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In Our Opinion

Municipal Water Planning In South County Needs County’s Leadership

Southern Chautauqua County has been blessed not to have issues with dependable water like our counterparts in the north county - but that doesn’t mean all is perfect. Using wells and reservoirs mean times like the late summer and early fall drought that finally gave way to some rain this week can be a real pain if you live in a rural area that isn’t served by municipal water. That’s why towns like North Harmony periodically flirt with extending municipal water to populated areas like Ashville or why the town of Ellery is considering extending water service to Bemus Point and ...

Don’t Count On EMS Being A Big Boost For City Budget

Almost a year ago, we raised doubts about Jamestown’s EMS program meeting its projected revenue goals. It turns out those doubts were well-founded. Mayor Kim Ecklund’s 2026 budget proposal notes that the second city ambulance still isn’t reaching the original 2024 revenue projections. It’s the second year in a row that ambulance revenue has left a hole in the budget. Its late delivery in 2024 meant the city had no chance to meet ambulance revenue included in former Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s last budget. And, the same trends that led the village of Fredonia’s EMS system ...

Housing Help Shouldn’t Mean Lack Of Consequences

Falconer school officials are raising concerns over the effects housing the homeless at the Quality Inn is having on Falconer Elementary School and other school grounds. The complaints raised by Falconer school officials aren’t necessarily a “get off my lawn” moment. Having someone being housed with county taxpayer dollars near a school enter a school bus and threaten the bus driver with elementary-age school children on the bus simply can’t happen. Todd Beckerink, Falconer Central School safety officer, made note of countless instances of homeless individuals trespassing on ...

Ecklund Should Follow Horrigan’s 2014 Budget Plan

Former County Executive Vince Horrigan used to say that a government can’t simply cut its way to prosperity - it has to grow its way to prosperity. At the time, Horrigan was asking for two actions to stabilize the county’s financial situation: an increase in the county’s sales tax rate and sale of the Chautauqua County Home. Both of those things happened and, coupled with a drastic increase in county property values, the county’s budget and its fund balance grew to the point that we now argue about how best to spend it. Horrigan’s words are prescient now when one looks at ...

Hopeful Signs Continue At Chautauqua

CHAUTAUQUA—When Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bush 43 administration considered several possible successors. One of them was the author of the 2024 memoir Quiet Counsel: Looking Back on a Life of Service to the Law. Meet Larry Thompson, who picked a fitting title for his book. Thompson, who from 2001 to 2003 had been deputy attorney general under Attorney General John Ashcroft, received a call from the White House asking whether he’d consent to being considered for the Supreme Court. Thompson writes that the call never ...

With The Benefit Of Hindsight, Westfield Hospital Finds Its Niche

It’s been 20 years since the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, or the Berger Commission, said Westfield Memorial Hospital should be turned into a diagnostic treatment center. The community rallied on the hospital’s behalf, with the state choosing to reverse the Berger Commission’s recommendation, giving Westfield Memorial Hospital five years as an Article 28 licensed hospital. That five years gave hospital officials time to look at its health care system and find ways to make improvements and provide services more effectively to the community. Fast ...