P-J file photo

The Jamestown City Council has given the go-ahead to start emergency repairs to the Jamestown Police Department.

On Monday, the council approved a resolution for $114,922 to hire Empire Development Inc. of Mayville to start Phase 1 general construction for repairs to the Jamestown Police Department following flooding this fall.

Last week, Jeff Lehman, city public works director, said the first work will be done to the public entrance area, the command center and the squad room in the department. He said work that has already been done includes some electrical repairs, replacing lights and inserting installation. Work still needing to be done includes new ceilings, replacing tile flooring and changing damaged doors.

Since the flooding this fall, which caused the public entrance to the police department to be closed, Lehman said they’ve had no more flooding problems.

In September, Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said the general contractors working on the Tracy Plaza reconstruction project — Patterson-Stevens Inc. — were responsible for not properly securing the area, which allowed rain water to pour into the police station. He said inadequate procedures were taken by the contractor to prevent rainwater from entering areas of the Municipal Building located under the deck, which includes the police department.

He added that in-house legal staff and the city’s insurance company worked on documenting all the damage done so the contractor could be held accountable for the damage and not city taxpayers.

In other business, the council approved the sale of city-owned land south of Northwest Arena for their expansion project.

The 90-by-10-foot plot of land was purchased by the Jamestown Center City Development Corporation, the organization that operates the arena, for $1,000.

The expansion plans for the arena includes constructing an addition for a Kids Zone play area. The new 5,000 square feet addition to the arena would be for the Kids Zone, which would be ideal area for parents who want to leave their children some place safe while they tour the National Comedy Center or while one of their other children participate in a skating activity.

The plans also propose for the creation of a gift shop and office spaces for the National Comedy Center; to add a concession stand to sell snacks and water; and to enhance the third floor conference room. The project is being proposed to cost around $5 million. The proposed project is not expected to impact the traffic flow on West Second Street.

The council approved appropriating $51,133 to Mattessich Iron for the Greater Jamestown Riverwalk’s Chadakoin River Trail railing fabrication and installation. The trail will run from Clifton Avenue to near McCrea Point Park. Earlier this month, Lehman said the only work, besides some light landscaping, needing still to be done is the installation of rails along three pedestrian bridges and a patio area. He said work is expected to be completed by late spring.

The Chadakoin Park trail is a 10-foot wide blacktop path over the former J&W railroad bed that runs along the Chadakoin River from West Eight Street to Clifton Avenue. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around $525,000. A state Environmental Protection Fund grant of $262,000 has been matched by the city with labor, materials and equipment.

City officials also approved appropriating $68,954 for the Fenton History Center renovation project. Last week, Lehman said two Americans With Disabilities Act projects will be taken place at the Fenton Museum to add a handicap entrance to the door closest to the parking lot. Also, a handicap-accessible elevator will also be installed during the project.

The council approved spending 34,975 for the new message center for the scoreboard at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park. Last week, Joseph Bellitto, city comptroller, said purchasing a new scoreboard would cost more than $100,000 for the city. However, he said by paying $47,695 for upgrades to the scoreboard from Daktronics and Ahlstrom Schaeffer, they should be able to update the scoreboard’s messaging services.

The council also accepted the fleet management report from Mercury Associates, who was hired to assist city officials with managing around 450 vehicles and rolling stock equipment pieces.

Last week, Patrick Monaghan, city fleet manager, presented a report to the council, which was funded by a state grant through the Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments program, on how to improve the management of city vehicles and equipment. Under the new fleet structure, city officials hope to eliminate underused/duplicate vehicles; share more nonspecialized vehicles and equipment, which includes light-duty vehicles; implement a new vehicle and equipment turnover program; and increase leverage with original equipment manufacturers for after-sales service and support. He said there is little to no cost to initiate the new fleet management structure and they can build and phase in the centralization.