State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt announced 63-year old Hector Rosas of Silver Creek was indicted for using his public position to pilfer the monies through several schemes.

DiNapoli and Schmidt said Rosas, as Festivals Coordinator, deposited nearly $15,000 in donations meant to aid residents of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria into the city’s festivals bank account, which he controlled, before transferring to his personal bank account. Although Rosas visited his mother’s home in Puerto Rico and spent some of the funds, officials said he could produce no receipts, nor could he account for the money collected.

As Festivals Coordinator, from the summer of 2016 to the summer of 2019, Rosas was responsible for collecting and depositing cash generated from beer sales at the annual summer festivals. The investigation revealed that over $42,000 in cash sales were collected by Rosas but never reported or deposited in the festivals account.

Rosas was arraigned in Chautauqua County Court before Judge Stephen Cass and is due back in court on June 13, 2023.

Judge LaMancuso’s community service includes volunteering with Babe Ruth Baseball and Jamestown Area Youth Soccer, as well as serving as a member of the Jamestown School Board. The Jamestown Bar Association said Judge LaMancuso has been instrumental in the success of the Jamestown City Treatment Court, Veterans’ Court, and Mental Health Court.

Judge Cass’ community service includes currently serving on the Robert H. Jackson Center Board of Directors and previous service as a member of the Board of Directors for the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. He also was a board member for the Girl Scouts of Western New York, and coach for girls’ softball, girls’ basketball, and girls’ soccer teams for many years.

Election commission Norm Green says Carmella Cantanese, the Republican candidate for Falconer mayor, and Timothy Wright, the Republican candidate for Carroll town justice, have each submitted withdrawal notices to election officials.

Both withdrawals are due to conflicts with each candidates respective jobs. Cantanese works as a secretary for Judge Stephen Cass and Wright works for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. According to Cantanese, a court employee can not engage in political activity so she was withdrawing from the Falconer Mayoral race. Wright said his election effort would be in violation of the Federal Hatch Act.

Despite withdrawing from their respective races, the candidate names will remain on the ballot pursuant to county election board policy, as there is no mechanism in state Election Law to remove a candidate’s name other than death or dueling nominations.

Rance “Randy” Freeman, Jr., 31, was arraigned Thursday in Chautauqua County Court on a two-count indictment alleging two charges of Murder in the Second Degree.

Johnson was discovered deceased in his Westfield home on November 8, 2008. The Village of Westfield Police Department, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department, and the Chautauqua County Forensic Investigation Team responded and began an investigation which led to the indictment of Freeman, nearly 10 years later.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Patrick Swanson credited the perseverance of the investigators, adding “My thanks go out to the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and Westfield Police for their continued efforts in investigating this case.”

Freeman  entered a plea of not guilty before Chautauqua County Court Judge Stephen Cass. Bail was set at $500,000 cash or $1,000,000 property.

Freeman is due to return to court for the completion of discovery and standard motions on a date yet to be determined.

The charges carry a potential sentence ranging from fifteen years to life up to twenty-five years to life imprisonment. As are all persons accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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The library board hosted the meeting to hear from the public about what can be done to help preserve and maintain the $3.17 million art collection while also closing a large deficit in its operating budget.

Prendergast Library board president Tom Rankin talks with attendees during a public input session on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015.

Library board president Tom Rankin said he was happy to see a large turnout and some ideas come forward.

“Some folks had some good comments,” Rankin told WRFA following the meeting. “Some folks support us and some folks wish we made different choices. But it’s all part of the process, we need to hear from everybody.”

For several months the library board has been looking into the idea of selling some of its art collection to help close the budget gap, but placing the proceeds in an endowment which could then bring revenue into the library on a regular basis.

Opponents of the plan to sell the art collection want the library to pursue other fundraising options and Rankin said that is something that will be considered.

“We have some great ideas and we will get our fundraising committee going,” Rankin said. “We will explore – we  want to do these things. We’ve done fundraising in the past. We had a concert with Serendipity a couple of years ago, we do the literacy run, we hold Scrabble tournaments, so we’ve done a few things but we’re willing to try different things as well.”

