Firefighters from multiple departments were hard at work after a structure fire was reported at the Mayville Diner last night.
Chautauqua County Dispatchers say the blaze was called in by a passing police patrol just before 10:30 PM and, crews remained on-scene at West Chautauqua Street for about six hours. Photographs posted to the Chautauqua Fire Department Facebook page showed the building almost completely engulfed by flames and heavy smoke coming from the roof. The Sheriff's Office dispatch confirmed firefighters from Mayville, Chautauqua and Westfield initially responded to the scene and, received additional man-power from Hartfield, Dewittville and Sherman departments along with volunteer EMS. No injuries were reported, however, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
An Italian-based cheese plant that's been open since September of 2016 has announced it has closed it's facility, leaving 50 employees out of work.
Chautauqua County officials received the news that Castelli America closed it's Fairbanks Road plant at the end of business last Friday and, it was being sold to Lactalis from France. Lactalis is one of the world's largest dairy products cooperatives. Chautauqua County Executive for Economic Development, Mark Geise, says "despite the County, County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, State and Federal assistance in the form of low-interest loans, grants, and technical assistance, we were informed that Castelli America has been experiencing challenges related to production and sales." Geise says that apparently let to the closure... but, adds that this is "a state-of-the-art facility with a ready source of milk producers, and the CCIDA is hopeful that the facility will be attractive to potential new operators.”
A traffic stop in the town of Busti last Saturday led to the arrest of a North County man after several drugs -- including psychedelics -- were found.
State Police in Jamestown pulled over the vehicle on West Lake Road and identified a passenger as 22 year-old Brandon Tate. Troopers say Tate was allegedly found in possession of 7.5-grams of cocaine, 4 THC-vape cartridges, 6.9-grams of MDA, 4.5-grams of MDMA, 5.1-grams of concentrated cannabis, one MDMA tablet and various drug paraphernalia. Tate was taken into custody on Felony charges including three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.
The second public input meeting to be held by Jamestown Mayor-elect Eddie Sundquist will be held tonight. and will focus on public safety and housing.
Sundquist says he hopes to build on last week's first meeting at Jefferson Middle School that dealt with economic and business development. He says it'll be held from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Washington Middle School.
Sundquist says they want to hear from both residents and housing organizations, along with fire and police department members. Otherwise, he says his transition team is going through some changes as they get more input on issues the new administration will tackle beginning January 1st. Sundquist says the transition team has been talking about adding more people to bring more viewpoints to the panel. Sundquist's transition team will hold it's next hearing the following night, beginning at 6:30 PM... on Wednesday the 11th. That'll be held at Persell Middle School and, focus on the city's financial situation. Even with a slight tax rate decrease in the 2020 budget, Jamestown is right up against it's constitutional taxing limit.
Current city Mayor Sam Teresi held a public hearing Monday morning on the first local law of 2019 regarding a department change taking effect on January 1st.
Teresi says the proposed law, changes the position of City Clerk/Director of Administrative Services back to what was formerly known as City Clerk/Treasurer. He says this local law allows for the title change but, adds another public hearing will be held near later this month on any language changes needed in the city charter.
Teresi says the change back to City Clerk/Treasurer will allow the new administration to fill that position at about a $25,000 savings. The city council will vote on the title change during a special meeting next Monday night at 7:15 PM.
