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Elimination of commission tabled until October

The city's Strategic Planning and Partnerships Commission will live on a little longer – though how much longer is up for discussion.

The establishment of a local law that would abolish the city's Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission came before the City Council's Public Safety Committee on Monday. A few members of the public appeared before the committee to establish their thoughts against abolishing the commission.

According to the city website, the commission was established to "continuously consider, develop, and make recommendations for strategic initiatives to the Jamestown City Council and other organizations within the greater Jamestown area concerning economic development and overall community planning." Objectives for the commission include the development of community-wide goals and initiatives for the future. Typically, the commission has been made up of 13 members, two of whom are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council for a five year term. According to the city website, members include; the mayor of Jamestown by virtue of office, the chairman of the City Council Public Safety Committee by virtue of office, a City Council member appointed by the mayor, the superintendent of the Jamestown Public Schools, the chairman of the Board of Public Utilities, the president of Jamestown Community College, the chief executive officer of WCA Hospital, a representative of the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce, the president of the Jamestown Area Labor Council, and the chairman of the Manufacturers Association of the Jamestown Area.

The last time the commission met was February 2, 2020.

The local law that came before the Public Safety Committee on Monday would abolish the committee in its entirety and get rid of all mentions of it in the city code.

OPPOSITION TO PROPOSAL

Jason Sample, who is running for the City Council seat in Ward 2, came before the committee to ask about what the idea behind it was, and who submitted it to be considered. He noted that the commission is a City Council commission to be utilized by the council, according to the city code, also wondering if it was Mayor Kim Ecklund who requested the law.

"My question is just simply, why would the mayor want to have a role in how City Council functions?" Sample said. "These are two separate branches of government. I have great respect for the mayor's office. I think it's something that obviously needs to be used for the function of the city. But, for the function of City Council, it is the City Council's role to determine how they use strategic planning, and it is your obligation to do so."

While Sample noted that the commission has been sidelined for six years, most likely because of the pandemic, he said he did not believe that means it should be abolished. He added the commission has the ability to serve the purposes of what the City Council is supposed to be doing in accordance with the City Charter. Sample requested that the local law be tabled and that a longer conversation should be had.

"Strategic planning isn't easy," Sample said. "It's one of those processes that people will sometimes cringe because it requires time, patience and input from all stakeholders, not just those that work within city government, but those that are affected by city government. That's your residents, your businesses, that's other stakeholders within the city including your hospitals, your school districts. It really requires everybody who is involved in working and living within the city to provide guidance to the City Council on how you should set the established policies and strategies."

Sample said he did not believe now is a good time to abolish a commission just because it has been inactive for six years. Instead, he said the council should assess why it has been inactive, what its purpose is, if it needs to be restructured, and then move forward. At the end of the day, he said if the council still decides to abolish it, then it should be after a longer conversation and a City Council decision.

Doug Champ also brought up the local law before the public safety committee, noting the importance of the word partnership in the title of strategic planning and partnership. He said the purpose was to bring together various entities in the city through the commission, with shared interests in the city who might not necessarily talk with each other, who were then given the opportunity to through the commission.

"I participated in it in some different ways," Champ said. "I was not a member of it, but I was called in to talk. Consequently what I got out of that is a necessary, I think, community effort to continue that dialogue."

Champ said while the commission has been inactive for years, now is the opportunity to resurrect what the city needs now and into the future, with new people and new issues. He said there is a need to bring entities together so they can understand what they are doing and understand the option of working together to find a solution.

'DID BECOME A HARDSHIP'

The Public Safety Committee discussed the law, and Regina Brackman, D-Ward 3 and council president,, acknowledged everything that was said from the public, adding that the commission was before her time on city council but she has talked with some people who were there. She said she is open to tabling it for a month to allow time for the committee to get more information so they can make sure it is something they are pursuing thoroughly. Brackman added though, that since the commission has been inactive for six years that it is probably a good idea to move forward with the local law.

"I think the idea of the commission is a good idea," said Councilman Jeremy Engquist, D-At Large and chair of the Public Safety Committee. "The fact that it has been dormant is a little troubling. I do understand those troubles, and I'm going to ask the mayor what her rationale is too."

Engquist agreed that the committee should wait and table the law until early October to bring it back then. In the meantime, he said they can talk with former members of the commission about it, adding that it is possible people who should be on the commission who have been hired in the last six years might not even know they are on the commission or that it exists. He said they should get their take on resurrecting the commission as well, and that there might be no interest.

Brackman added that the commission from her understanding was made up of people who did not necessarily understand city government.

"It did become a hardship, from what I'm hearing," Brackman said. "It was a hardship for many departments, based on time and resources and we find ourselves now in a situation where the work staff that we have can barely keep up with their workload today."

Councilwoman Hannah Jaroszynski, D-Ward 5, added that making the most informed decision is not a bad thing. If the committee tables it now, she said, and brings it back next month, that does not necessarily mean they will agree to save the commission.

"We could talk to all of these people and they're like, we have no interest, or they want it and it didn't work, and these are the reasons it didn't work," Jaroszynski said. "I know I would feel more comfortable making that informed decision, having actually talked to these people myself, or at least through our committee."

Jaroszynski added that while it was on the agenda, no one had contacted her about it. Brackman said she reached out to people herself when she saw it on the agenda. The committee also questioned why now, and Brackman said she believed it was part of the review of the charter that is happening right now, and that it is more cost efficient to make revisions all at one time.

'TIED UP A LOT OF ENERGY'

The committee agreed to table the local law abolishing the commission until October. When it was brought up again at the City Council work session, Mayor Kim Ecklund explained that it is correct that it has not met since 2020 and it petered out because of lack of attendance and because it is a non-decisive board.

"It's kind of like the Housing Committee," Ecklund said. "You can offer suggestions, but it eventually has to go to another committee. It's a lot of tied up energy. The thought process from the department heads that were involved in discussing this -- and Mr. Champ was here many months telling us to get rid of it -- there is no perfect answer. The attempt is to eliminate that and see what needs to change."

What was developed in 1994 for the purposes of strategic planning is not what is needed today, Ecklund said. Additionally, she said there has been a focus on financial planning, and that could be its own separate thing.

"With government, strategic planning is all over the board, and I think it might serve us better to have specific pockets that would address the needs that we can control," Ecklund said.

Brackman asked why they are looking at doing this now, and Ecklund said it is something that was asked of her when she first came into office and it sat for a bit as other priorities took precedence. She reemphasized that charter changes are being grouped together as they are being made, because the costs of making a change is exponential every time the city goes to do one.

"A year and a half ago it felt like we were doing charter changes every week, every month, and the cost became really high," Ecklund said. "Jen (Williams, former city clerk) had asked that this year we try to control charter changes and lump them together, so that is the decisiveness of this."

More charter changes will be coming down the line soon, and Ecklund said they will be trying to do all of those at once so the cost will be contained.