Jamestown City Council members responded to several questions asked by city residents about the recent protests that have been happening in the city and nationally.

On Monday during the council work session, city resident Autumn Echo Swanson asked why more members of the Jamestown City Council have not appeared at the protest organized by the Jamestown Justice Coalition to support the Black Lives Matter movement. The past two Sundays, peaceful protests have taken place at Dow Park and at Tracy Plaza.

Vickye James, Ward 3 Councilwoman, said as an African-American she has been an advocate for her community for more than 47 years.

“If I don’t make one event, don’t tell me black lives don’t matter,” she said.

James said the human rights movement matters to her along with the people in the community.

“If I don’t make one event, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about black lives,” she said.

Tamu Graham-Reinhardt, At-Large councilwoman, asked for city residents to “sit back and take a breath” when it comes to denouncing members of the council.

“All nine of us who ran for office did so because we care about the community,” she said. “We want to do good things for this city.”

Another question was from city resident Christina Cardinale, who is also running as a Democrat for the state Assembly. Cardinale asked Republican Jeff Russell, At-Large councilman, why he had a post on his Facebook page about automatic weapons. According to Cardinale, Russell’s social media post stated, “Why the need for an AR-15 and 30-round magazine is on every news station.” She said the post was advocating for gun violence against protesters, and wondered if the council has a social media conduct policy.

Russell responded by stating the social media post Cardinale is referencing is a meme on his personal Facebook page that is in support of the Second Amendment. The meme relates to the murder of retired St. Louis Police Cap. David Dorn, who was murdered by looters June 2.

Russell said he is disappointed that Cardinale would use a Facebook meme as a “political stunt” to say he advocates for gun violence. He said he doesn’t support violence against the black community or peaceful protesters.

“You are now attempting to create a controversy where controversy doesn’t exist,” he said.

Anthony Dolce, council president, said Russell is a retired 23-year veteran of the Jamestown Police Department and is well-respected by members of the community. He said, as far as a social media policy for council members, that there is no policy or regulations.

“We all have First Amendment rights,” he said. “The consequences that goes along with that, we all understand.”

Dolce said city officials are working to organize a public meeting with Mayor Eddie Sundquist, Harry Snellings, Jamestown Police Department chief and city public safety director, Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman and Public Safety Committee chairman, and himself to addresses the issues brought up by city residents.

“We do take these issues seriously,” Dolce said. “We are going to address these issues. Where improvements can be made, we will see if we can make them.”

Dolce said he is grateful that the protests that have occurred in the city have been peaceful.

“I was proud to be a representative of this community because of that,” he said. “We will move forward. The dialogue will continue.”

In other business, the council held a special meeting to approve the COVID-19 Financial Restructuring Plan. The council approved the first phase of the plan to cut $1.16 million from the 2020 budget. Eddie Sundquist said because of expected decreases in sales tax revenue and state aid, the city has a potential budget shortfall of between $2 million to $4.75 million.

The first phase of cuts includes reductions in services that includes reducing part-time employees in the clerk’s office; cutting construction projects; eliminating all, but three summer employees; stopping unnecessary travel; cutting all festivals and events; and eliminating overtime.

In Phase 1, there are no planned layoffs of full-time employees. However, in Phase 2 and 3 of the plan, which the council didn’t approve Monday, there could be up to 30 full-time employees laid off.

Sundquist said the budget shortfalls in sales tax revenues and state aid will determine if city officials will need to approve Phase 2 and 3 reductions.