defendants with evidence against them.

Hochul said there’s also agreement to amend Kendra’s Law, to make it easier for judges to refer mentally ill defendants to mandatory hospitalization or outpatient treatment. The agreement will also include funding for 1,000 additional psychiatric beds and mental health treatment.

The governor agreed with legislators to spend an additional $4 billion in the budget on programs, including expanded access to child care, although it stops short of the universal child care plan backed by some in the Legislature.

Hochul said home health care workers will receive a $3-an-hour wage increase as part of a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar package to raise the pay of health care workers. A plan known as Coverage for All, which would provide government-subsidized health care to undocumented workers, will be limited to those workers who are over the age of 65.

Hochul said the budget will devote 15% of total spending to the state’s rainy-day fund to be used if there’s a future economic downturn.

The budget will also include the suspension of two of the state’s taxes on gasoline, worth 16 cents a gallon, from June 1 until the end of the year. Hochul said the spending plan also includes the continuation of a middle-class tax cut and a property tax rebate.

New Yorkers ordering takeout food will once again be allowed to also order alcoholic drinks to go. The measure, which sunsets in three years, requires that all alcohol be secured in a container with a lid or cap. Full bottles of wine or liquor will not be permitted to be sold.

Liquor store owners, who opposed the measure, will get some concessions, including being allowed to open on Christmas Day.

The spending plan also creates a new state entity to oversee ethics. It will replace the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, or JCOPE, with a new commission that will continue to be appointed by the governor, Legislature and other statewide elected officials. The state’s law school deans will vet the choices.

Lawmakers were also poised to approve a deal that Hochul struck with the NFL and owners of the Buffalo Bills football team to fund at least $850 million in expenses for building a new stadium, in exchange for the team continuing to play in Buffalo for another three decades. Critics say the agreement, which could reach $1 billion when other expenses are counted, is too big a taxpayer giveaway to a well-funded league and the billionaire team owners.

Hochul defended the deal, saying some of the money will come from a gaming-related settlement with the Seneca Nation of Indians.

And voters will have a say in November on whether to approve a $4.2 billion environmental bond act that would help combat climate change.

Lawmakers are looking to add another $4 billion in additional spending to Hochul’s record $216 billion plan, but details on the final proposal remained elusive as sources speculated that negotiations could extend beyond Friday.

After blowing past last Friday’s budget deadline, Hochul and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature on Monday passed a last-minute budget “extender” to fund payroll obligations through midnight Thursday.

The delay is due to legislators hashing out details of the controversial criminal justice policy as well as “a host of non-budget issues that were thrown into the mix.”

Lawmakers in the state Senate and Assembly were on track to meet privately to discuss outstanding issues Wednesday evening.

One measure still on the table is the controversial expansion of Kendra’s Law, which permits court-ordered Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or AOT, and community supervision in cases of serious mental illness. The amended provision could include the involuntary commitment of people with mental illness following a judge’s decision.

Lawmakers are also close to a deal on rolling back the state’s controversial bail reform laws, mulling changes such as making more hate and gun crimes bail eligible.

They’re deliberating a measure that would allow judges to consider an individual’s criminal history to determine whether they could cause harm to a person or group of people.

For the Buffalo Bills new stadium, Hochul’s $1.4 billion project will be funded with taxpayers covering $600 million and residents of Erie County chipping in another $250 million. The teams’ billionaire owners, Terry and Kim Pegula, will foot $550 million of the price tag.

Measures still under consideration include:

• An extension of the pandemic-era “alcohol to-go” law
• Relief for high prices at the gas pump
• A plan to revamp the state’s ethics agency, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics
• More spending for home care workers, distressed hospitals, and SUNY and CUNY students.
• Increased funding aimed at combating discrimination against Asian-Americans

The New York Daily News reports the budget is expected to exceed Governor Kathy Hochul’s initial $216 billion ask.

Insiders said both the Assembly and the Senate were mostly in agreement on a framework for changes to the state’s bail and discovery laws, an 11th-hour request from Hochul that has stymied and slowed down talks.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie were expected to present the pubic safety proposals to rank and file lawmakers late Tuesday evening.

Criminal justice advocates, fearful that changes to bail reforms enacted in 2019 will lead to more people being imprisoned simply because they are poor, pleaded with lawmakers to reject any overhauls.

One legislative source said that moving past the public safety reforms will allow negotiations on other issues including child care funding and subsidies and a potential suspension of the state’s gas tax to advance.

While the state’s revenue bill was one of the measures expected to be prepared late Tuesday, the gasoline tax reprieve and Hochul’s plan to fast-track licenses for a trio of downstate casinos were not likely to be included. They could still appear in other budget bills later in the week, the source said.

An agreement appears to have been reached on an overhaul of the state’s beleaguered ethics panel that has so far failed to appease good government groups.

At the same time, sources confirmed that an extension of a controversial tax abatement for real estate developers that Hochul was seeking after a revamped version in her original budget proposal was rejected appears to be off the table.

The governor on Monday defended the secretive nature of budget negotiations, maintaining that everything has been “normal” despite the delays and frustration from lawmakers over the last-minute inclusion of her public safety proposals and millions in state funds for a new Buffalo Bills stadium.
Hochul also defended the deal she struck with the Bills’ billionaire owners that could cost New York up to $1.13 billion in state subsidies despite backlash from political opponents and lawmakers.

She said, “It is not majority taxpayer-funded, I want to be clear on that. The state share is 43%. So that’s not the majority, but that’s historically low for any public financing from the state.”

We discuss news out of Albany with Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Ellicott), who shares his thoughts on the ongoing sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the COVID-19 vaccination effort, and his thoughts on the State Budget process. He also talks about the proposal to legalize recreational marijuana.

Andy Goodell