For Jamestown Police Department Chief Tim Jackson, who is also the city’s public safety director, the top priority for his department is new vehicles. He requested five new vehicles, but only one is included in the proposed 2022 executive city budget.

“The core component of our job is vehicles,” he said. “By far the most important (need).”

Jackson said daily the department uses at least five vehicles to serve and protect the city. He said three of the department’s patrol vehicles have more than 100,000 miles, which includes vehicles with 162,572, 131,910 and 125,017 miles respectively, as of the end of October. The department also has a vehicle with more than 91,000 miles.

The last time the city included a vehicle purchase for the police department in the budget was 2011. Jackson said the department usually purchases vehicles, with the costs for one being around $34,000, through asset forfeiture funds. However, the amount the department receives isn’t always constant and they don’t know when the funding will be allocated, which makes planning vehicle purchases burdensome.

P-J file photo

“It could be zero or whatever amount it is. It’s unpredictable,” he said.

Another area of need for the police department is a refurbished indoor shooting range. Jackson requested the upgrades to the shooting range, but it wasn’t included in the proposed 2022 spending plan. Along with a need for a new range console, which pulls and turns the targets, there is also water leaking into the range because of the ongoing issues with Tracy Plaza, which is located above.

“Even if the leak was not there, the range equipment is way out of date,” he said. “The range equipment console is probably 50 years old and we can’t get parts for it.”

Jackson said the range is used several times a year by the department and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the officers. Also, the SWAT department uses the range as well. The estimate – done over a year ago, so costs have probably increased – to upgrade the range was $190,000.

A need included in the proposed 2022 spending plan is to purchase new portable radios, which have been budgeted at a cost of $144,321. However, a trunking system, so the department can communicate directly with other public safety officials on the scene like the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, is not included in the portable radio purchase plan. Jackson said the trunking system would cost an additional $60,000.

Tim Jackson, Jamestown Police Department chief and city public safety director, discusses the proposed 2022 Jamestown Police Department budget during a work session meeting with the Jamestown City Council in October. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

Another need for the department discussed by Jackson during Jamestown City Council work session meetings is new bulletproof vests for the officers. He said a vest has an expiration date of five years and the ones the department have are older than that. Because of the urgent need for new vests, Jackson purchased the department new ones by using asset forfeiture funds, which he usually uses to buy new vehicles.

“They were getting worn out and they needed to be replaced,” he said about the bulletproof vest.

JAMESTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT NEEDS

During the council’s budget deliberations for the Jamestown Fire Department, Matthew Coon, deputy fire chief, discussed the need for a new roof for Station 4, a new truck room floor for Station 5, backup generators for three of the four fire stations and new overhead doors for all four stations. The budgeted cost for a new roof for Station 4 is $92,000, a new truck room floor for Station 5 will cost $150,000, new backup generators will cost $150,000 and new overhead doors will cost $60,000.

Coon said the roofs for the other three stations are fine, so just one station is in need. He said for Station 5, the truck floor needs to be replaced because salt and water through the years has rusted the steel structure underneath the concrete floor. He added that half of the floor was replaced 20 years ago and that is the only side they can use to park fire department apparatus.

As for the backup generators, Coon said when the power goes out three stations – three, four and five – basically have no power, which can be challenging because of the lack of lighting and power to operate the overhead doors.

“The top five buildings in need of a backup generator are prisons, hospitals, police, communications and fire departments,” he said. “A fire station has to operate, especially when the power is out.”

Coon said the city replaced the overhead doors for the four stations 22 years ago, but now they have rust at the bottom and they need to be replaced.

“They go up and down a lot and there is a long of strain on the springs,” he said.

Coon said by replacing the doors, the department will save in maintenance costs and in utility expenses because the new doors will be more energy-efficient than the old ones.

All of the needs Coon discussed are planning to be funded. However, the funding for the fire department’s needs will come from the federal American Rescue Plan funding and not the city’s general operating budget. This leaves Coon and the department in an uneasy situation because they don’t know how the council will handle the American Rescue Plan funding that is proposed in the 2022 executive budget.

During the council work session meeting Nov. 15, Kimberly Ecklund, At-Large councilwoman and Finance Committee chairwoman, said she would like to see a general fund budget that is separate from the funding the city received through the American Rescue Plan. She said Finance Committee members, which also includes Anthony Dolce, council president, and Marie Carrubba, Ward 4 councilwoman, are also frustrated by the commingling of lost revenue American Rescue Plan funding in the 2022 budget proposal. She added she would like to adopt a general fund budget first and then deal with how to use the American Rescue Plan funds.

“The funding (for the fire department capital projects) is not in the (city’s general operating budget), but only in the American Rescue Plan funds,” Coon said. “The funding is contingent on whatever plan (the council) decides related to the American Rescue Plan funds.”