tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60489170594851968572024-03-14T04:16:07.960-07:00Otsego11I'm Gary Koutnik, the Otsego County Representative from District 11 (Wards 1 and 2 in the City of Oneonta).
This blog is an opportunity for me to communicate with the voters in my District, and others who are interested in Otsego County issues. Enjoy!
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-49539520238227355762019-11-10T07:51:00.001-08:002019-11-10T08:00:51.912-08:00Let Us Know What You Think<strong style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This
is probably just about my last constituent service post; as you
probably know, I'm retiring from the Board as of 12/31/19. Clark
Oliver has been elected as the next County Rep from the 11</span></span></span></strong><strong style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup></span></strong><strong style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
District, and I couldn't be happier about that. His contact info
will be up on the County site right after the first of the year.</span></span></span></strong><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Important
stuff happening, though. The County Manger process is entering its
final phase: the Board heard the Local Law establishing the position
at our full Board meeting last Wednesday, and agreed to pass it along
to second reading and public hearing, which will occur before the
next full Board meeting, on December 4.</span></span></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<br />
<strong style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
more important than that are the public information meetings,
scheduled for Oneonta and Cooperstown, which will be more informal
and will provide an opportunity to hear the plan for County Manger in
some detail, and to provide input. They're coming up soon:</span></span></span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><div align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Oneonta
– City Hall – 7:00 PM Novemer 14</span></span></span></strong></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div align="LEFT" style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Cooperstown
– County Courthouse – 7:00 PM November 19</span></span></span></strong></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It
may seem like it's all of a sudden, but we've been working on this
for the entire eight years I've been on the Board, and it's been a
project for decades before that. A lot of thought, work, research,
and conversation has gone into the journey to this particular moment.
These two info sessions are your opportunity to get into the
conversation. You may speak at the public hearing in December 4, of
course, but I'd suggest attending one of the info session for an
opportunity for a more robust conversation. </span></span></span></strong></span></span>
</div>
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<br />
<strong style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Of
course, please contact your Representative as well, if you'd like.
Until the end of December, that's still me, if you're in Ward 1 or 2.</span></span></span></strong></div>
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<br />
<strong style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Oh-
and if you'd like some input on the Otsego County 2020 budget, come
up to Cooperstown at 6PM on November 26 and let us know about it.</span></span></span></strong></div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-85957899357217308662019-09-30T12:46:00.002-07:002019-09-30T12:46:31.215-07:00Live on the Board IX a - More Solid Waste<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">A
few more items regarding solid waste. This topic, or variations on
it, will no doubt come up in debates or in conversations as you're
campaigning. Most folks are aware of the recyclable cost crisis, and
are concerned that it, as opposed to a lot of other 'crucial' issues,
will have an observable effect on them.</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Glass:
Glass is the heaviest component of our recyclable stream, and
re-directing it would make a big difference. <a href="https://andelaproducts.com/">Andela</a>,
In Richfield Springs, will apparently take all the glass we bring
them, and Karen Sullivan has been talking with Ommegang and other
big glass recyclers about getting their glass to Andela. This is
ongoing; transportation on a regular basis is an issue.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Cardboard:
There will soon be a separate bin at the Transfer Stations for
cardboard. A market has been found, at least for the time being.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Mattresses
(and box springs) – For the last few years, we have been charging
$25/mattress (or box spring) at the TS s and storing them in a
trailer. When the trailer is full, a company called Triad, from the
Buffalo area, comes and takes it away, and charges us a fee. They
take the matt/bs apart and recycle everything. We generally break
even financially. There has been some talk, and a little
investigation, about establishing a recycling center here in
Oneonta, perhaps run by ARC Otsego.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Speaking
of ARC Otsego, they are running one of the great places in Oneonta –
the Reuse Center, on the corner of Duane and West Broadway, just off
River St. They have two warehouses, and they take anything that's
reasonably usable, price it and sell it. It's like the world's
biggest tag sale, and it's keeping tons of stuff out of the
landfills. Everything from big jars of small screws to all the
student desks from SUCO's recent remodeling.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Syrofoam
– and speaking of the Reuse Center, they also have a styrofoam
densifier, which takes clean white styrofoam and compresses it into
standard sized blocks that styrofoam manufacturers will buy. Karen
Sullivan helped with the grant that enabled ARC Otsego to buy the
densifier.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Electronics
– NYS used to provide a grant that paid for half of County expense
for processing electronics, which have their own regulated waste
stream. That grant has gone away, and prices are going up. We
contract with a company that will – for that increasing price –
