Chautauqua County Legislature meeting (May 24, 2023)

The Chautauqua County Legislature has passed a resolution supporting state bills that alter how the county can spend the bed tax monies it collects.

With the County’s 5% occupancy tax up for renewal by New York State, Assemblyman Andy Goodell and State Senator George Borrello have sponsored legislation that requires half of the 2% allocated for lake management and enhancement funds be used for “activities that control, treat, and/or remove invasive or nuisance submerged aquatic vegetation, reduce harmful algae blooms, or provide shoreline cleanup.”

There are no changes in the 3% allocated toward tourism efforts.

Legislator Susan Parker motioned to amend the resolution, saying she supports the extension of the occupancy tax, “And I support removing the strict expenditure requirements proposed by Assemblyman Goodell and Senator Borrello. This amendment will allow the county legislature to elect to allocate occupancy tax monies at its discretion as I think it should at that level without the dictate of New York State.”

Legislator Elisabeth Rankin countered that the state has always had a say in how the money is spent, “This is not unusual for them to do that and the state absolutely has the right to suggest how this money is spent. It’s without them and without their support, we would not have the occupancy tax. It’s just like the fact that if we wanted to increase the sales tax by 1%, we have to have the state’s support.”

Legislator Terry Neibel said he would be voting no against the amendment due to state representatives indicating there isn’t time to make changes to the resolution.
The amendment failed 3 to 14 with just Legislators Bob Bankoski, Tom Nelson, and Susan Parker voting yes. Legislators then unanimously passed the resolution.

County Executive PJ Wendel said the change in allocation should not affect the Watershed Coordinator position, “We’ve already made changes and corrections. You might see some increases in departmental budgets now. We’re looking for the best places to put some salary for Dave McCoy. He’s not living lavishly, but it’s where do we find that salary and do we take it from two different departments, do we put it in one.”

The extension of the 5% occupancy tax goes through the end of 2025.

Chautauqua County Legislature meeting (January 25, 2023)

The Chautauqua County Legislature has approved the creation of a County Media Information Officer position, but not without some contention.

The position will be charged with disseminating all county communications and will be located in the County Executive’s office.

Democratic Legislator Susan Parker said she was against the creation of the position because it wasn’t a good use of county resources, “The County Executive Department is a tax-funded department. And in 2013, had three employees and in 2023 has now seven, which is an increase of 124.4% in the County Executive’s staff. So, I don’t feel like there’s need or that it is a good use of tax funded money.”

Republican Legislator Lisa Vanstrom countered, saying the position is important given what was experienced during the Pandemic with misinformation, “That we have a solid message to send out that’s in line with what we are are doing and transparency included. I think that our County Executive is trying to promote transparency and camaraderie with on top of the whole team here but with the public.”

Democratic Legislator Tom Nelson said while he agreed a Media Information Officer is necessary these days, he thinks the duties should be handled by someone already employed in the County Executive’s office.

Republican Legislators Terry Neibel and Elisabeth Rankin also voiced their support of the local law with Democratic Legislator Billy Torres echoing the same concerns as other Democrats.

The position comes with a salary of $60,475 to $92,778. The local law passed by a vote of 13 to 3, with Parker, Nelson, and Torres voting no.

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One motion involves the recent passage of the the so-called Green Light NY legislation in Albany, which allows non U.S. residents to get a drivers license in New York State. The motion – sponsored by Republican Terry Neibel of Dunkirk – notes that Larry Barmore, county clerk, has expressed his opposition of the state Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act. Last month Barmore questioned its constitutionality and believes the law circumvents federal immigration laws.

In addition, a second motion is being proposed by several legislators who live near Lake Erie opposing the construction of any wind turbine farms on the great lake. The proposed motion notes that recently the state of Ohio has partnered with a business to construct wind turbine along the shore of Lake Erie, which has spawned discussion from lakeside communities in Chautauqua County. The resolution reads that the construction of wind turbines on the lake could negatively impact not just migratory birds, but also impact fishing waters through the destruction of spawning grounds.

If the proposed motions are approved by a majority of the legislature, they will be sent to state officials so they know the county is on record as being opposed to the two issues.

The legislature will also once again discuss the allocation of county bed tax money for the Chautauqua Lake Pops in Mayville. It had already been approved last month but there was an error in how the legislation was written so lawmakers will have to take it up again Wednesday.

Wednesday’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the legislature chambers and is open to the public.

Candidate petitions were submitted to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections last week and of the 19 seats that will be up for a vote, just seven have more than one candidate running.

JAMESTOWN AREA WILL FEATURE ONE CONTESTED RACE

In Jamestown, the lone contested race will be for District 12 on the north side of the city. Currently, Republican Elisabeth Rankin holds that seat and she is running for reelection. She will face Democratic challenger Margaret “Peg” Cornell.

All other candidates from the Jamestown area who serve on the county legislature are running unopposed. That includes the candidate for District 11, a seat currently held by Republican David Wilfong. Because Wilfong is running for mayor of Jamestown in this year’s election, the district 11 seat will be an open race. However, only Democrat and former county legislator Robert Whitney has submitted petitions to run for that seat. Whitney last served on the legislature in 2013, when he was defeated by Wilfong in that year’s election.

The other Jamestown-area seats all have incumbents running unopposed. They include Chuck Nazzaro, D-District 9 (Jamestown); Paul “PJ” Wendel, R-District 10 (Busti/Lakewood and Jamestown); Paul Whitford, D-District 13 (Jamestown); Daniel Pavlock, R-District 14 (Ellicott north of I-86, Gerry, Ellington, Charlotte/Sinclairville); Lisa Vanstrom, R-District 15 (Ellicott/Falconer, West Ellicott/Celoron); John Davis, R-District 16 (Carroll, Kiantone, Poland); and Frank Gould, R-District 17 (Busti, Harmony/Panama, Clymer, French Creek).

REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES SCHEDULED FOR DISTRICT 1 and DISTRICT 18

Other races of note include District 18 (Chautauqua/Mayville, Mina, Sherman), which is now an open seat after the untimely passing of Republican David Himelein. The two candidates running for that seat are Richard Syper and Bill Ward, both of Mayville. Both Ward and Syper and seeking the Republican party endorsement, meaning they will square off in the June 25 primary. Syper has also been endorsed by the conservative party, while Ward is the lone candidate for the Democratic, Independence, and Working families parties.

Another Republican Primary will take place in District 1 (Dunkirk), where current incumbent Kevin Muldowney (R) is being challenged for the party line by Ronald Hall. Muldowney has also been endorsed by the Independence party, while Hall has been endorsed by the Conservative party. Meanwhile, a third candidate – Phillip Collier – is the lone candidate for the Democratic and Working Families parties. That means regardless of how the Republican primary shakes out in that district, there will still likely be a three-way race come November.

Other contested races for the legislature will take place in District 3 (Pomfret/Fredonia) with incumbent Robert Scudder (R, C) facing challenger Christopher Schaeffer (D, I), in District 4 (Fredonia) with incumbent Christine Starks (D, I, WF) facing Melanie Mann (R, C), in District 5 (Arkwright, Cherry Creek, Sheridan, Villanova) with incumbent Terry Neibel (R, C, I) facing Jeffry Sayers (D, WF), and in District 6 (Hanover/Silver Creek/Forestville) with incumbent Kevin O’Connell (D, I, WF) facing Thomas Harmon (R, C).

The other four legislature incumbents running unopposed include Robert Bankowski, D-District 2 (Dunkirk); Mark O’Dell, R-District 7 (Chautauqua, Portland/Brockton, Stockton); Pierre Chagnon, R-District 8 (Ellery/Bemus Point, North Harmony), and John Hemmer, R-District 19 (Ripley, Westfield).

While the petition deadline has passed for candidate to get their name on the ballot for a specific party, it’s still not to late for the party to place a candidate on the ballot. Any party that currently doesn’t have a candidate listed for any office up for election can still file for an Opportunity to Ballot, or could circulate an Independent petition accompanied by mail, pointing out that the candidate is endorsed by the party.

Chautauqua County legislator Terry Neibel.

MAYVILLE – The Chautauqua County Legislature has tabled a local law establishing a county-wide Animal Abuse Registry.

During its March voting session last week, legislator Terry Neibel (R-Sheridan) made a motion to table the proposed registry and send it back to committee for more work.

County Executive George Borrello proposed the measure due to animal abuse cases that crop up from time to time across the county. He said he’s fine with the law being tabled so lawmakers can take a deeper look at it.

Some of the questions that are being asked involve ensuring that we don’t have any unintended consequences to this law, so I can appreciate that the legislators wanted to take a moment and do a little bit of re-tooling,” Borrello said. “Ultimately, the changes that have been talked about I don’t think will have any fundamental impact. In fact, we may be closing a few loopholes that may be in that law, so I think taking an extra month to do some due diligence is a prudent move.”

Some legislators wanted to make sure there weren’t any unintended consequences from the animal abuse registry, especially as it pertains to local farmers. The matter will be further discussed this month in committee before being taken up again by the full legislature during its April voting session.

Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk, NY.

MAYVILLE – It’s going to be a busy night at the County Seat in Mayville as the Chautauqua County Legislature holds its monthly voting session.

Topping the list of items on tonight’s agenda is a resolution to sell the Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk to VestraCare for $16 million. Since January of 2013, the legislature has tried three times to sell the skilled nursing facility with little success. However, with a new legislature in place for 2014, supporters of privatizing the county home seem confident that there will be enough votes tonight for the sale to go forward.

Earlier this month, legislators spent nearly an hour-and-a-half questioning VestraCare vice president Edward Farbenblum and administrator Shannon Cayea-Delker to learn more about their operation and what the future holds for the skilled nursing facility in Dunkirk, should a purchase take place.

During his Feb. 5 presentation, Farbenblum assured lawmakers that he takes a hands-on approach to running his facilities and if any issues or problems were to come up following the sale, he could be directly contacted by lawmakers. “My absolute promise to you is that the buck stops here. If you’re a county legislature in this county you’ll have my cell phone number and you’ll have Shannon’s cell phone number and if you have a problem you can call one of us.”

Chautauqua County Legislator Terry Niebel (R-Dunkirk) talks with VestraCare’s Edward Farbenblum following a Q&A session with the legislature on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014.

Not all lawmakers are in favor of the sale. While 13 of the 19 members need to approve it, five are expected to vote against the sale. They are North County legislators Keith Alhstrom, Shaun Heenan, Janet Keith, Terry Neibel and Bob Scudder. Also, at least one news outlet is reporting that Legislator Chairman Jay Gould is ill and will most likely miss tonight’s meeting. Meaning that if one other legislator votes against the sale or is unable to attend, it will not go forward.

The selling of the county home has been a contentious issue with lawmakers since it was first proposed by former County Executive Greg Edwards in 2011. Proponents say selling the home will remove unnecessary costs in county government, while opponents of the sale say privatization will reduce the quality of care for the resident at the Dunkirk-based facility.

Tonight’s meeting begins at 6:30 in the legislative chambers in Mayville. It will be open to the public and any resident or group wishing to speak out on the matter will be allowed to do so at the beginning of the meeting.