Mayor Kim Ecklund has been pushing hard for a crisis stabilization center to help with both the city’s homeless and to help lessen the burden on the city police department.

She will get her wish sometime in 2026.

Recovery Options Made Easy announced recently that the agency will open a wellness center that will operate 365 days a year sometime in 2025 while a supportive crisis stabilization center is coming in early 2026 in Chautauqua County.

City officials raised the area’s lack of a crisis stabilization center again last week in a response to the union representing Jamestown’s police officers as the city and the union spar over the meaning of crime statistics. The city’s response calls for investment in mental health services, expanded addiction treatment programs and community-based interventions as a way to decrease crime in Jamestown.

“The city of Jamestown has been advocating for increased state and federal funding to expand these vital services,” the city said in its Friday news release. “We have actively pushed for funding for Crisis Stabilization Centers and intervention programs that provide individuals in crisis with support before they encounter the criminal justice system. Without adequate mental health and addiction resources, local law enforcement is often left to handle situations that should be managed by trained professionals.”

The city also called for the state to make changes to bail reform statutes, something that has been a topic of conversation since Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans to reform discovery timelines as part of the state budget. The governor said too many cases are being dismissed on technicalities related to the state’s more aggressive discovery timelines included in the original 2019 bail reform statutes. The city says bail reform and Raise the Age have weakened accountability for repeat offenders, citing a John Jay College study that found felony re-arrests increased from 30% to 37% in the wake of the 2019 bail reform law while violent felony re-arrests increased from 16% to 24%.

Hochul’s proposed changes were not included in either the state Senate or Assembly one-house budgets, meaning if they aren’t negotiated after the state budget is finalized there will be no changes this year. The city is calling on further changes to the system.

“These policies not only hinder crime reduction efforts but also place an increasing burden on law enforcement, leading to frustration and declining morale among officers,” the city said in its release. “Police repeatedly encounter the same offenders, only to see them released without meaningful consequences. This cycle not only affects officer morale but also jeopardizes the safety of residents and businesses. Without necessary reforms at the state level, our officers are forced to operate within a system that obstructs progress rather than strengthens it. A balanced approach–one that prioritizes both reform and enforcement–is essential to making Jamestown as safe as it should be.”

While some changes the city is calling for don’t appear to be happening any time soon, ROME’s addition of a wellness center and eventually a crisis stabilization center could play into the Ecklund administration’s ideal of declining police calls for less serious offenses so the department can have more time to respond to serious issues.

“Public safety cannot be achieved through policing alone. A truly effective crime reduction strategy requires: prevention, intervention and rehabilitation,” the city said. “The City of Jamestown remains dedicated to working with regional, state, and federal partners to secure the resources needed to address these challenges. Expanding mental health and addiction treatment services will alleviate the burden on police officers, allowing them to focus on their core mission–protecting the public.”