Editor’s note: This is part of a series of articles on the upcoming Chautauqua County Legislature races.

Chautauqua County Legislative District 12 includes part of the city of Jamestown. Incumbent Elisabeth

Rankin is running on the Republican and Conservative lines. She is being challenged by Frederick Larson, who is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines.

The Post-Journal/OBSERVER invited all candidates who are running for the county legislature to answer two questions:

1) What do you believe that Chautauqua County government has accomplished in the last two years?

2) What are your goals to improve the county?

Rankin’s response to the two questions is as follows:

1) “Chautauqua County has an effective legislature that works well together, seeking common sense and productive ways to help the residents of our county.

As a county, we strive to be business-friendly as evidenced by the opening of many small businesses, which drive the heart of our economy. These small businesses create jobs and strengthen the bonds of a communities.

The county agencies have worked well to highlight our beautiful natural resources and tourist industry. As it thrives, so does the county, benefiting from this important economic driver.

Through hard work and collaboration, Chautauqua County has continually lowered property taxes for constituents without reducing services! As mandates and budgetary surprises come our way we must be able to cover them with healthy funding that allows us to sustain county business and not cut essential services to our residents.”

2) “Collaboration must continue between individuals and agencies in order to continue lake and waterway improvements, taking advantage of the lake sewer development and strengthening our infrastructure.

Economic development that includes more shovel-ready sites a redevelopment of abandon buildings will help make us attractive to potential businesses and residents.

Collaboration between school districts would save money on costs and provide students and families with greater choices, hopefully leading to more consolidation.

Chautauqua County needs to move forward with continued tax reductions, job creation and helping job seekers gain the skill sets needed by current employers, cutting wasteful spending, endorsing initiatives for seniors and veterans and enhancing the quality of life for our residents. Essential to county government is ensuring that we continue quality services to our residents, uninterrupted, in the most cost-effective manner possible. We are at our best when we work together and help each other.”

Larson’s response to the two questions is as follows:

1) “As a retired City Court Judge, former County Legislator and former County Attorney, I am running to regain my legislature seat in District 12 because the county legislature for the past two years has accomplished so little for the people of Chautauqua County. Sadly, the current majority in the Legislature has many ‘listless’ legislators.

My answer to the first question is addressed to the failures of the 15-4 majority in the county legislature. I will highlight five of those failures. County government workers, on the other hand, have continued to do wonderful work for the residents of the county these past two years. It is the failure of the elected leadership of the county that should be addressed in this county legislature election. The current 15-4 majority is the equivalent of a U.S. Senate being controlled by one party 79-21. Most Republicans and

Democrats would agree that such a huge Senate majority would not be good for our country.

First, the legislature majority these last two years has continued to add to the county payroll despite a continuing decline of the county’s population. In 2014, just before I had to resign from the county legislature to become Jamestown City Court Judge, I was the deciding vote to sell the County Home (nursing home) in Dunkirk. The County Executive at the time assured all of us of the millions of dollars of savings the taxpayers would realize every year by selling the county’s nursing home to the private sector and removing over 200 employees from the county payroll. Although I was in the minority party in the legislature, the majority party needed my vote because it takes a two-third vote to sell county property.

Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I read in The Post-Journal this year that the county government in less than 9 years has added to the county’s payroll more than 200 employees, so that in 2023 there are more county employees than before I voted to sell the County Home.

The best example of the county legislature’s majority adding an unneeded position to the payroll, was their voting this year to add the first ever Public Relations position (euphemistically called ‘Media

Information Officer’) in the County Executive’s Office and under his control. The overburdened taxpayers of Chautauqua County are now paying $100,000 for a PR person to ‘spin’ a flattering message about the elected powers in Mayville.

A 15-4 majority in the legislature feels comfortable using taxpayer’s money for public relations because they can. If, as a result of this November’s election, that super majority shrinks, next year’s legislature will be less likely to so blatantly waste taxpayer dollars.

Second, the current majority in the county legislature has continued to overtax the property taxpayers.

Some in the majority brag about the county’s ‘healthy’ fund balance of $37 million. I am running for the county legislature because I am more concerned about the health of our taxpayers than the ‘health’ of the bloated county fund balance. The Post-Journal has recently editorialized that the $37 million fund balance is excessive. I agree with that assessment. The county’s own Financial Policy would be satisfied with a fund balance of $14 million.

