Two mayoral nominees to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities and one to the Human Rights Commission were not approved by the Jamestown City Council.

On Monday, Sean Connor and Sabrina Gustafson were not approved to be new community representatives of the BPU and Justin Hubbard was not reappointed to the Jamestown Human Rights Commission.

Earlier this month, several appointments to boards, corporations and commissions were announced by Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist during the council’s inaugural meeting. However, the council didn’t vote on the appointments until Monday.

Sundquist had nominated Connor and Gustafson to replace Greg Rabb, who is currently the BPU board chairman, and James Olson. The council’s vote for their appointment was 4 to 4, with five votes needed for approval. Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman; Andrew Faulkner, Ward 6 councilman; Kim Ecklund, At-Large councilwoman; and Randy Daversa, At-Large councilman; voted no to the appointments while Anthony Dolce, council president; Regina Brackman, Ward 3 councilwoman; Marie Carrubba, Ward 4 councilwoman; and Jeff Russell, At-Large councilman, voted for the appointments.

With the vacancy in Ward 5 because Grant Olson turned down his two-year term after winning the election in November, there are currently only eight council members.

After the meeting, Dolce, who voted for both nominees, told the local media he doesn’t know why the BPU appointments were not approved by the council. He “guessed” because of a lack of qualifications.

Last month, Sundquist told The Post-Journal that Connor is a senior vice president and CFO of Cattaraugus County Bank. He is also a Jamestown Community College graduate with an MBA from St. Bonaventure and is also a Chautauqua Region Community Foundation Grant Selection Committee volunteer.

Sundquist said Gustafson owns and operates a language translation business and notary service. She is a former social welfare examiner for the county and has also worked for the Jamestown Public Schools District as a health and attendance clerk. She also served on the city’s search committee for a new police chief.

After the meeting, Sundquist said he was “surprised” that the BPU nominees were not approved by the council. He said it had been communicated to him that members of the council didn’t want Hubbard to be reappointed to the Human Rights Commission, but said there was “no communication” about the BPU nominees.

Sundquist said Rabb and Olson will continue to serve on the BPU board until the council approves his next nominees, which could be as soon as next month or might not happen until the end of March.

Before the appointment votes by the council, Hubbard, during the privilege of the floor segment, discussed that Sundquist had informed him that he might not be reappointed to the commission. Hubbard said he is passionate and dedicated to assisting marginalized members of the community. He, as the head of the Jamestown Justice Coalition, has also led rallies in the community, especially after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He added that he would still like to serve on the commission.

A letter from the other commission members was also read during the privilege of the floor segment that supported Hubbard, with the other members wanting him to be reappointed to the commission.

“We feel it is our duty to try to convey to our elected representatives how much we value Mr. Hubbard and the ideas, thoughtfulness and passion that he brings to our group,” the correspondence stated, which was read by Jennifer Williams, city clerk. “As a teacher, he brings a point of view regarding education that helps us better understand and address human rights issues in our schools.”

Also during the privilege of the floor segment, Melissa Paterniti, city resident, spoke out against Hubbard being reappointed, alleging that he called her a racist and a bigot in response to her creating a petition to the Jamestown Public Schools District to keep the “Red Raiders” nickname, a stance that Hubbard and the commission are against.

Council voted 6 to 2 to not reappoint Hubbard with Sheldon; Carrubba; Faulkner; Ecklund; Daversa; and Russell voting against while Dolce and Brackman voted for the reappointment.

After the meeting, Sundquist said he was disappointed the council didn’t reappoint Hubbard because he brought issues to the forefront and the city needs people like that on the commission. The mayor also accused the council of being “stuck in the past” and not wanting to move forward with new people who have different points of view.