(From Left to Right): Elliot Raimondo, City Corporation Counsel; Crystal Surdyk, Director of Development; Jennifer Williams, City Clerk; and Jeff Lehman, Director of Public Works, are sworn in for their respective positions during the Jan. 27, 2020 Jamestown City Council Meeting.

JAMESTOWN – The city of Jamestown officially has a new Director of Development, City Clerk, and City Attorney.

On Monday night the Jamestown City Council approved mayor Eddie Sundquist’s appointments for various city departments, agencies, board and commissions. The appointments were initially submitted on Jan. 1 but the city council waited until this past Monday’s voting session to approve them.

Crystal Surdyk, who had been serving as acting director of development since Vince DeJoy resigned in last November, has been appointed to the position for the next four years. Prior to being acting director of development she worked in the city’s planning department.

Meanwhile, Elliot Raimondo will serve as the city’s new corporation counsel, replacing Peter Larson, who was only in the position for about eight months as he finished the term of former city attorney Marilyn Fiore-Lehman. She had left the post in the spring of 2019 shortly after former Mayor Sam Teresi announced he would not be seeking reelection. Raimonodo is a Jamestown native and a 2015 SUNY Buffalo Law School graduate. His background is in labor contracts and collective bargaining.

The new city clerk will be Jennifer Williams, who will replace outgoing acting clerk Jim Olson. Williams was not Sundquists first selection for city clerk. The initial appointment he had submitted on January 1 was Rudi Andalora. However, since then, Andolara’s name was withdrawn and Williams was added instead.

“In looking at the best talents and where people fit in, we’re looking at a potential different position for [Andalora]. In the meantime, Jennifer Williams, who was the deputy clerk, has stepped up to become the new clerk for the city and the council has been fully supportive of that,” Sundquist said.

Andolara had not previously worked in the city clerk’s office prior to Sundquist putting his name forward. Meanwhile, Williams has served as long-time staff member of the clerk’s office working under both Olson and former city clerk Todd Thomas.

Also being reappointed was long-time city Department of Public Works Director Jeff Lehman.

OTHER BOARDS AND COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS APPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL
*Notes Reappointment

• Board of Public Utilities – Gregory Anderson, Lana Huston, Kenneth Mark, Grant Olson (city council), Marie Carrubba* (city council)
• Zoning Board of Appeals – Timothy Smeal, Stephen Sorg, Ellen DiTonto*
• Planning Commission – Michael Laurin
• Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency – Gregory Noon
• Jamestown Local Development Corporation – Peter Schiera, Margaret Kaltenmeier, Tom Nelson* (city council)
• Board of Assessment Review – Heather Fagan, Debra Loder-Clark
• Parks, Recreation and Conservation – Adam Irgang, John Bauer*, Victoria James (city council), Kim Ecklund* (city council)
• Riverfront Management Council – Leigh Rovegno, Russ Diethrick*, John Bauer*, David Anderson*, Anton Leenders*, Jennifer Lumia*, Brent Sheldon (city council)
• Veterans Memorial Commission – Scott Pentheny, Joshua Miller, George Spitale*, Daniel Kell*
• Board of Electrical Examiners – Andrew Nickerson, Steven Nowell*
• Marriage Officer – Camille Krawczyk, Greg Rabb*, Paul Whitford*

Mayor elect Eddie Sundquist discusses his transition strategy during a press conference on Friday, Nov. 22.

[UPDATE (DEC 31, 2019 – 1:40 p.m.)] – The Jamestown City Council reorganization meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 1 at noon at Jamestown Community College’s Scharmann Theater. New Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist will be sworn into office, along with the new members of the Jamestown City Council.

JAMESTOWN – When Jamestown mayor-elect Eddie Sundquist is sworn into office on Jan. 1, his first official duty as mayor will be to fill several administrative positions as well as make appointments (or reappointments) to more than three dozen seats on various city boards and commissions (including three citizen representative seats and one city council representative seat on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities).

