Kendall Club President Sam Piazza addresses Jamestown City Council
Jamestown Police Department officers appealed to City Council again to designate more American Rescue Plan funds toward public safety.
Kendall Club President Sam Piazza said the wish list created by Police Chief Tim Jackson was the bare minimum needed and made a case for using funds to hire more officers, “When you train a new officer, that officer is probably not going to be comfortable for the first two, three years where he’s actually on his own or need to make a life-death situation right off the bat where a brand new guy, there’s a lot of responsibility in his actions. Again, it just doesn’t happen overnight so we need to make sure we have the staff as well.”
Piazza also requested that any patrol cars that are added to the budget be “front line patrol cars” due to the heavy, daily use.
Council members did not discuss any specific capital projects to be funded under lost revenue funds.
Council member at large Kim Ecklund did say in regards to the resolution to adopt the American Rescue Plan Act Recovery Funds Master Plan that she recommended that Comptroller Ryan Thompson provide break-out information on how much money was being allocated for each category.
Ecklund said the goal is not to vote on a “bucket” of ARP projects, “Every project will have its own vote, just like we do in the general fund. So once we vote on that allotment, every project is going to have its own vote. Every project is going to say yes or no, just like the budget. The cost associated with it will be in the form, just like the county did, here’s your plan, here’s how much is going to be spent, here’s the vote for it.”
Ecklund also requested council members send their recommendations on ARP funded capital projects to her by Wednesday.
As a citizen of Jamestown for 30 years I have seen us go from a relatively stable population where calling the police was rare to a more violent population where gun shots can be heard throughout the city. It is irresponsible NOT to give the police every dollar they asked for. They are the citizens first line of protection & I am sure the majority of citizens agree with me.