County Issues as of Now

CURRENT ISSUES – Late 2017

To be addressed before Jan 2018 Board meeting:

• Leadership – determining how everyone in the coaliton communicates and collaborates to develop an agenda and process for going forward.
• Committees – Assignment of committee chairs; assignment of Board members to committees. Committee structure – Maintain current committees as is, or make changes? Ag Committee, or centralize Ag work in one committee – SWEC?
• Meeting times – Daytime meetings close many people out of participation, either from attending meetings or running for Board seats. Change Board meetings to 6PM? How about Committee meetings?

Issues requiring longer-term planning, starting soon:

• County Manager – how to begin talking/acting on this? Task Force? Assign to Committee? Lots of data has already been gathered.
• Salary Study – Either contract with a consultant to create a perpetual salary scale, or make one up ourselves. PRGS Committee?
• Strategic Plan – How to go forward with this. Continue with current process (separate Committee)? How to establish clear guidelines for implementation?
• Communication with Department Heads – How to encourage regular, significant communication, empowering them and using their expertise to address current issues and to see what's coming and how to plan for it. Planning in general – How can we elicit and organize large amounts of information to facilitate medium and long-term planning in all areas of County function? How can we enroll Dept Heads and management staff in this process?
• Jail: Upgrade, expand, replace?

New systems to routinely monitor and assess, and report regularly to full Board

• Onondaga County – Otsego Co. Purchasing Dept. - Need a Rep, or a staff person, or a Committee to be dedicated liaison
• Enterprise Fleet Management – Public Works? Need to support a seamless transition and keep our eye on costs.
• Towers – Finish the job, sell the Rose Hill land. Assurance that both the function of the towers and their maintenance are working as planned. How can we monetize the towers?
• Economic development – Obviously, a big issue and a lot of work. Otsego Now must be reformed and empowered. Existing jobs that are not being taken by local people: Springbrook/ARCOtsego; agriculture; hospitality.
• Budget – Planning for 2019 – new Treasurer, new process? Does it make sense to find ways to keep track of the budget process all year long? Do we need a Finance Committee that also does the Budget?
• County Forester (Soil & Water) – SWEC tracks progress toward explicit goals
• Ethics Board
• Various litigation issues