As written in the city charter, the mayor is tasked with making appointments to a variety of director positions, along with various boards, commissions and city officers. However, the city council is given the power of consent, meaning any appointment by the mayor must be approved by at least a simple majority of the Jamestown City Council.

“Obviously there is a very limited amount of time for us to find everyone – again 38 spots along with department positions. So if we are able to and after we receive approval from the council – the council will receive the list about a week or two before the (appointment) vote – if we have approval to release it we will do so,” Sundquist said during his transition strategy announcement on Friday.

It should be noted that there is no requirement in the city charter that the mayor first provide a list his prospective appointees to the city council before making it public, let alone that the council must give the mayor persmission to provide the list prior to its review.

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS UP FOR APPOINTMENT ON JAN. 1

Among the administrative appointments Sundquist must make are for the following positions:

• Director of Administrative Services/City Clerk (currently held by acting clerk Jim Olson through Dec. 31, 2019)
• City Comptroller (currently held by Joe Bellitto through Dec. 31, 2019)
• Director of Development (vacated Nov. 12 by Vince DeJoy)
• Director of Public Works (currently held by Jeff Lehman through Dec. 31, 2019)
• Corporation Counsel/HR Director (currently held by Peter Larson through Dec. 31, 2019)

Both current city clerk Jim Olson and current city comptroller Joe Bellitto plan to retire in the near future, though in Bellitto’s case he has stated he would be willing to stay on in 2020 to help transition a new comptroller.

In the case of the director of development, currently city principal planner Crystal Surdyk is coordinating the department through the remainder of this year.

Public works director Jeff Lehman is the longest-serving department head, having been in his position since 1994 and serving under two different mayors (Republican Richard Kimball and current mayor and Democrat Sam Teresi). Lehman has not indicated any plans to step down from his position and it will be up to Sundquist to determine if he should be reappointed for another four years or go with someone else.

Larson was appointed city attorney this past March to fill out the remainder of the term of former corporation counsel Marylin Fiore-Lehman, who announced her departure to take a position with the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office. He has also continued to work for the private practice of Bly, Sheffield, Bargar & Pillittieri since his appointment.

The position of Jamestown Public Safety Director / Police Chief is also an appointed position, which is currently held by chief Harry Snellings. However, the term of that position will not end until Dec. 31, 2021.

THREE BPU SEATS HIGHLIGHT BOARD AND COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS

According to information provided to WRFA by the city clerk’s office, there are 38 different city board and commission seats up for appointment or reappointment on Jan. 1.  Among them are four seats on the Jamestown BPU.

For the BPU, both citizen board members Martha Zenns and Terrance Horner are in the final year of their four-year term. In addition, citizen board member Ralph Wallace is in the final year of his two-year term on the board. Sundquist will also have to appoint a city council representative to the BPU. Currently Maria Jones is serving as the city council’s BPU member, but she lost reelection on Nov. 5 and as a result, another member of the new city council will have to be appointed to her seat. Rounding out the BPU citizen members are currently BPU chair Gregory Rabb  along with Jim Olson (both terms end on Dec. 31, 2021).  The remaining three BPU members will be Eddie Sundquist, who serves as board president by way of his position as mayor, along with the public works director (currently Jeff Lehman) and the president of the city council (currently Marie Carrubba).

(Note: Because Carrubba is a Democrat and the Republican party will take control of the council on Jan. 1, it’s expected a new city council president will be named and, as a result, that person will then assume that seat on the BPU. Speculation is that councilman Tony Dolce will be voted Council president on Jan. 1.)

– OTHER BOARDS/COMMISSIONS –

There are ten other board and commission seats and officer positions that will also need appointment are reappointment come Jan. 1. They include:

Jamestown Local Development Corporation  (4 year term)

• Two seats currently held by George Spitale and Mark Morton plus one city council representative seat, currently held by Kim Ecklund (2 year term)

Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency (4 year term)

• One seat currently held by Martha Zenns

Zonning Board of Appeals (3 year term)

• Three seats currently held by Ellen DiTonto (current chair), Sally Martinez, and Judith Sandson.