Jamestown area resident and former Roger Tory Peterson Institute director Jim Barry speaks during the Prendergast Library’s public input session on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015.

One of those who attended was Jamestown resident Karen Hansen, who said she went to the meeting to let the board know there are community members who want to help out and save the art.

“Jamestown has a lot of poverty and a lot of its citizens will never get the chance to see art of this caliber,” Hansen said. “The fact that it’s here, and the solution to fix a budget shortfall is to sell [the art], to me, is ironic, because really, the art could be making the library money, if it was used correctly.”

Hansen and others want to create a committee of community members dedicated to raising funds to ensure the art isn’t sold.

Some attendees also were critical of the board for failing to provide full transparency regarding the discussion to sell the artwork. They felt there should have been more of a public outreach effort earlier this year, informing the public that a budget deficit was looming and that selling the artwork was a real possibility, rather than only discussing the issue during the regular board meetings, which sees little to no public attendance.

While the community works to find alternatives, Rankin said the board will continue to look at the budget and identify ways to close the gap without selling the artwork, but he said that won’t be easy to do without having to make tough cuts for programming and staffing.

The board has also already signed into a contract with Sotheby’s to auction the artwork, should they decide to deaccession any of the pieces. The library has also requested that County Surrogate Court Judge Stephen Cass grant the library permission to sell the artwork if it chooses. That is required because the artwork was given to the library and intended to be a permanent asset. Rankin said he’s not sure when Judge Cass will make a ruling on the request.

The board will continue to discuss the budget issue and artwork during its next regular board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 22. The meeting begins at 12:15 p.m. in the Fireplace Room and is open to the public.

About 50 people attended the Prendergast Libraries public input session regarding the future of its art collection on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015.

Prendergast board president Tom Rankin walks the audience through a presentation focusing on the library’s budget deficit and selling the artwork during the board’s September 2015 meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The James Prendergast Library will hold a public input session involving the future of its Art Collection Thursday night at the library.

The library board of trustees made the decision to hold the input session last month after a number of residents attended the September board meeting to speak out against selling the art collection.

According to Prendergast Board President Tom Rankin, the September numbers show the library is facing $65,000 operating deficit for this year and a $180,000 deficit for next year. To make matters worse for the library, the mayor’s executive budget on Wednesday is slashing aid for the Prendergast by $15,000, meaning the library’s spending gap may be even larger than initially projected.

Library officials believe that by selling some of the art collection – which has a total value of approximately $3.17 million – they can add more money to the library endowment, which would then help to provide additional revenue on an annual basis. The library also believes that if they were to stay committed to keeping all the artwork, they would see an addition cost for both restoration and security.

Two pieces of artwork in the Prendergast collection that could be auctioned in the coming months: Left: “Industry” by French artist Eugene Romain Thirion – painted in 1874.
Right: “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” by French artist Leon Bazile Perrault, painted in 1884.
Both are from a collection of 32 paintings given to the library at the bequest of the Prendergast family.

The board has already signed into a contract with Sotheby’s to auction the artwork, should they decide to deaccession any of the pieces. The library has also requested that County Surrogate Court Judge Stephen Cass grant the library permission to sell the artwork if it chooses. That is required because the artwork was given to the library and intended to be a permanent asset.

Tonight’s input meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the library’s fireplace room and will be facilitated by Prendergast board members Bruce Gleason and Joni Blackman. They are asking anyone with alternative solutions to selling the art collection to attend the meeting and bring their ideas forward.

The next meeting for the board of trustees is Thursday, Oct. 15,  Oct. 22, which would be the earliest that the board could met to again discuss and possible deaccession pieces of its art collection.

Prendergast board president Tom Rankin walks the audience through a presentation focusing on the library’s budget deficit and selling the artwork.

That was the decision made Thursday afternoon by the board of trustees during its regular board meeting and after a number of residents attended the meeting to speak out against selling the art collection.

