Jamestown Police Department P-J file photo

The Jamestown City Council is in a position to improve the quality of vehicles the Jamestown Police Department uses.

On Monday during the council’s monthly voting session meeting, the group is slated to vote on a resolution to purchase four new vehicles – not exceeding the cost of $40,000 each for a total of $160,000 – for the city’s police department. The funding for the new police vehicles would be appropriated from the American Rescue Plan Act lost revenue funds.

During the 2022 budget deliberations, the council heard from Timothy Jackson, Jamestown Police Department chief and city public safety director, and Lt. Sam Piazza, Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association Executive board president, about the need for new vehicles for the police department.

Jackson had requested five new vehicles in the 2022 budget, but only one was included. In November, he said daily the department uses at least five vehicles to serve and protect the city. He added three of the department’s patrol vehicles have more than 100,000 miles, which includes vehicles with 162,572, 131,910 and 125,017 miles respectively, as of the end of October. The department also has a vehicle with more than 91,000 miles.

In other business:

• The council is slated to vote on a new contract agreement with the Jamestown City Administrative Association (JCAA) for the period Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2025. The JCAA two employee bargaining units that includes public works, assessors and controllers office employees as well as Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency (JURA) officials.

The resolution provided in the council’s agenda doesn’t provide any details about the contract. If the council and the union approve the agreement, JURA will also need to approve the agreement before it is finalized.

The last contract agreement reached between the city and JCAA was in July 2019 when a retroactive contract for the years 2017 through 2021 was approved. The contract included no salary increases for 2017, 2018 and 2019. The JCAA”s two bargaining units have between 25-30 employees depending on the city’s budget, received a 2% pay increase in 2020 and 2021.

• The council is scheduled to vote to also approve a new contract agreement for the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association (JPFFA) Local 137. If approved, this will be the first time since the end of 2015 that the firefighters are working under a current contract.

On Wednesday, city officials and the union announced the tentative contract agreement that will run through 2024. The union approved the contract earlier this month.

According to a news release, the new contract provides for the hiring of four additional firefighters, along with the deployment of a second ambulance. Additional contractual terms include wage increases of 2.5% for the years 2021 through 2023, followed by a 2.75% increase in 2024. The agreement also includes percentage increases to the city’s health insurance plan by union members, along with the end of lifetime health insurance for all newly hired firefighters.

This is not the first agreement between the city and the firefighters union this year. In April, the council and the JPFFA approved a three-year agreement covering 2018, 2019 and 2020. This contract agreement included a retroactive 2% pay increase for union members.

In February, the council and the union reached an agreement for firefighters to receive a retroactive 2% raises for both 2016 and 2017. The agreement also called for members to increase their health care premium contributions by 2% for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

• The council is slated to vote on a resolution designating $277,750 of American Rescue Plan Act funds for phase one of the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Chadakoin River Stabilization project that will include debris removal and tree clearing.

Earlier this month, Twan Leenders, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s ecological restoration manager, gave a presentation to the council regarding the worrisome state of the Chadakoin River within city limits.

“For those who are not aware, there are 5.75 miles of Chadakoin River within the city limits of Jamestown which, in itself, is kind of crazy to think about,” he said. “The section between McCrea Point and the water dam is less than a mile — it’s where all the attention goes to the river because it’s the connection to Chautauqua Lake. It’s the obvious spot that seems to be the obvious driver for economic development.”

Leenders said there are 3 1/2 miles of river that have not received attention in a while.

He pointed out various portions of this section of river that have broken retaining walls, areas that require some type of retaining system, and other areas where water is running over and through areas. Leenders said this is due to a large amount of water currently in the Chadakoin, which could be further impacted by the snowfall that could happen over the winter.

In other areas, there are exposed banks that have been caving in over the years due to the current from the river. In one photo, Leenders explained that a homemade wall of old tires and the trees that had grown in between them were the only things keeping the bank up in that section of the river.

The overall projected budget totals $633,908 for the two-year proposal. This includes five phases: debris removal and tree clearing, invasive vegetation removal, revegetation of exposed banks, risk assessment, plan development and outreach and emergency bank stabilization.