Chautauqua County Land Bank Elects New Officers

From The Jamestown Post-Journal.

On Wednesday, the land bank held their annual meeting to elect new officers and make appointments to their standing committees. Gina Paradis, land bank administrative director, said James Caflisch was appointed to be the new board chairman.

Caflisch is the county Real Property Tax Office director. Prior to that position, Caflisch had been the County Legislature clerk. He also was a legislator for 20 years representing French Creek, where he was a longtime member of the French Creek assessment board of review. Caflisch replaces Peter Lombardi as chairman.

Other officer appointments include Aaron Resnick as vice chairman; Jeffrey Gossett as secretary; Scott Butler as treasurer; Hugh Butler as assistance secretary and Bill Carlson as assistant treasurer. The appointments to the standing committees included Carlson, Gossett and John Hemmer for audit; Caflisch and Lombardi for finance; Hugh Butler, Paul Whitford and Gossett for governance; and Caflisch, Carlson, Lombardi and Resnick for property acquisition and disposition.

In other land bank business, Paradis said the board discussed where their offices are located. She said they will maintain their presence at the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency in Jamestown. The land bank will be joining the IDA when they move to their new location at the BWB Building, located at 201 W. Third St. The IDA had been located at 200 Harrison St. and is expected to make the move sometime this spring.

Paradis said the land bank will continue to rent space from the IDA. However, she said land bank officials are looking for a more permanent site. She added that because the land bank is countywide, they need to have a headquarters where they can do business in both greater Dunkirk and Jamestown areas.

”Hopefully, down the road we will find something that makes sense on a long-term basis – something of our own instead of renting. Maybe (we can) find some grant money to purchase a place, someplace that makes sense,” she said.

During the next month, the demolition of the property known as the ”Trophy Building” along Main Street in Fredonia will take place. Paradis said the land bank acquired the ”eyesore” during the summer 2015. She said the abatement has been completed and the demolition should take place by either the end of March or the beginning of April.