Jamestown City Council will continue to review proposals to use $1 million of American Rescue Plan funds for housing improvement programs at its work session.
The two resolutions were first discussed at Council’s May 16 work session. The Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program would target homeowners who are currently receiving or would qualify for the Aged Exemption. The second proposed rebate program is a Residential Home Improvement Incentive Program for all other homeowners and landlords with properties that contain three or less units. Council members had requested additional guidelines be added to the programs.
Council also will review a resolution to install six surveillance cameras on utility poles that look like electrical transformers. $50,600 in ARP funds would go toward four cameras with $25,300 in Federal drug seizure funds going to the other two. The purchase would also require a monthly data plan of $37.99 per camera for a total of $227.94. This expense would be paid out of the City of Jamestown IT budget.
A resolution to hire a recruitment firm to find a replacement for Department of Public Works Director Jeff Lehman is on the agenda.
The city is proposing contracting with Pracademic Partners for $15,000 to hire a Deputy Director of Public Works/Professional Engineer who would take over as Director when Lehman retires in Spring 2023. Whoever is hired would also be expected to establish residency in the City.
The staff report cites the recruitment is needed due to “the complex nature of the position, the lack of local candidates, and the importance of the position.”
There are no internal candidates for the job and an initial job advertisement did not find a suitable candidate pool.
Funding would come from the contingency account.
The Public Safety Committee will act on several special event application permits including a Juneteenth Movie Night to be held at the National Comedy Center on June 17, a Hello Summer event on June 24 on Lafayette Street, a Christmas in July event at Diethrick Park July 22 and 23, and the Downtown Cruise-In set for August 12.
An informational report by Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller will be presented before the Housing Committee as well.
The Housing Committee meets at 6:45 p.m. with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth floor of City Hall. The full work session begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of city hall. All meetings are open to the public and the full work session will be livestreamed on jamestowny.gov.
Where do seniors apply for these programs?