Andrew Liuzzo, At-Large councilman, questioned the appointment of Greg Rabb to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and the city Planning Commission during a Jamestown City Council work session meeting Monday. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The appointment of Greg Rabb to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and to the city Planning Commission has a newly elected city officials questioning the decision.

On Monday, newly elect At-Large Councilman Andrew Liuzzo questioned Rabb’s appointments to the city boards earlier this month by Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi. Liuzzo said city residents spoke out through their vote that they no longer want Rabb involved in city government. Rabb lost his re-election campaign to the council in November.

“We have a past councilman that lost an election,” Liuzzo said about Rabb. “He came in fifth out of six candidates. This was a mandate from the public. The people did not want to see his continued involvement.”

Liuzzo also questioned the council voting immediately on new appointments during their organizational meeting Jan. 8. Liuzzo was the only no vote of the nine-member council when voting to suspend the rules to vote on the appointments during the organizational meeting. He said by not giving a chance for the public to review the mayor’s appointments, city officials aren’t being transparent.

Liuzzo also questioned the qualifications of those appointed to the city boards and commissions. He said the mayor should not just find someone who has the time to volunteer, but should search for those most qualified for the position.

Following Liuzzo’s statements, Anthony Dolce, Ward 2 councilman and the most senior member of the council having served 22 years, asked rhetorically who determines who is the most qualified. He said it would be an endless debate to determine who is the most qualified for positions on boards and commissions.

While addressing Teresi’s appointment of Rabb to the BPU board, Dolce said Rabb his served 10 years on the BPU board as the council president, which qualifies him to continue serving as a citizen member. Dolce also said Rabb knows the issues impacting the community because he has served as an elected officials for the past 10 years.

“Whether they chose not to run or retire or whether they got beat in an election, I don’t think that is a referendum that they should be thrown or kicked to the curb,” Dolce said. “You could say he came in fifth place, but you could also say 1,900 people in this community that voted for him.”

Dolce said prior to the organizational meeting, council members were provided with the list of mayoral appointments, and if they had any questions or concerns they could discuss them with Teresi prior to the appointment. He said that during his tenure on the council, he has worked with two mayors, Teresi and Richard Kimball, and knows how difficult it can be to find people who are willing to serve on boards and commissions. He added that the appointment of Rabb to the BPU and the city’s Planning Commission, which Rabb chaired prior to be elected to the Council in 2007, was not “Business as usual.”

Also during the council work session meeting, Doug Champ, retired BPU administrator, questioned why Teresi didn’t reappoint him to the city Riverfront Management Council. Champ said during his time on the Riverfront Management Council he assisted city officials in receiving three grants, including $313,890 for Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District for the Chadakoin River Watershed – Jamestown Riverwalk Restoration during the latest round of Regional Economic Development Council Consolidated Funding Application awards.

Champ believes he wasn’t reappointed to the Riverfront Management Council because he has questioned decisions made by Teresi and the council. Most recently, Champ has been outspoken against the proposal for the city to sell he wastewater treatment plant to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation.

In December, Teresi proposed that the city sell the wastewater treatment plant, located in the town of Poland, to the JLDC in an effort to create a capital infrastructure and equipment program fund.

Teresi said the proposal would have the JLDC taking out bonds to purchase the plant outright from the city of Jamestown, and the city would then then pay to lease the plant for use until the bonding was fully paid off. At that time, the property would revert back to city ownership. The payments for the lease-to-own agreement would come from wastewater rates collected from throughout the wastewater service area, which includes areas outside of the city.