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A bit of predictable gamesmanship resulted in the expected outcome Wednesday as the Niagara Falls City Council reelected Jim Perry as its chairperson.
Perry was challenged by Donta Myles who nominated himself with a second from councilperson Brian Archie.
Perry received votes from councilpersons David Zajac and Traci Bax.
The council passed few new laws in the last year though it did change the zoning code to limit student housing in the DeVeaux neighborhood in an attempt to bring under control the decades-long battle between residents and students who are learning about life by studying, partying and not always being good neighbors.
The council, over the last year, had numerous contentious meetings, with Perry often mumbling and Acting Corporation Counsel Thomas DeBoy acting as the only representative of Mayor Robert Restaino and as parliamentarian.
Perry often sparred with Myles, as did DeBoy.
Public speakers on agenda items, and for the good of the community, frequently launched impassioned attacks on the council and the absent mayor.
Myles criticized the absent mayor at every turn and questioned the role of DeBoy who sometimes, tired of the constant rancor, answered with a tone dripping with facetious sarcasm.
Outwardly, however, the council passed every single thing brought to it by the Mayor, allocating $56 million in American Rescue Plan funds mostly for police, fire, capital improvements on city buildings and a new dog shelter in Hyde Park.
The council attempted to amend the administration’s 2025 budget with several changes, for example funding its own counsel, but was ultimately outflanked by the Mayor who vetoed the changes and then dictated why the budget amendments were inappropriate to Rick Pfeiffer of the Niagara Gazette.
The council was so cowed by the veto and explanation it didn’t even bother to try an override.
It is a council election year, with seats held by Myles, Bax and Zajac all up for consideration. Only Myles has declared his intent to seek another 4-year term.