According to Prendergast Board President Tom Rankin, the latest numbers show the library is facing $65,000 operating deficit for this year and a $180,000 deficit for next year.

Library officials believe that by selling some of the art collection – which has a total value of approximately $3.17 million – they can add more money to the library endowment, which would then help to provide additional revenue on an annual basis.

The library also believes that if they were to stay committed to keeping all the artwork, they would see an addition cost for both restoration and security.

“$130,000 is what we project it would cost to upgrade the Fireplace Room so that it meets the needs to continue displaying these works,” Rankin said. “But it doesn’t include staff costs to have someone manage it. It just covers the cost of fixing the HVAC and security systems.”

Rankin also said there would be separate restoration fees to consider, which would involve restringing and reframing several of the pieces.

Ten different people addressed the board during the meeting, with about half against selling the artwork, while the other half supported the board’s initial decision.

Area residents (from top to bottom): Dianne Soule, Hillary Hornyak, and Doug Champ were three of the 10 individuals who addressed the library board. Those who spoke were split between selling or keeping the art collection.

“Mary Prendergast’s will stipulated that a gallery be built in the library to house a permanent collection and it was included in the construction of 1891,” said city resident Diane Soule. “The library was a gift to the city and the art collection was part of that gift. [The community] thought it would be safe and protected. But board members voted unanimously to sell it, right out from under our noses.”

“These are assets, but there are assets in this building that are more important than these assets,” said city resident Doug Champ. “This library functions for everyone, not necessarily an art person – but a reader, or someone who’s interested in research, or someone who needs guidance when their young. So what I say to this community, ‘Would you rather be looking at the artwork? Or would you rather have a successful child who’s able to read and write and use a computer?’

“The artwork has served a purpose and now its time to move on. The artwork can not be maintained in this environment. Do you want to spend additional money and keep these on the wall or do you want to channel these to other more important assets?” Champ asked.

“I know that you have probably looked at tons of [solutions], but where are those numbers? What are the different things that we can try?” asked area resident Hillary Hornyak. “There are community members that are willing to step forward and help and I think that’s what you’re seeing here today. They want to be included in this decision and make an impact in some way.”

Later in the meeting, the board entered executive session to address personnel and contract matters and following the closed-door session, it returned to open session to announce it will not deaccession any artwork until after a public input session is held.

Rankin said the purpose of the input session is to identify fundraising options and other solutions to help close the budget deficit without having to sell the art collection.

“We recognize its an emotional issue for folks and we’re willing to listen to alternatives,” Rankin said. “A couple of folks who don’t want to sell the art said, ‘we want to sit down. W have a couple of ideas,’ and we’re willing to say, ‘Okay. Let’s sit down and listen to those ideas.”

The input meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8 and will be facilitated by Prendergast board members Bruce Gleason and Joni Blackman. It will be open to the public.

One of the slides that was part of a powerpoint presentation by the Prendergast Library during its Sept. 17 meeting.

Rankin said the board’s finance committee will be meeting at the end of this month to continue to review the financial challenges facing the library and what can be done to address them.

“We want to have our budget committee meeting on Sept. 28 and hopefully, out of that meeting, we’ll have a very clear idea of where we stand for 2016. At that point, we’ll be in a better position to look at what art we might need to sell.”

The board has already signed into a contract with Sotheby’s to auction the artwork, should they decide to deaccession any of the pieces. Rankin said Sotheby’s would only be used to auction the oil paintings in the collection, much of which were willed to the library from the Prendergast and Packard families during the early 20th century.

The library has also requested that County Surrogate Court Judge Stephen Cass grant the library permission to sell the artwork if it chooses. That is required because the artwork was given to the library and intended to be a permanent asset.

The next meeting for the board of trustees is Thursday, Oct. 15, which would be the earliest that the board could met to again discuss and possible deaccession pieces of its art collection.

Another slide used during the Prendergast Library’s Sept. 17 powerpoint presentation.