Planning Commission (5 year term)

• One seat currently held by Paul Whitford.

Property, Rehabilitation and Conservation Board of Appeals (3 year terms)

• Seven seats currently held by Nanzy Griswold, Mary Maxwell, Sharon McKotch, Gary Sorenson,  and three vacancies.

Parks, Recreation and Conseration Commission (5 year term)

• Two seats currently held by Russell E. Diethrick, Jr. and John Bauer

Riverfront Management Council (3 or 5 year terms)

• One Vacancy; Two designated Parks, Rec. and Con. Commission Member (Currently Russell Diethrick Jr. and John Bauer); One Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Representative; One Roger Tory Peterson Institute Representative; One Jamestown Audubon Society representatives; One Jamestown High School represenative; and three JHS Student representatives (all 5 year terms).

Veterans Memorial Commission (3 year terms)

• Three seats currently held by Charles Telford (chair), Daniel Kell, and Theresa Baginski.

Board of Electrical Examiners (2 year term)

• Two seats currently held by James McTavish and Steve Nowel.

Constable (4 year term)

• Three positions  up for reappointment: Marie Hill (holdover), Camille Krawczyk (holdover), and Michael Berg.

Marriage officer (4 year term)

• Three officers up for reappoinment: Gregory Rabb, Paul Whitford, and Lillian Ney.

“These can be voted on collectively on January 1 or tabled until the next regularly scheduled meeting, probably January 27,” explained city clerk Jim Olson when providing the list to WRFA.

City Development Director Vince DeJoy goes over details of the city’s Residential Rental Property Registry program with the city council during its April 8, 2019 meeting

JAMESTOWN – The city of Jamestown will have a new Director of Development when a new administration takes over in January.

The Jamestown Post-Journal is reporting that current City Development Director Vince DeJoy is retiring from his position with today being his final day at the position.

In what could also be viewed as a resignation rather than a retirement, DeJoy is leaving the director’s position so he could accept a position with Safelite AutoGlass repair and replacement company.

DeJoy has served as director or development for nearly seven years, having been appointed to the position by Mayor Sam Teresi in February 2013 to replace then out-going development director Steve Centi. Prior to that he has served on the Jamestown City Council, representing Ward 4 since January 2008.

DeJoy’s term as development director was set to expire at the end of this year and there was no guarantee on if mayor elect Eddie Sundquist (D) had planned to keep him on board as part of the new administration, or if he would be going in a different direction. Sundquist is currently putting together a transition team as he prepares to be sworn in on January 1.

Highlighting DeJoy’s tenure as development Director is the city receiving a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative Grant from New York State. He’s also worked to streamline the reporting process for housing violations in order to better address neighborhood blight while also making it a focus to identify condemned homes, demolishing over 125 of them during the past five years. He oversaw several other development projects as well, including the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk.

While serving as development director, earlier this year DeJoy also worked to open a restaurant at the former Friendly’s location on S. Main Street. At the time Teresi noted that there would be no conflict of interest between DeJoy running a business operation in town while also serving as Development Director. Despite using his own capital along with investments from his family, along with a $50,000 grant from the county IDA, Jimmy’s Family Restaurant closed within three months of its early August opening due to unanticipated costs associated with running the business.

Jamestown Principal Planner Crystal Surdyk will coordinate the development department until Sundquist takes over and appoints a permanent new director of development.

A multiple unit rental property that once sat on the corner of Falconer and Cowing Streets and which was recently torn down after being condemned (Image from Google Street View).

JAMESTOWN – A new addition to the state’s Multiple Residence Law that prohibits landlords from collecting rent or maintaining a nonpayment eviction proceeding for properties without a valid certificate of occupancy (CO) wont have much of an impact on the city of Jamestown.

That’s according to Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi and Development Director Vince DeJoy, who are responding to a state law signed by governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this week.

