Despite objections, county OKs office move in Jamestown
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The Chautauqua County Legislature is moving ahead with plans to relocate a number of its departments, including Social Services and the Department of Motor Vehicles, to a new centralized location.
The decision was not unanimous and was not supported by three of the four Jamestown county lawmakers.
On Wednesday, the legislature approved an agreement with 310-322 East Third Ventures LLC to lease office space at 512 W. Third St., Jamestown, commonly known as the Lynn Building, to house the county's Mental Hygiene and Social Services, as well as the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The vote was approved by a 12-5 vote. Voting against it were Jamestown Democratic legislators Vince DeJoy, Fred Larson, Bob Whitney, as well as Sandra Lewis, D-Fredonia, and Marcus Buchanan, D-Dunkirk.
The move is expected to take place sometime next year.
Originally the county's Department of Probation was to relocate there as well, however the resolution was modified to remove that department, since Infinity Visual & Performing Arts, and Striders, which are both youth organizations, are located there and have no interest in relocating.
CONCERNS RAISED
The meeting was held at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown to mark the center's 25-year anniversary.
With the meeting taking place in Jamestown, a number of city residents and officials attended the meeting and shared their concerns about the move before the vote took place.
Jamestown City Councilman Jeremy Engquist, D-At Large, urged the legislature to table any decision Wednesday night.
"I'm not against it. I just think right now there's a lot of questions that I have, that our council has, I think our mayor has, that we need answered before we start displacing tenants," he said. "I think it’s a great idea. I want the DMV in the city. I want Mental Health in the city. I want them all in the city. I just think we need to pump the brakes a little bit."
City Councilwoman Hannah Jaroszynski, D-Ward 5, agreed. She proposed establishing a committee to evaluate the situation, expressing the desire to protect both Striders and Infinity.
During committee meetings the week prior, the developers said they were looking to acquire additional space to see if Striders and/or Infinity wanted to move.
During Wednesday night's meeting, Infinity Executive Director Shane Hawkins said she wasn't interested in relocating. She noted they have 16 private lesson rooms, two art rooms, two band rooms, a dance studio and a 4,000 square foot performance venue that seats 200 people and has a stage with professional lighting and sound.
The location is key as well.
"Infinity provides services for thousands of our community's young people every year. Students from the high school are able to easily walk across the street to receive mentoring, instruction and support," Hawkins said.
Hawkins confirmed they have a very low rent price and said that makes their programming available to low income families.
Jamie Lee Bonfiglio-Davis is a board member of Striders and expressed their desire to stay as well.
"The Lynn Building is more than just a building. It is a place where children learn, create, grow and find belonging," she said.
Joe Roosa, the developer behind the project, shared how the late Gary Lynn wanted to help non-profit organizations by setting very low rental rates. However, he believes those rates are unsustainable.
"It creates a burden, an actual financial burden, to the family. How do they maintain the building? How do they keep it up? It's expensive - the taxes, the improvements, the air conditionings, the roofs, all of these things cost money," he said.
Roosa warned that if he doesn't buy the Lynn Building, someone else will, and they, too, will be faced with hard financial decisions, because the rent being paid doesn't cover the building's costs.
"You don't want the building to become a blight," he said.
LEGISLATORS DEBATE RESOLUTION
Before the vote took place, Legislator Jamie Gustafson, R-Lakewood, proposed removing probation from relocating there as well as added in the resolution for the developer "to provide consideration for support for the continued occupancy" for both Infinity and Striders, to remain at their current location.
The amendment was unanimously approved.
During the debate on the revised resolution, Fred Larson, D-Jamestown, said the resolution will probably commit the county to being in the Lynn Building for the next 20 to 30 years. He noted that the proposal was first made public nine days ago.
"That's a ridiculously short period of time to make a major decision," he said.
He also questioned if a formal Request For Proposals should be made for the county to relocate out of the South County Office Building.
Legislator DeJoe also felt more time is needed.
"I think this is being pushed much too quickly. I think there's not an urgent need to do this right now tonight," he said.
DeJoe proposed forming a committee, made up of legislators, community members, organizations, and Jamestown City Council members, to examine it closer.
His proposal failed, with the legislature's seven Democrats all voting in favor and the 10 present Republican legislators voting against it. Republican Legislators Fred Johnson of Westfield and Jason Merritt of Sheridan, were absent.
DeJoe then proposed referring the resolution to go back to committee for further evaluation.
That proposal failed as well, with the same seven Democrats voting in favor and 10 Republicans voting against it.
After his two votes failed, he criticized the Republican legislators, none of whom live in Jamestown, for pushing the vote forward.
"To me it sinks of hubris and a rubber stamp. I'm ashamed that there wasn't even one person that said 'Let's go back and look at this,'" DeJoe said.
Both Republican Legislators Lisa Vanstrom of West Ellicott, and Dalton Anthony of Frewsburg, defended their decision, saying this has been examined for several years and multiple properties have been looked at.
Anthony noted how he toured the South County Office Building and the lights were off because the air conditioner wasn't working properly.
Earlier in the meeting, an employee shared how the South County Office Building has a number of problems. She alleged seeing cockroaches, mold, leaking windows, water running down the elevator shafts, and flooding.
With these various issues and with the current leases up soon, Anthony said the legislature needs to act now.
Along with the 10 Republican legislators, Democratic Legislators Bob Bankoski of Dunkirk and Tom Nelson of Jamestown voted in favor.
Nelson had advocated delaying the vote, but said the new location "checks a lot of boxes" which is why he was in favor of the move.
After the legislature meeting, County Executive PJ Wendel said this is the third or fourth time they've tried to relocate but have been unsuccessful. He added most recently they had a plan in place, but the property was sold to a different developer within a week of them making it public.
Wendel also said he was disappointed with the legislators who voted in favor of the project in committee but changed their vote Wednesday night.
"You supported it before. What changed?" he asked.
When asked about owning its own building, Wendel also said the county prefers to lease space, because the landlord will take care of the maintenance, as well as if the county were to buy property, it would come off the tax rolls, which would also affect both the city and school district.
He added that it's too soon to give an exact date of when the moves will take place.