Jamestown City Council holds its voting session (October 26, 2026)
Jamestown’s Mayor said City Council’s defeat of a resolution to allow the buy out of a leased vehicle for her office will cost the City money.
Council, in a bipartisan vote of 4 to 4, voted down the resolution to use $18,972.05 in contingency funds to purchase a vehicle that is currently being leased by the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor’s Office had leased a vehicle or bought out a lease going back to former Mayor Sam Teresi’s time in office. The staff report said lease agreement costs have increased over the past six years.
Due to Council President Regina Brackman being absent, a tie vote is considered a failed vote.
Councilmember Andrew Faulkner stated he had voted against purchasing a leased vehicle in 2023, along with then Councilmembers Randy Daversa, Kim Ecklund, and Marie Carrubba, “Tonight, we’re being asked to spend nearly $19,000 from our 2026 contingency account to purchase the vehicle. Meanwhile, the proposed 2027 budget could potentially be using $2.7 million dollars from that fund while raising property taxes in excess of 7%. I understand purchasing the vehicle eliminates lease payments, but not the fuel, maintenance, and insurance. I also understand that 19,000 won’t solve our budget problems, but we need to find savings wherever we can. I feel it’s a start.”
A clarification from Councilmember Faulkner’s comments is that Mayor Ecklund’s executive budget proposes using $2.7 million from the unassigned fund balance, not the 2026 contingency fund.
Voting no on the resolution were Councilmembers Bryan Bigelow (R), Hannah Jaroszynski (D), Andrew Faulkner (R), and Dan Gonzalez (D).
Ecklund said that she and City Comptroller Ericka Thomas had considered a new lease, along with buying out the lease. A staff report with the resolution stated that a new 36 month lease for a comparable vehicle was anticipated to increase monthly payments from $339.49 to an estimated $439.49. Ecklund said it was more effective to purchase the vehicle for $18,972.05 instead of renewing the lease that is to expire on October 31, 2026.
She said with Council voting down this option, she will need to use her personal vehicle for travel, “Because, now with driving personal vehicles, the rule of thumb is that you don’t take multiple employees in your personal vehicles for liability reasons. So, anybody who travels with me will now have to drive separate to any meeting or to any event or to anything like that. So, they will be paying mileage. For what needs to go in the budget for the rest of this year, we have a shortfall. That’s going to not be in there for the next two months because there’s no lease agreement. It expires.”
Ecklund said that 90% of the time she is traveling she has at least one city employee with her, though she’s had as many as three passengers at times.
The Federal mileage rate for 2026 is $0.76 a mile.
Ecklund says she and Thomas estimate that mileage costs will be roughly between $5,400 and $7,300 for 2027 based on current statistics, versus $2,100 plus the amortization of the buyout over three years.
Leave a Reply