According to the governor’s office, the law specifically expands the state’s existing Multiple Residence Law, which covers cities with a population of less than 325,000 people, including Jamestown. Not only do the new additions prevent landlords from collecting rent or evicting tenants when they don’t have a valid certificate of occupancy, it would also prohibit tenants and owners from living in a residence that does not have a valid CO.

However, according to Mayor Teresi, the law will have little to no effect on the city of Jamestown, since the city already addresses the issue by removing the COs when a property has been condemned.

“In Jamestown no building can be occupied for any purpose – residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, institutional, etc. – unless a valid CO has been issued at some point along the line,” Teresi explained after WRFA reached out to ask if there would be any local impact with the new law. “When we cite violations to the point where a property is unsafe to be occupied and we ‘post’ it for no occupancy, we are in effect pulling the CO and the property cannot be reoccupied until all of the issues have been addressed. [When that happens] the CO is in effect reissued allowing for the property to be inhabited and used once again.”

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi during the city council’s Sept. 23, 2019 work session (WRFA File Photo)

“There is nothing here that is going to put a crimp into our style, as to my knowledge this is the way things have always been done here,” Teresi noted.

However, another component of the new law could have an impact on landlords and their tenants, but that would depend on whether or not legal action is pursued.

“The other legal actions – prohibiting landlords from collecting rent – is more of a matter for the legal combatants and the courts to deal with,” Teresi said.

The mayor also said that even with a valid CO, rental properties can still be in violation of some city codes and not be precluded from having tenants.

“A property can still have a legal CO with code violations present, under citation, and hopefully in the process of being addressed. It’s a matter of degree when things get to the point where conditions are so bad and dangerous that the government has to order it vacated and effectively pull the plug on the CO,” the mayor explained.

“Quite frankly, I’m a little stunned that there are apparently places in the state ( thus the apparent need for this legislation) that allow occupancy of any building without a valid CO,” the mayor added.

City development director Vince DeJoy also pointed out that the new CO rules only addresses rental properties and single-unit properties would not fall under the new state law.

“There isn’t currently a process to provide a CO on established properties where there hasn’t been a change of use, such as converting a one-family house to a two-unit rental property, or a Condemnation has occurred,” DeJoy pointed out. “Perhaps this legislation is leading to something else or more. Could there be more restrictive rental rules coming, and could every rental property be subject to some type of renewal process for the CO? We are not sure right now.”

Under the state’s Multiple Dwelling Law, property owners in New York City were already prohibited from collecting rent or maintaining nonpayment eviction proceedings during the period where a dwelling unit is occupied in violation of the CO requirements. The state’s Multiple Residence Law has also been in place to deal with CO requirements in cities with a population under 325,000.

The new law signed earlier this month would provide more consistency between the two already existing laws.

But as Teresi notes, the new additions not only will have little impact on Jamestown, but most all other communities in the state.

“If a property in Jamestown or elsewhere already is not allowed to be occupied without a legal CO, I’m not entirely sure what the other provision in this new law – landlords can’t charge rent to occupants in properties that are lacking a CO – is actually about and seeking to accomplish,” Teresi said. “Like so often is the case in Albany and Washington these days this appears to be ‘a solution in search of a problem.’”

A conceptional photo rendering of what the new Jimmy’s Family Restaurant will look like.

JAMESTOWN – Jimmy’s Family Restaurant in Brooklyn Square is closed for business.

That’s according to a post from the business’s Facebook page, which announced over the weekend that the restaurant was closing immediately.

The restaurant, which was opened at the start of August at the former Friendly’s restaurant location on S. Main Street, wasn’t even opened for three whole months before making the decision to close.

The business was owned by city resident and current Jamestown Development Director Vince DeJoy, who said in July that he decided to open the business after meeting and talking with the former Friendly’s manager Marcy Parenti. The two said they wanted to focus on opening a business that had similar menu options as Friendly’s.

DeJoy invested much of his own capital into reopening the business. He also took out a 7-year, $55,000 loan from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency’s Revolving Loan Fund in June.

In it’s message on Facebook, the restaurant said it appreciated the patronage it had received from customers and also grateful to the staff.

