Mayor elect Eddie Sundquist discusses his transition strategy during a press conference on Friday, Nov. 22.
JAMESTOWN – The first in a series of Community Input Sessions designed to help the city’s incoming mayor prepare for his first term in office will take place Thursday night, Dec. 5.
Mayor-elect Eddie Sundquist and members of his transition team’s Economic and Business Development subcommittee are inviting the community to attend the two-hour session, scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at Jefferson Middle School.
The Economic and Business Development Subcommittee includes:
- Rich Dixon, CFO of the Chautauqua County IDA
- Greg Edwards, CEO of the Gebbie Foundation
- Tory Irgang, Executive Director of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation; and
- Ricky Turner, President of Blackstone Advanced Technologies.
The session is the first of four that will be taking place in advance of Jan 1., when Sundquist will be sworn in as the city’s next mayor following the November General Election. Sundquist will replace long-time Mayor Sam Teresi, who announced in February of this year he would not be seeking a sixth consecutive term in office.
Sundquist said his transition team will be focused on his top priorities for 2020:
- Creating a City for the Future,
- Strengthening Housing Initiatives and Supporting or Neighborhoods, and
- Tackling Financial Burdens.
“The purpose of these sessions is to listen and to open a dialogue. Primarily, we are seeking input, recommendations, and comments relative to each subject area. This will provide the subcommittees with crucial information as they begin their evaluation process in early January,” Sundquist said when announcing his transition team last month.
“The experience and diversity of backgrounds in this group is a great starting point,” he added. “We not only welcome, but invite, all input from all residents of Jamestown.”
Other public input meetings scheduled as part of the transition process are scheduled in the coming days. They include:
- Housing and Public Safety – Tue., Dec. 10 at Washington Middle School
- Financial Stability – Wed., Dec. 11, at Persell Middle School
- City Operations and Human Resources – Tue., Dec. 17, at Jamestown High School.
All meetings will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
According to Sundquist, his Transition Team is a non-partisan, voluntary committee designed to create a community conversation on the Mayor’s priorities, evaluate current city operations, and provide suggestions and recommendations for immediate and long term goals ensuring a smooth transition from one administration to the next.
The Transition Team is non-partisan and includes representatives from a variety of community organizations and businesses will be broken down into four subcommittees.
To learn more about the mayor-elect’s transition efforts, tune in to this week’s Community Matters program on WRFA – broadcasting Thursday at 5 p.m., Friday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
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