Grant Manager Tim O’Dell presents on business grant fund to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation board. (January 18, 2023)
Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist says the city is continuing to look into possible violations of conflict of interest laws, due to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation awarding grant moneys to sitting board members, including one who also sits on the city council.
As WRFA first reported on Wednesday, the JLDC board appears to have violated its own by-laws by awarding federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to its own members to assist their personal business interests.
The businesses in question included a $64,000 grant to It’s Your Day wedding planning service from the JLDC’s Building Acquisition & Business Expansion program. It’s Your Day is owned and operated by the wife of city councilman and JLDC board member Jeff Russell. The other business was Jamestown Skate Products, which received a $15,000 grant from Downtown Small Business Evolution program. That business is owned and operated by JLDC board member Pete Scheira. A third violation may have also occurred when JLDC board member Luke Fodor, an employee of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, applied for and was awarded a $9,500 downtown programming grant for a fundraising concert for the church, scheduled for later this month.
In all three instances, the board members in question either recused themselves or did not attend the voting session. However, the JLDC by-laws are clear in stating that no funding will be awarded to any business where a board member owns a material interest.
Not only did the awards appear to violate JLDC by-laws, but also state conflict of interest rules for municipal officers, and potentially federal rules as well.
The city claims it was aware of the language in the JLDC bylaws, but felt they didn’t apply to grant awards related to ARPA funding since JLDC was only serving as a pass-through agency for that money.
In a statement released Thursday morning, the mayor said all grant awards related to ARPA were made under the knowledge that they were appropriate and legal under state and federal law, and if there are any discrepancies, or actions contrary to state or federal law, the city will work to rectify those issues as soon as possible.
Sundquist also claimed the awarding of the funds were done in “a transparent and public process.” However, while the votes were done in a public setting, they were not 100% transparent.
When it came time for the JLDC board to award the grants in question, there was no advanced notice given to the public, including no mention of the businesses on the official meeting agenda, which does not appear on the city website and is only sent out to media.
Additionally, the official minutes for the respective meetings don’t provide any details on which businesses were awarded funding.
As Sundquist and his staff continue to look into the matter, the New York State Comptroller’s office has informed WRFA it is aware of the situation and is monitoring it as well.
How is this fair? Give certain business’s tax dollars to give them advantage over their competitors. Why? How come certain business’s get 2 grant’s when others havn’t had one. Enough is enough already.