Judge Stephen Cass leads new Chautauqua County Legislators Tom Nelson and Travis Heiser through their oath of office. (January 3, 2023)

The Chautauqua County Legislature approved the appointment of two new Legislators at its organizational meeting Tuesday.

Legislators approved resolutions naming Tom Nelson and Travis Heiser to the body.

Nelson replaces Paul Whitford as the legislator for District 13 in the City of Jamestown. He thanked Whitford for his years of service, “He is a public servant in the truest sense of the word. So, we’ll miss Paul. And I’ve made a habit of following Paul politically because when he moved out of (City Council) Ward 6, there was a vacancy and Mayor (Sam) Teresi appointed me to that. And now with Paul leaving, there was a vacancy and it just worked out, so I’m happy to be here and to work with all of the other legislators.”

Nelson is a U.S. Government teacher in the Frewsburg Central School District.

Heiser replaces Jay Gould as the legislator for District 17 in the towns of Clymer, French Creek, Harmony and part of Busti.

Until last week, he was Clymer’s Town Supervisor for seven years and had served on the town board as well. Heiser said the Town Board will vote next week to appoint a new Supervisor from its members to serve out the last year of the term.

He said he has always been interested in local government, having lived in Chautauqua County for over 20 years, “I knew Jay Gould, who I am replacing, a little bit beforehand and had a kind of an inkling and knew that the committees were looking for when he was eventually going to resign. And so, they did come knocking at the door and it wasn’t totally unexpected and I did say yes.”

Heiser is currently the CEO of the Inner Lakes Federal Credit Union.

Nelson will serve on the Public Safety Committee with Heiser serving on the Public Facilities Committee.

Both new legislators plan to run for a full two-year term on the Legislature in the November General Election.

One resolution appoints Travis Heiser of Panama to replace Jay Gould as the legislator for District 17. Heiser is currently the Clymer Town Supervisor.

Another resolution appoints Tom Nelson of Jamestown to replace Paul Whitford as the legislator for District 13. Nelson previously served as the Ward 6 representative on Jamestown City Council.

The organizational meeting also will include the appointment of the Chair of the Legislature, majority and minority chairs; and the appointment of the Clerk and Deputy Clerk of the Legislature.

The meeting will take place at 4:00 p.m. in the Legislative Chambers of the Gerace Office Building. It is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the Chautauqua County Youtube page.

Hotel Lenhart

The Hotel Lenhart in Bemus Point and Neckers Company General Store in Clymer have been added to the New York State’s Historic Business Preservation Registry.

State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell recently presented the historic business awards to the two businesses.

The Historic Business Registry was established in 2020 and newly launched this spring. It includes businesses that have been in operation for at least 50 years and have contributed to their communities’ history.

The Hotel Lenhart was built in 1881 by Dr. J.J. Lenhart and his wife, Dora Baldwin overlooking Bemus Bay on Chautauqua Lake.

The current hotel, rebuilt following a fire in 1891, has a main floor and three upper sleeping floors, with a total of fifty-three rooms. It also has a 185-foot wrap-around veranda. Up until the end of this summer season, the hotel had been in the same family for four generations.

Neckers Company General Store

Neckers Company General Store was founded by John H. Neckers and Ed Neckers. The store opened at its current location in 1910. Groceries, dry goods, boots, shoes, kerosene and wallpaper were some of the items for sale. The fourth generation of Neckers, Barry and his wife, Kathy, continue to run the store.

Today the business sells groceries, fresh cut meats, made-to-order pizzas and subs, home decor, shoes, boots, apparel, and more.

The honorary program, which provides educational and promotional assistance to help ensure businesses in the state remain viable, is coordinated through the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP).

An interactive storyboard map, which provides information about the location and history of each business, can be found on the agency website at https://parks.ny.gov/historic-preservation/business-registry/default.aspx.

Under New York State’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (“MRTA”), local municipalities have the opportunity to opt out of allowing retail dispensaries and on-site consumption licensees to operate within their jurisdiction. To do so, the town, village, or city’s legislative body must adopt a local law to ‘opt out’ by December 31, 2021. In August alone, the boards of three local townships have voted to opt out: Ellicott (on Aug. 16), Carroll (on Aug. 11), and Busti (on Aug. 2).

But even with the town board’s approval to ‘opt out’, the local law is still subject to a permissive referendum governed by New York State Municipal Home Rule Law. State law provides that the proposed local law takes effect 45 days after its adoption, unless a valid petition requesting a permissive referendum is filed with the municipality’s clerk within that 45-day period. Any individual who was qualified and registered to vote in the last general election can file a petition calling for the permissive referendum. In order to force a public vote on the local law, the petition must be signed and authenticated by at least 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor during the last gubernatorial election in the respective municipality.

The last gubernatorial election was in 2018. In the town of Ellicott 3,455 people voted for governor that year, meaning a minimum of 346 signatures would have to be collected to force a public vote. Meanwhile, the total number of votes for governor in the Town of Busti was 3,319, meaning 332 signatures would have to be collected. In the Town of Carroll the number was 1,445, meaning 145 signatures would have to be collected.

Besides any qualified local resident having the opportunity to submit a petition, any member of the town board can also present a resolution within 45 days of the local laws passage, calling for a public vote on the matter. If a majority of the town board approves the proposed resolution, a public vote would then take place.

In addition to townships having the ability to ‘opt out’, each village in the township also has the choice to opt out or allow dispensaries to open, regardless of what their township does. For example, even though the Town of Ellicott opted out, both the village of Celoron and the Village of Falconer would also have to pass their own Opt Out local law, in order to disallow marijuana dispensaries from operating in their respective jurisdictions.

Clymer is another township in Chautauqua County that has decided to ‘opt out’ of allowing marijuana dispensaries from opening. But officials made that decision in Mid-June, meaning the 45-day window to file for a permissive referendum has already passed.