Third, the majority on the county legislature have failed to exercise oversight of the county’s own

Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency. When a state comprehensive review this year blasted the practices and procedures of the CCIDA, the legislature majority has apparently done nothing in response. The legislature’s Economic Development Committee has never even put the state’s scathing report on the committee’s monthly agenda. By the way, with only four Democrats in the county legislature, the Economic Development Committee is made up of only majority party members. The county legislature’s oversight of the CCIDA would be greatly enhanced by more minority party members of the legislature as a result of this November’s election.

The current majority of the legislature has failed to create ‘shovel ready’ industrial development sites in the Greater Jamestown and Dunkirk-Fredonia areas where the vast majority of our county residents live. The majority failed us this year by handing over in excess of $4 million of federal money to the CCIDA which apparently is going to spend it all on a relatively few acres on land in Ripley! Not one cent is for any other industrial park site in the county.

Fourth, the majority in the Chautauqua County Legislature has failed to establish job creation as the number one priority of county economic development efforts. This current majority is silent as government benefits are handed out, for example, to a solar farm which is projected to create one-half of a job.

Fifth, some in the legislature cheered on a proposal for a massive increase in the county Occupancy Tax that would have devastated the lodging industry in Chautauqua County. The current 5% Occupancy Tax on top of the 8% sales tax already adds 13% onto the cost of every lodging covered by the County

Occupancy Tax law. Fortunately the four members of the legislature’s minority led the way in stopping this ill-advised tax increase proposal.”

2) “There are seven goals I have to improve Chautauqua County.

First, the county and its CCIDA must create shovel-ready industrial sites in the Greater Jamestown area and the Dunkirk-Fredonia area. The county government admits that there are no shovel ready sites in these areas where a current industry could expand or a new industry could locate. As a member of the

Chautauqua County Industrial Parks Task Force in the late 1990s, I know what it took to attract new industries such as Serta Mattress in the South County Industrial Park and Southern Tier Brewing in the

County Industrial Park on Hunt Road. We can repeat these successes.

Second, the county legislature and its Economic Development Committee must take seriously its duty to oversee its own CCIDA, and encourage the CCIDA to focus on job creation. The legislature has a duty, for example, to make sure its CCIDA is never again paying for country club dues.

Third, the county needs to use all of its departments and resources, including the Department of Public

Facilities, to meet the needs of county industries and businesses and to improve access by our industries and businesses to our state highways and our two Interstate highways.

Fourth, the county, as a sponsor of JCC, must encourage JCC to strengthen its efforts to train workers needed by existing industries and businesses as well as new industries and businesses we may attract to

Chautauqua County. Just in the last decade, the State Labor Department reports that the Chautauqua

County Labor Force has plummeted from 68,000 to 56,000. With this terrible shrinking of our workforce, it is even more important that the county, through JCC and others, step up our efforts to train the workforce that is still here.

Fifth, the county legislature must do a much better job of prioritizing proposed additions to the county payroll. Just as in a private business or in a household, there are things that county government wants and there are things that county government genuinely needs. Adding over 200 jobs to the county payroll in the past 9 years suggests the next county legislature must do a better job of representing taxpayers by separating ‘wants’ from ‘needs.’

Sixth, the next county legislature must work to achieve a reasonable county fund balance instead of maintaining the current bloated $37 million ‘slush fund,’ by returning a portion of the fund balance to the taxpayers.

Seventh, it is important to the economic development of our county that we restore commercial air service to the Chautauqua County Airport at Jamestown. We lost the Federal Department of Transportation’s

Essential Air Service (EAS) five years ago because our then-Congressman did not fight to retain it. In fact he publicly gave the Department of Transportation the green light to abandon Chautauqua County.

Upwards of 30 other cities threatened at the same time with the end of their EAS kept their service, largely through waivers. To this day, little Bradford (population 7,700) in little McKean County (population 40,000) has daily EAS passenger flights to Washington/Dulles and Pittsburgh. It is ridiculous that people can fly to the Zippo Museum in Bradford but not to the National Comedy Center in

Jamestown.”