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$399,584 Should Be Reprogrammed To Benefit City Residents

Once again, the city of Jamestown seems hell-bent on spending taxpayer money on something it should be able to do on its own.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist recently presented the Jamestown’s 2021 American Rescue Plan Act Recovery Funds Master Plan, which is the blueprint to spend $28,079,145 in stimulus funding in the next two years. Roughly $10 million will go toward economic development and lost revenue; $5 million will go toward water, sewer and broadband projects and $2 million toward housing and mental health funds. Many of those uses are fine in theory, though we still want to see more information on the broadband part of the plan.

It’s hard to support spending $399,584 for a position that will “relay and showcase the successes of the projects as well as gather feedback and help with messaging on the use of the funds.” In total, the city proposes spending $399,584 for the communications position over a six-year period ending in 2026.

Give us a break.

This job — taxpayer-funded, mind you — is nothing more than a position whose real job description is to remind city officials how much good they’re doing so they can go to bed with warm fuzzies in their belly.

Whatever is allocated toward that particular position should be reprogrammed into something that has a tangible benefit to city residents.

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