Eddie Sundquist, Jamestown mayor, presenting his State of the City Address to the Jamestown City Council Monday while council members, from left, Kim Ecklund, Tamu Graham-Reinhardt and Jeff Russell look on. Sundquist called on new innovations in 2020, which will possibly include a new ambulance service, zoning code updates and a modernization of the tax code. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The new mayor of Jamestown is calling for new innovations in city government.

On Monday, Eddie Sundquist, Jamestown mayor, presented his first State of the City address to the Jamestown City Council. Sundquist said this year will be the year of new innovations.

One of those new innovations might be a new ambulance service in the city. Sundquist announced publicly for the first time that a few weeks ago Alstar EMS notified the city it seeks to end its agreement for services.

“We are meeting with officials to better understand what Alstar’s intentions are, but make no mistake, I will not let our citizens go without an ambulance service,” Sundquist said. “We are happy to discuss our issues, but at the end of the day, my goal is to end a model that allows our contract ambulance company to not serve our residents. We will be putting out a request for proposal to find a service that will be our exclusive ambulance service to the city and can guarantee minimum response times and dedicated city ambulance services. When it comes to public safety, the city of Jamestown will always ensure our residents are taken care of, no matter what.”

Sundquist first told The Post-Journal last week about Alstar’s decision to end an operations agreement that dates back to 1996. The former WCA Hospital, now known as UPMC Chautauqua, with a division known as Alstar EMS, is the primary provider of EMS transport in the city. The Jamestown Fire Department isn’t the primary ambulance service provider for the city, but fills in when Alstar is out of service.

Cecil Miller, UPMC Chautauqua vice president of operations, said UPMC officials sent the notification to city officials because they would like a new agreement. The previous one was first signed in the mid-1990s.

“The contract dates back to 1996. We felt it’s time to update it,” Miller said. “We’ve also requested to meet with the mayor and city officials to discuss the future of EMS calls in the city.”

Another initiative for the city in 2020 will include the sharing of data. Sundquist said he wants to improve how city departments share information to better serve the residents. Also, he wants to provide more information to citizens, like emergency alerts and information about neighborhood activity.

“We live in a connected world, full of data. Shouldn’t the city be sharing that data as well? Many cities provide portals to citizens that show how many calls for service our police did last month, or the number of leaves we picked up or even the number of phone calls the mayor’s office receives in a week,” he said. “As a city, we need to be more transparent in the work we do, which is why I am committed to working on opening up the city’s data for all our citizens, partners and community members. It’s time for us to be proactive, not reactive in the work we do.”

Sundquist said another task this year will be working toward a committee to review and revitalize the city’s antiquated zoning codes, which were created in 1969 and updated in 1998.

“Our society and city has changed, so should our zoning codes,” he said.

The new mayor also called for a modernization of the tax code. Sundquist said the city’s tax structure has remained the same for many years. He said it’s a system that encourages current housing issues with run-down houses and vacant lots and discourages residents from investing in their properties. He added it’s time city officials look at what other cities are doing to deal with taxation issues.

“Our goal is to lower the tax rates for the things we want to see more of — developed properties and home improvements,” he said. “We need to start taxing the things we would like to see less of — vacant lots and dilapidated properties. I have directed our assessment office to start to run different models for taxation that will ease residential property owners from the heavy tax burden they face. I have also started toward looking at ways to stop penalizing our homeowners for making repairs, and start to phase in assessments for a longer period of time, relieving some of the tax burden to those making needed improvements to homes.”

Sundquist announced the creation of a new community housing advisory group to bring organizations working on housing together to coordinate a plan for the city.

“We are looking at laws on rental inspections to combat unsafe living conditions and fighting hand-in-hand with the county on lead abatement,” he said.

The mayor also called for the creation of a city charter review committee.

“I will be calling a Charter Review Commission to ensure our city’s laws make us competitive and move us forward,” he said.