A new vehicle for the Jamestown Police Department SWAT team is on the agenda for today’s City Council meeting.

The first meeting will be the Housing Committee at 6:15 p.m. in the police training room followed by a budget presentation at 6:30 p.m. in the police training room focusing on the Public Works and Parks departments. The Finance, Public Safety and Public Works committees will meet at 7 p.m.

The purchase of a Bearcat SWAT vehicle from Lenco Armored Vehicles of Pittsfield, Mass., for $247,516 is on the agenda for the council’s Finance and Public Safety committees at today’s meeting. Using federal ARPA funding for the purchase was discussed and ultimately set aside when city officials discussed vehicle and building upgrades over the past year.

SWAT team members currently use a cargo van when responding to incidents.

According to Jeff Russell, R-At Large, the idea of purchasing an armored SWAT vehicle was discussed multiple times under the previous administration. However, he said the proposal was never approved because the city lacked the funding. Russell said the cost of a BearCat Swat vehicle would be between $250,000 and $275,000. Russell said the other reason people have been hesitant to approve an armored SWAT vehicle is the appearance.

“With some people, it’s about appearance,” he said. “People don’t like the idea of that militaristic look of having something like that, because frankly, it’s kind of mean looking. They don’t like that presence or that look. I think we need to get over that, if we have the funding for such a vehicle.”

Other items on the council agenda have also come under scrutiny in recent weeks: a 19-a homeownership program, $1 million for the Chautauqua County Land Bank’s Post-Pandemic Housing Initiative, $750,000 for a Business Expansion and Building Acquisition program and $1,500,000 for a Non-Profit Assistance Program. Those programs are slated to be discussed by the Finance Committee. The city has about $9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding left to allocate.

Council members have had questions about each of the programs since they were initially proposed. Council members could have specific answers to questions about the land bank proposal after council member Austin Faulkner, R-Ward 6, questioned spending $200,000 on administration of the land bank from the city’s stimulus funding while Kim Ecklund, R-At Large and Finance Committee chairwoman, asked whether it would be less expensive for the city to handle demolitions on its own rather than contracting with the land bank.

Ecklund also had questions about the other three programs as well.

“I genuinely have a lot of concerns with all of the resolutions in front of us today, leaving only $5 million left with all the things out there that people are still requesting to be done,” Councilwoman Kim Ecklund, R-At Large, said during the Oct. 3 council work session. “To some, $5 million seems like a lot, but the way we’ve gone through money, $5 million is not a lot.”