Jamestown City Council voting session (April 24, 2023)
Jamestown City Council is expected to finally vote tonight on whether to hire eight new firefighters.
Council tabled the resolution to lift the hiring freeze to hire the firefighters twice at voting sessions in March and April in order to have more discussion on the financial impact to the city.
The City of Jamestown was awarded in February a three-year $1.8 million Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to do the hiring.
Council Finance Committee Chair Kim Ecklund has expressed concern that the city could be faced with a $450 to $500,000 total shortfall over the three years of the grant. She said the American Rescue Plan funds used to hire four firefighters in 2022 runs out the the last year of the SAFER grant, which leaves another $382,000 for the city to fund.
Council learned during a special meeting with FEMA that they must hire eight firefighters as part of the grant agreement and that the city must maintain 62 firefighters on the roster for the three years of the grant.
Council also will vote under new business to approve awarding $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to Southern Tier Builders Exchange for a Pre-Apprenticeship Program. The funding had been approved by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation on May 17 but as the amount was over the $100,000 threshold, it requires council approval.
The voting session takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The meeting is open to the public and it will be livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.
Leave a Reply