Tony Dolce (left) and Kimberly Ecklund
Jamestown City Council President Tony Dolce thought while the Mayor’s State of the City address had a lot of positive items, there were some concerns.
Mayor Eddie Sundquist released his 2023 State of the City address on Monday on the city’s website, jamestownny.gov.
Dolce said he wishes there was more focus by Sundquist on traditional economic development, “I know he spent a lot of time talking about the cannabis industry, which I know there are some opportunities there, I just wish he had focused a little bit more on like traditional downtown businesses and other traditional manufacturing developments, and plans to move forward with that.”
Dolce took issue with Sundquist’s statement at the beginning of the address about Jamestown being “on the brink of a control board” when he took office, “You know, having been around for as long as I have and worked with previous administrations and previous councils, we worked very hard over the years. And although we’ve been close to our constitutional tax limit and things have been tight, we’ve never been on the verge of financial collapse. So I just want to make sure people understand that the previous council, including this council as well, and the previous administration worked very hard to make sure that wouldn’t happen.”
Dolce said the fund balance, alone, was $4.8 million with an unassigned balance of $3.8 million at the beginning of Sundquist’s term in 2020, which isn’t a sign of fiscal distress.
Finance Committee Chair and Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund said she was disappointed that City Council’s involvement was not recognized more in the address, saying that it takes collaboration between Council and the administration for work to get done, “A little surprised, if you will, on the cannabis comments that sunk to the level of involvement that the City of Jamestown has been involved in because this council hasn’t had an update. So, I’m kind of a little blind on that one. I don’t really know what’s going on with that. Outside of that, we’ve made some great strides in a terrible time in COVID in his time as mayor. This certainly has been some great progress.”
Ecklund added she was grateful for the receipt of American Rescue Plan funds and what they’ve been able to do with that funding.
Dolce echoed that sentiment, saying the funds allowed the purchase of equipment, address capital needs, fund public safety, and help with housing issues, “You know, and trying to spread that all around. And that has given us the opportunity to obviously save some money out of the general fund to put toward other things, freeing up money for the budget.”
For 2023, Dolce said his goal is to continue working on getting out the remaining ARP funds to the community. He said addressing homelessness and helping neighborhoods are also in his goals.
Dolce added that he would like to hold another Town Hall meeting this Spring for members of the public.
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