JAMESTOWN – The effort to create a viable plan for the consolidation of the Jamestown Police Department and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s office is close to completion.
That’s according to Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi, who told WRFA this week that his office has been meeting with County Executive Vince Horrigan and his staff to review a tentative consolidation model and iron out final details.
“That model basically is built around the notion of not doing away with any department, but pursuing economies of scale in the hiring and employment practice, and effectively hiring off the counties employment contract as a way of bringing down the replacement cost of officers in Jamestown as they leave through attrition,” Teresi said.
While the mayor said that the plan (also called the Draft Inter-municipal Agreement) is being finalized, a specific date of when it may be completed and presented to the public has not been set.
Since 2012, representatives of a Public Safety Consolidation Task Force have been meeting to discuss and determine how to proceed with a consolidation plan that would allow the Sheriff’s office to provide police services in the city, with many services of the Jamestown Police Department being phased out over an extended period of time through the process of attrition.
Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi
Teresi said once the draft agreement is completed, the next step will be to present it to the Chautauqua County Legislature and the Jamestown City Council for consideration. In addition, it would then also be presented to the public.
“That concept is elevated now to conversations, discussions and negotiations with the county,” Teresi explained. “We’ll see if we’re able to bring it to a proposal standpoint at some point down the line to bring to the county legislature, jointly with the city council, and then also to the general public for vetting and decision making.”
In addition to the legislative bodies and the general public, the finalized plan must still be reviewed by the collective bargaining units for both the sheriff’s deputies and Jamestown police. The mayor says both groups have been involved in the process, but so far, no one has endorsed the concept.
“There has been no endorsement of the concept, made on [The Jamestown Kendall Club’s] part, although they have been open to, participated with, and in dialogue with us about the concept,” Teresi said. “There has been no decision made at the level of the city council or the administration here at the city. Just a good, general openness to the concept and seeing where it goes.”
The mayor says that the most important thing to keep in mind about a consolidation plan is that it needs to be cost-effective, with no additional costs being incurred by the city or county, compared to what each is currently paying for current law enforcement efforts.
Facilitating the consolidation study and tentative plan is the Center For Governmental Research (CGR), based out Rochester. Funding for drawing up the consolidation plan – which so far has exceeded $300,000 – comes from the New York State Department by way of its Local Government Efficiency Grant.
Teresi made his comments during his June interview with WRFA. To hear the complete interview, including comments about the effort to look into having members of the JPD wear body cameras while on duty – tune in Thursday afternoon to Community Matters – now airing at its new time of 5 p.m.
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