“We are sorry to announce that Jimmy’s is closing effective immediately. We appreciate the patronage we have received from so many great customers. We are also so grateful to our staff who worked so hard. We gave it a shot,” the restaurant stated in its final Facebook post. 

The restaurant had worked out a deal with the property owner to rent the space on a monthly basis, meaning the property never changed hands when transitioning from Friendly’s to Jimmy’s.

The Jamestown Friendly’s was closed without warning, along with 23 others in five states, earlier this year.

Crews begin demolition efforts on the backside of the property at 24 N. Main St., which was heavily damaged by fire in June 2017.

JAMESTOWN – An abandoned building in downtown Jamestown that was the location of a fire two years ago is finally being demolished.

On Wednesday Jamestown Development Director ordered the emergency demolition of the building at 24 North Main Street, due to extensive fire damage causing an imminent public safety threat.

The building is the structure previously housing the Arcade Shoe Store located between the railroad tracks and the multi-story Arcade Building.

According to a statement sent out from the mayor’s office, HH Rauh will perform the emergency demolition process. Work stated Wednesday in the rear of the building and will continue toward North Main Street.

DeJoy said The project will cause temporary closures of the east sidewalk and street on North Main Street between First Street and the railroad viaduct.

The City of Jamestown asks for the public’s patience and cooperation through this demolition process.

In June 2017 a fire broke out in the abandoned building, causing extensive damage to 24 N. Main St. Last year, city officials received a $100,000 state grant to facilitate the demolition.

The 2017 fire caused minimum damage to the adjacent Arcade building, mostly to the windows that had been boarded up prior to the fire, but where then broke open by firefighters in order to vent the multi-story structure. The Arcade building  has also been abandoned for over 20 years.

A recent study found that any effort to renovate and restore that building would cost over $16 million. It would also cost $1.6 million to demolition the building and $1.4 million to stabilize it.

Sam Teresi

JAMESTOWN – The Mayor of Jamestown recently told WRFA there wont be a conflict of interest when a new restaurant owned and operated by the city’c current director of development opens later this month.

At the start of July, Vince DeJoy – who also serves as the city development director and head of the Jamestown Local Development Corporation (JLDC) – announced in early July he and his family are putting up the capital needed to open Jimmy’s Family Restaurant. The business will be located at the former Friendly’s location along South Main Street in Brooklyn Square. While DeJoy will serve as the owner of the new business, the day-to-day operations will be overseen by Restaurant manager Marcy Parenti.

DeJoy plans to stay on as city development director even after the new restaurant opens and some in the community have questioned if that poses a conflict of interest because there will likely be future restaurant projects in the city, which could be viewed as competition with Jimmy’s Family Restaurant.

During our July interview with Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi, the mayor indicated that DeJoy will be precluded from being involved in assisting with any restaurant development projects in the city, as well as any development efforts that are in the immediate proximity of his new business.

A conceptional photo rendering of what the new Jimmy’s Family Restaurant will look like.

“He has already divorced himself from anything dealing with businesses that could be competitors of Jimmy’s Family Restaurant to projects that may be happening in our around that area of the city that could somehow be viewed to benefit his business, either directly or indirectly. All those things will be handed off to other city employees or other agents of the city to handle those issue,” Teresi said.

Teresi said the other city employees would be those who already work in the city development office. He also noted that it is not unprecedented for a city employee to have a private business interest in the same community where they serve as a public employee.

“There’s situations here in Jamestown and other communities where you have city employees that may have other business interests outside of their employment,” Teresi said. “For instance, lawyers that work for the city that have a private law practice may, from time to time, have clients of their own or clients within their firm that are either doing business with or against the city. The attorney needs to recuse him or herself from both ends of the deal and stay completely out of it. There may be instances where other city employees have businesses that they operate on the side. They make sure that they separate themselves from any conflicts and don’t do business with the city.”

No specific date has been announced for when Jimmy’s Family Restaurant will open, but DeJoy had said he’d like to see it open for business sometime in August.

