OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon Pictured are members of the Chautauqua County Legislature.

MAYVILLE – County Republican lawmakers have agreed to goals for its Planning and Economic Development Department, but rejected a move to say the number one goal is job growth.

During the Chautauqua County Legislature meeting, officials, in a party-line vote, passed a resolution that established the “goals and objectives and performance measures for the Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Development.”

There are eight goals in the resolution that include “Improve the quality of life for all Chautauqua County residents,” “Satisfactorily implement state-mandated programs to ensure NYS compliance and effective governance,” “Focus on long-term economic sustainability” and more.

The goals were provided to the legislature’s Planning and Economic Development Committee last week.

During the full legislature meeting, Legislator Fred Larson, D-Jamestown, was critical that the committee he serves on did not write the goals.

“There’s not one word in this resolution that came from a legislator or the Economic Development Committee,” he said.

Larson proposed an additional goal of job growth.

“If job creation is not the number one priority of our county economic development (department) for 2026, … what is the number one priority?” he asked.

Johnson cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows there were 65,000 people employed in the county 15 years ago, compared to 51,000 today.

“I can think of no more important goal than to stop this steady decline in employed persons in this county,” he said.

The reason for the resolution for the goals is to help County Executive PJ Wendel as he begins to prepare his budget for 2026.

Larson noted there is plenty of time before the goals need to be adopted and invited Republicans to send his proposed amendment of adding the job growth goal back to committee where it could be discussed further if they so desired.

“If this is rejected because a Democrat sponsored it, that’s a sad thing,” he said.

But Legislator Fred Johnson, R-Westfield, opposed Larson’s additional goal.

“I do not believe it is the government’s objective or role to dictate creating jobs. It is the government’s role to create an environment that itself will create jobs,” he said.

Legislator Lisa Vanstrom, R-West Ellicott, agreed.

“When we have a healthy business environment, of course we’re going to provide more jobs,” she said.

Legislator Terry Niebel, R-Sheridan, blamed New York state for the drop in jobs in Chautauqua County over the last 15 years.

“New York state, the last I knew, ranked 49th out of 50 states as far as being business friendly. So if you have a state that imposes restrictions on businesses, that’s certainly going to affect employment in the state,” he said.

Larson’s motion to add “job growth” as a goal was defeated, with 13 Republicans voting against it, four Democrats voting in favor and two legislators absent.

The original resolution with the eight goals was approved 13-4, with Democrats Johnson, Bob Bankoski of Dunkirk, Marcus Buchanan of Dunkirk, and Tom Nelson of Jamestown voting no. Legislators Tom Carle, D-Fredonia and Tom Harmon, R-Silver Creek, were absent.