Center, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist addresses the Jamestown City Council about purchasing the former Hartley car dealership property along Washington Street to be the new location for the city’s central garage facility. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The city of Jamestown’s new central garage will now be located along Washington Street.

On Monday, the Jamestown City Council approved the purchase of most of the former Hartley car dealership property along Washington Street to be the proposed location of the city’s new central garage.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the city had proposed in 2019 to construct a new building on Crescent Street at the cost of $4 million for the new central garage. He said, however, since the start of the pandemic, the cost to construct a new central garage has gone up “astronomically.”

Sundquist said city officials starting looking into the former Hartley car dealership and have analyzed that the property, which already has a maintenance garage, would be significantly less expensive to renovate than to build new. He said it would cost around $2.1 million to renovate the former car dealership garage and to purchase the property, which Timothy Shults is selling for $400,000.

Sundquist said this would be a savings of $1.9 million compared to building a new central garage on Crescent Street. He said the state has committed a $1 million grant to the city for the central garage, with the funding being used to purchase the property located at 1425-1505 Washington St.

Not all of the former Hartley car dealership is being sold to the city, Sundquist said. He said Shults is still looking for a buyer to develop a portion of the property.

In other business:

¯ The council approved to purchase additional materials at the cost of $16,862 that will be needed for the new playground to be constructed at Lillian Dickson Park this summer. Earlier this month, Kimberly Ecklund, At-Large councilwoman, said the playground equipment was scheduled to be installed last summer, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic it was postponed. However, since last year, the cost of installing the equipment has increased and additional materials need to be purchased.

In May during a Jamestown Parks, Recreation and Conservation Commission, Dan Stone, city parks manager, said the tentative date for a community playground build at the park will be July 31.

In September 2020, John Williams, retired city parks manager, said because of the pandemic, it’s not a safe environment for a community playground build, which is when the neighbors who live near the park are invited to participate in building and installing the new equipment.

The playground installed at the park in 2014 has equipment for children ages 2 to 5 years old. The new playground equipment will be for children ages 5 to 12 years old. The new playground will be handicap-accessible. The new playground will include new swings and will connect to the playground that was constructed at Lillian Dickson Park in 2014.

¯ The council approved entering into a shared services agreement with the county Sheriff’s Office for fire reporting and management software under the County E911 and emergency management program. The new software is needed due to state requirements that all fire departments meet national reporting standards as set forth by the United States Fire Administration. The current software used by the Jamestown Fire Department does not meet the standards.

Earlier this month, Matthew Coon, Jamestown Fire Department deputy fire chief, presented a report to the council on a new software program for the department. He said the department still does their annual reporting on paper. He added that department officials are looking to upgrade to a digital solution.

Coon said they are looking at New World software, which is the same software program the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office uses. Sheriff James Quattrone and Capt. Rich Telford of the Sheriff’s Office also attended the work session meeting earlier this month to answer questions members of the council had about the software. Telford said the Sheriff’s Office has been using the software program between 30-35 years and every law enforcement agency in the county, except the state police, uses New World.

Coon said the software is a legacy program and won’t be obsolete in a year or two. He said the fire department’s records would be located at the Sheriff’s Office. He added fire department officials, even though they use the same software program as the Sheriff’s Office, wouldn’t have access to law enforcement records.

The shared services agreement will cost the city $154,675, which will be funded via the contingency account.

¯ The council accepted a grant from the Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation of $2,500 for the broadband feasibility study, which will be transferred to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.

Earlier this month, city officials announced a survey that is being used to gauge the interest of community residents in a municipal broadband network. To take the survey, visit jamestownfiber.com.

While the survey is ongoing, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist told The Post-Journal city officials are also working on a feasibility study to determine if the city and Jamestown Board of Public Utilities should create a master plan and task force to analyze the possibility of creating its own broadband network.