JAMESTOWN – The owners of the soon-to-be-opened Jimmy’s Family Restaurant came forward Monday afternoon to offer more details about their plan to take over the former Friendly’s location at 10 S. Main St. in Jamestown.

Owner Vince DeJoy, who also serves as the current Development Director for the city of Jamestown, said he and his family are putting up the capital needed to open the Restaurant and will have Marcy Parenti serve as Restaurant Manager, dealing with the day-to-day operations.

The investors and management of Jimmy’s Family Restaurant – Vince DeJoy Sr., Marcy Parenti, and Vince DeJoy Jr.

DeJoy said the restaurant will be run though the JTOWN DJF Limited Liability Corporation, with the DJF an abbreviation for “DeJoy Family.” DeJoy added that the owner of the property, Amfil, had received some feelers from other developers but nothing had come forward.

“This is one of the most iconic places in Jamestown. It’s been a family restaurant. Friendly’s did a great job here serving families, seniors, a Saturday morning radio show. So we had to act and act fast,” DeJoy said. “Amfil had a number of feelers that they put out to various large franchise restaurant chains. There was some inquiries but there really wasn’t much followup – from what I understand – afte initial inquiries.”

DeJoy based on a lack of initial interest following the closing, he talked it over with his family and developed a business plan for the restaurant shortly before Memorial Day weekend. He presented the plan to Amfil and an agreement was worked out for TJOWN DJF to lease and take over the location.

It was less than two months between the announced closing and DeJoy coming forward to make an offer on using the property. But despite that short turnaround, he said there was no conflict of interest because no one else had approached his office about possibly using the property.

“[The Department of Development] phone didn’t ring once,” DeJoy said. “We made efforts but, you know what, we’re not commercial brokers in the department of development. As you know I wear a number of hats – whether I’m doing demolition, code enforcement, seeking grant money. We’re not commercial brokers. We don’t have that type of capacity. We’ll make inquiries, we’ll do some research and we do the best we can, but that’s where it is.”

“I could not stand to see this place closed for as long as it was. It was probably the most often asked question in the last three months. It was ‘When are going to find somebody for Friendly’s?'” DeJoy explained.

Other than a $55,000 loan from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency approved last week, DeJoy said all other investments for the restaurant will come from his and his family’s personal finances.

Parenti said the restaurant will maintain similar hours to what Friendly’s had operated under (7am to 10pm), and will also have a similar, family-style menu. She added that much of the staff from Friendly’s will be able to return. In all the restaurant will employ about 35 people.
Friendly’s closed the Jamestown location without warning in early April 2019 as part nearly two dozen closures in several states, including New York.

If all goes according to plan, the restaurant should be opened by early August, in time for the 2019 Lucille Ball Comedy Festival.

Image from Google Map

JAMESTOWN – More details will be announced Monday regarding the development of the Former Friendly’s restaurant in Brook Square.

Last week the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency discussed plans for a new restaurant and approved a $55,000 for JTOWN DJF, LLC – doing business as Jimmy’s Family Restaurant.

However, the name of the individuals involved with the LCC was not provided, but IDA director Mark Geise did say the developer indicated a plan to rehire as many Friendly’s employees as possible, including at least one of the managers.

Local media received an email from Vince DeJoy, also Jamestown Director of Development, via JtownDJF saying a formal announcement regarding the restaurant would be made Monday at 2 p.m.

The Friendly’s restaurant in Jamestown closed abruptly in April and was part of an estimated two dozen closings in several states.

During Monday’s work session, city finance committee chairman Tony Dolce and development director Vince DeJoy went over details of the launch installation, saying it will be paid for with money from the $10 Million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant program the city received from the state in 2016. Of that money, $325,000 was earmarked for funding the “Enhance Riverwalk Experience.”

The cost to install the boat launch is just under $22,000, with Great Lakes EZ-Dock of Grand Island doing the work. Dejoy says the business is a minority-and-women-owned business, which 30 percent of the project costs is supposed to benefit according to the guidelines of the DRI program.

The kayak launch is scheduled to be installed in July.