Land Bank Annual Meeting Held By: Mallory Diefenbach, Post-Journal

From the Jamestown Post Journal

The Land Bank board elected officers for the upcoming year. Based on recommendation from the governance committee, the appointments were as follows: Peter Lombardi, chair; Vince DeJoy, vicechair; Jeff Gossett, secretary; Scott Butler, assistant secretary; Jim Caflisch, treasurer; and Rich Dixon, assistant treasurer.

The board also appointed members of the four standing committees. Bill Carlson, Jeff Gossett and John Hemmer are on the audit committee. Caflisch, DeJoy and Lombardi are on the finance committee. Hugh Butler, Paul Whitford and Gossett are on the governance committee. Caflisch,
DeJoy, Steve Neratko, Carlson, Lombardi and Bill Morrill are on the property acquisition and disposition committee.

After the 2014 annual audit was approved, the Land Bank board also approved the 2014 annual report with the understanding the report will be refined and handed out again next month.

In other news, Gina Paradis, administrative director for the Land Bank Corporation, said there has been a real push from other land banks in New York state to get additional resources - particularly from the Albany area. According to Paradis, the land banks from that region feel strongly that money which comes in from the mortgage settlements needs to be earmarked to some degree for land banking activities. However, not every land bank's income is based strictly on the mortgage crisis.

"A lot of our blight has been building over the years," she said. "So, our region is just a little bit further than just looking at foreclosures."

Paradis said the Chautauqua County Land Bank is looking into the situation and wants to make the statement to the state Legislature that they established the land bank, so they need to support it with funding.