Jamestown is asking a state appeals court to reopen an arbitrator’s ruling over granting holiday pay for police officers and firefighter related to Juneteenth 2024.

Elliot Raimondo, city corporation counsel, filed the appeal in October with the Fourth Department Appellate Division court in Rochester. Raimondo had previously filed a petition in state Supreme Court in late May asking Judge Stephen Cass to set aside a November 2024 arbitrator’s award setting aside a ruling that police officers and firefighters are entitled to holiday pay for working the 2024 Juneteenth holiday. The union members had asked Cass to require the city to make the payment as it did in 2023.

State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Cass ruled against the city’s request in August, though Cass merely reaffirmed Gelernter’s ruling while striking suggested language by Charles DeAngelo, the lawyer representing the union, that the city violated the police officers’ and firefighters’ contracts.

DeAngelo has moved for the appeal to be dismissed.

In his attorney’s affirmation, DeAngelo argues the appeal should have been filed within 30 days of its August 21, 2025, filing, with the city’s appeal coming on Oct. 3, 2025, or 43 days after the decision was entered.

“Wherefore, the respondents request an order granting the relief requested herein, including attorneys fees, costs and disbursements, and such other or further relief as the court deems proper under the circumstances,” DeAngelo wrote in his affirmation.

Originally the city and union disagreed over pay for the 2023 Juneteenth holiday, leading the unions to file a grievance when the city didn’t provide holiday pay for people working June 19, 2023. In a Jan. 31, 2024, arbitration award, arbitrator Michael S. Lewandowski ruled that because the city’s municipal building was closed then the city owed holiday pay to union members who worked that day. In the 2024 case, the city and the unions disagreed over whether the holiday resulted in City Hall being closed for regular business, the language that is included in the union’s contracts with the city. The city argued that all offices were open even if not all offices were fully staffed, while the union argued that many services weren’t available even though offices were open because many staff members weren’t working and, at the same time, state and county offices in City Hall were closed.

Arbitrator Lise Gelernter ruled that while city offices were open for business, the municipal building was not open for regular business because several areas – the Police Department, state and county offices in the building, and Jamestown City Court were all off on Juneteenth, while the day was a still a holiday for many city workers despite smaller crews working.

“The public may have been able to walk through the building’s doors on Juneteenth 2024, but they were not able to conduct regular business in all parts of the building,” Gelernter wrote in her ruling.

According to the transcript, Raimondo argued Gelernter overstepped her authority by finding the city was open for regular business despite the fact all city offices were open while county and state offices the city doesn’t control were closed.

“On June 19, 2024, the City of Jamestown was open for regular business,” Raimondo argued in a May court filing. “The unions claim it was not, thereby entitled to a paid holiday not negotiated in their contract. Unfortunately the arbitrator chose to side with the unions’ baseless arguments in the arbitration that the city asks to be vacated.”