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Council to consider code updates and restoring separate police and fire chiefs
Summary
Public-safety committee passed code clarifications (fencing, parking, compost) and recommended moving a local-law change to reinstate separate police and fire chiefs to the council docket; the local-law will be read into the record and is scheduled for a March vote unless the mayor files a letter of necessity.
The Jamestown public-safety committee presented a set of code updates and a proposed local-law change to reorganize public-safety leadership.
Committee members said the draft code updates — edits to parking, fencing and compost provisions and clarifying language — passed committee and will be on the council agenda for a formal vote in two weeks.
The committee also discussed returning to a traditional structure with separate police and fire chiefs rather than a combined director of public safety. "We did talk about the change for local law from the police chief, from director of public safety to back to police chief, and having a separate police chief and a separate fire chief," a committee representative said. The local-law change is scheduled to be read into the record in two weeks; by rule it is automatically tabled for one month and slated for a March vote unless the mayor files a letter of necessity.
Council members and staff described the change as a reversion to an earlier organizational model; committee members said the shift could affect salary structure and department reporting lines. The measure will return to the council agenda for formal consideration.
