The Jamestown City Council has approved an additional annexation resolution, once again declaring the proposal to be in the best interest of the public.

On Monday, the council held a special voting session meeting to approve the additional resolution. Last week, Anthony Dolce, Ward 2 and council president, told The Post-Journal the additional resolution moves the annexation proposal forward.

Last month, the council approved an annexation resolution dealing with the State Environmental Quality Review, also known as the SEQR, and a resolution stating the annexation is in the best interest of the public. However, a third annexation resolution was also needed stating that city officials are moving forward with the annexation within 90 days of the public hearing that was jointly held last year with officials from the town of Ellicott, village of Falconer and Falconer Central Schools.

“Well it came to our attention from our attorney (Bond, Schoeneck & King) that we needed to take another step in the process to make sure everything is covered. Last month, we passed resolutions dealing with the lead agency for the (State Environmental Quality Review Act) and that the annexation was in the best interest of the public. We needed to do one more dealing specifically with moving ahead with the annexation in the 90-day window (since the public hearing held Dec. 30, 2019),” Dolce said Friday.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 7-2, with Grant Olson, Ward 5 councilman, and Jeff Russell, At-Large councilman, voting “No.”

Last week, the town of Ellicott approved three resolutions declaring the annexation to not be in the best interest of the public. The village of Falconer was scheduled to vote on annexation resolutions at the same time city council held its meeting Monday.

Officials from the town of Ellicott and village of Falconer have publicly stated they are against the proposed annexation because it will decrease their property tax revenues if the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street substation is annexed into the city.

If officials from all three entities file the necessary paperwork with the Chautauqua County Clerk’s Office within 30-days, with the city stating the annexation is in the best interest of the public and the town and village stating it’s not, the case will then be decided by the Fourth Department Appellate Division Court in Rochester.

This is the second time the city has tried to annex the substation. In August 2019, the Appellate Court dismissed the city’s first annexation petition on a technicality, stating that the city’s original proceeding was untimely.

In other business during a work session meeting of the council, discussion was held on a resolution to suspend loan repayments for 11 local businesses with the Jamestown Local Development Corporation while they deal with the impact of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak.

Kim Ecklund, At-Large councilwoman, said loan repayments for the businesses will be placed on a temporary freeze until May 30. She said there will be no added interest or penalties. She added two additional months will be added to each loan. Ecklund said all the loans are currently in good standing.

The businesses include Gialy’s, Jamestown Rental Properties, Nouveau, Nate Enterprises, Crown Street Roasting Company, Shults Real Estate, International Ordinance Technologies, Thurston Development, HH Jamestown, Jamestown Brewing Company and Chop House on Main.

The council is slated to vote on the resolution during its regular monthly voting session meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday.