The Jamestown City Council overrode two 2021 budget vetoes made by Mayor Eddie Sundquist during a special meeting Monday. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The two changes Mayor Eddie Sundquist made to the 2021 city budget have been overridden.

On Monday, the Jamestown City Council overrode both vetoes Sundquist made to the 2021 city budget. Last week, Sundquist submitted his veto message to city officials that included not eliminating the recreation coordinator position. He also vetoed how much of the city’s unreserved fund balanced would be used in the 2021 budget.

Last month, the council had approved eliminating the recreation coordinator position when it passed the 2021 spending plan. Because both vetoes were overridden, what the council originally passed will be part of the city’s spending plan next year. The 2021 budget will use $436,139 of the city’s unreserved fund balance and there will be no funding in the spending plan for the recreation coordinator.

If Sundquist’s vetoes would not have been overridden, the 2021 spending plan would have included $53,973 in salary and benefits for the recreation coordinator and would have used $490,112 of fund balance in next year’s budget.

Both Anthony Dolce, council president, and Kim Ecklund, At-Large councilwoman and Finance Committee chairwoman, said once the city is allowed to have events again that the position of recreation coordinator will be included in the budget.

“This is nothing the council relishes in doing,” Dolce said. “This is not a permanent policy statement. We want to bring this position back as soon as we can safely.”

Again, just like last month when the council voted to cut the recreation coordinator out of the 2021 budget, Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman, was the only “No” vote. All of the council members approved of changing the amount of fund balanced used in the 2021 budget.

Prior to the vote, the city clerk, Jennifer Williams, read correspondence from area residents on overriding the vetoes. Three correspondence asked the council to not cut the position of recreation coordinator while one correspondence said it was the correct move to make and should not be a full-time city position.

In Sundquist’s veto message he stated that while COVID-19 and the ensuing cancellations of events both this past year and next have given the recreation coordinator position less to do, however, it is with little foresight that the council cut this position.

“If, as anticipated, there is a wide and effective COVID-19 vaccine roll out next year, events may be able to resume as they would in a normal year, and suddenly we would have no one to plan, coordinate and administer these events,” he said.

Sundquist said this year city officials worked with the parks union to retool the position of recreation coordinator to also include communications coordinator and grant writing duties.

“The employee in this particular position has allowed the city to grow its social media presence, streamline better communications to residents and work with city departments on grant opportunities each department may have been missing out on,” Sundquist said.

Dolce, who is the longest tenured councilman in the city’s history currently serving his 25th year, said that this is only the third time he has been a part of a veto override. He said the other two times happened in 2004 and 2006.

“Overriding an executive veto is not something that is common,” Dolce said.