Fire damages town of Portland mobile home, no injuries reported...
Firefighters from a handful of departments were called to the scene of a trailer home fire early Tuesday morning in the town of Portland. County emergency dispatchers say Portland crews were called to the scene at 7620 Felton Rd. about 6 a.m., with mutual aid called in from Brocton... Ellery Center... Sherman... North Lake... and, Westfield. Crews finished at the scene shortly before Noon. No injuries were reported. Fire investigators were also called to the scene to look for the cause.
City Council approves hiring five new firefighters, city begins search for new Police Chief...
The Jamestown City Council has approved moving ahead with the hiring of five new police officers to fill vacancies... including some by retirement. That from Mayor Kim Ecklund... who says preliminary interviews have been held with some candidates from the Sheriff's Academy at Jamestown Community College. Ecklund hopes they're able to fill a least a few open slots. She says five people have been interviewed, but, she says other departments are also looking for officers right now, too. Ecklund says one of the retirements is Chief Tim Jackson... whose last day is next Wednesday, Feb. 4. The mayor says the process to replace the chief is just getting underway... first by gauging interest within the department itself because they have "some good internal candidates." She says they'll look at that and see what kind of interest there is. Ecklund says... because the chief gives notification of retirement within 30-days... she will likely name an interim chief. She says they're also looking as possibily 2 more retirements later this year. Ecklund announced Jackson's retirement last week after more than 25 years with the department... just over five of those as Chief and Director of Public Safety.
New BPU GM announces two promotions at city-owned utility...
The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities has announced two leadership promotions during it's first meeting of the new year. General Manager Kris Sellstrom says Cory Allen has been appointed to the position of BPU Deputy General Manager for the Electric Division... filling the job vacated by Sellstrom when he was promoted to GM. Sellstrom says Allen joined the BPU in 2011 as a Junior
Electrical Engineer and advanced through increasing levels of responsibility, including Electrical Engineer and Power Plant Manager. In addition... Sellstrom says Aaron Mason has been named Power Plant Manager, assuming the duties Allen held before his promotion. He says Mason was first hired as a mechanical engineer in 1999... and, was closely involved in the installation and commissioning of the BPU's Gas Turbine. He will now manage the Carlson Generating Station.
Schmidt discusses specifics on indictment against former Dunkirk City Treasurer...
A lengthy investigation into the city of Dunkirk's finances led to the 14-count indictment... and, arrest of it's former treasurer. New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt announced late last week that Mark Woods has been indicted for allegedly stealing more than $120,000 from the city between April 2022 and January 2025 and covering up the theft by falsifying city records. Schmidt says the investigation began in March of last year when Dunkirk School District officials saw irregularities in tax payments. He says the amounts matched... but, a closer look found the amounts were "sitting on" garbage payments, water payments, and city of Dunkirk tax payments. Schmidt says that's when Mayor Kate Wdowiasz was notified, and she referred the matter to Schmidt. Investigators from the District Attorney's Office and State Comptroller's Office then closed the Treasurer's Office to seize records related to Woods' alleged crimes. Schmidt says Woods is accused of participating in a scheme called "check for cash substitution..." and depositing a one-percent tax on utilities to replace what he took. A forensic analysis of Woods' finances revealed that he allegedly withdrew substantial amounts of cash which he used to gamble. He's charged with second-degree grand larceny as public corruption... first-degree corrupting the government... and, 12 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
NYSSBA representative says School Board's group feels Hochul's budget is a "good starting point" for discussions on school aid...
School aid in Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed 2026-27 New York State budget is a "good starting point" for negotiations on the $260-billion spending plan. An official with the New York State School Boards Association adds they are "relatively pleased" with the $39.3-billion proposal. NYSSBA's Chief Advocacy Officer... Brian Fessler... says that just over $1-billion more than the current year's amount. While Hochul says she's "fully funding" Foundation Aid... Fessler says NYSSBA still wants an updated funding formula, because the current one is 20 years old, and has become "antiquated." He says they're also still reviewing the governor's proposed expansion of Universal Pre-K programs... which is receiving more aid as well. While the School Board's Association likes the proposed increase in Foundation Aid... they would like to have the nearly 700 public school districts receive an across-the-board 2% bump in that aid. He says about 450 would only see a 1% increase under the governor's plan.