take electronic materials and process them appropriately. Just a
month or so ago, SWEC voted to charge $12 for each TV or monitor (we
still get a startling high number of CRT monitors). </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Ag
plastic – You may have seen those big hay bales out in the fields,
wrapped in white plastic, or the very long white plastic cylinders
used to store ground silage. It's single use plastic, and in the
spring there are tons of it each year. Often it is buried or burned,
both illegal. Soil and Water has a machine that compresses this
stuff into large blocks, and we have had about a half-dozen one-day
events where farmers can bring the plastic in for free. However,
the market for these compressed plastic blocks, never robust, has
dried up.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;">So
there are – and have been – some significant initiatives focused
on keeping materials out of the waste stream and recycling them
responsibly. This is important not only because of the suddenly-high
recycling costs, but because there is a finite amount of space in
existing NYS landfills, and no one is optimistic about the State
approving any more in the near future.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Much
– perhaps most – of this work has been done by Karen Sullivan and
her excellent Planning and Solid Waste Department team. Since the
end of MOSA, we have also had Casella as a collaborative partner, as
well. I'd be the first to cast suspicions on the motives of a
corporation, but Casella's goals are aligned with ours and we've
solved a lot of problems together.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-61165285339682905602019-09-29T12:09:00.002-07:002019-09-29T12:09:50.398-07:00Life on the Board IX - Sold Waste<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Today's
topic: Solid waste. Delightful.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">I've
been on the Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns Committee (SWEC)
for about four years, and before that I attended meetings pretty
regularly, mostly because of the second half of the Committee's name.
That's where I heard two of the five members (including the Chair)
agree that “climate change is not settled science.” We've come a
long way since then – but I digress.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">In
NY, counties have statutory responsibility for recycling. They can
outsource it, if they like, but they have to make sure it happens.
Counties have no statutory responsibility for solid waste, although
many have a hand it it, including Otsego County.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">In
1989, Schoharie, Montgomery and Otsego Counties entered into an
agreement to create a collaborative waste management authority. This
was MOSA,which had a 25 year life span and could be re-upped at that
time. 2014 came and MOSA was dissolved. There had been massive
difficulties and differences of opinions, and expenses had
skyrocketed. The story of MOSA is very, very long and unpleasant,
for the most part, and best left for the history books (for more
detail, go to <a href="http://otsego11.blogspot.com/">otsego11.blogspot.com</a>
and search “MOSA”).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">So,
since 2014, Otsego County has had its own public-private system. The
County owns the two transfer stations: Southern TS, on Silas Lane,
out by Exit 13 in Oneonta, between the City water treatment plant and
OCSD's bus garage, and Northern, off Rt. 28, a little more than a
mile north of Cooperstown. Casella Waste Systems operates the
transfer stations. The 'tipping fee' – the charge for each ton of
trash delivered to either TS – is now $80; Casella charges us
$79.75/ton to operate the TS s, so we make a quarter on each ton. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">This
is pretty straightforward, although there are separate systems and
contracts for such things as mattresses, electronics, agricultural
plastic, metal, brush, etc. But the big issue recently has been
recyclables.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Up
until last year, recyclables were taken at the TS s for free, since
we (Casella) could find a MRF (materials recovery facility,
pronounced “murph”) that would take it for free, or, from time to
time (especially in the more distant past) pay us for the load.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">However,
you have probably heard of the massive worldwide disruption caused by
China's “National Sword” initiative, about a year and a half ago,
when, practically overnight, they stopped taking almost all of the
world's recyclables. New water quality standards, and a lot of other
factors, combined to lead the Chinese to require almost impossible
cleanliness standards for recyclables. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Long
story, and I can fill in more, or you can read about it almost
anywhere online, but suddenly it's costing a whole lot of money to
dispose of our recyclables – if we can find a MRF to take them.
Right now, it's (a lot) more expensive to take a ton of recyclables
to a MRF than it is to take a ton of trash to a landfill. Otsego
County charges commercial haulers $55/ton to bring recyclables to the
TS s, although citizens can still bring recyclables to the TS s and
put them in the bins for free.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">There's
no end in sight, and although alternate strategies for storing and
processing recyclables are slowly emerging, the fiscal difficulties
will continue for some time. SWEC has recently authorized raising
the tipping fee a couple of dollars, and has raised the recyclables
fee to $75/ton, starting 1/1/20. This will ease, but not solve, the
problem.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">You
are probably aware that any time the County raises the cost of
anything, it's a high-profile and difficult action. These fee
increases (and another increase – charging $12 for any TV or
monitor) were debated at really great length. The focus of the
conversations was how to apply the increase to those who use the
service, and how to incentivize certain kinds of behavior, such as
cleaning your recyclables. The tip fee is charged to commercial
haulers, who may or may not pass on any increases to their customers
(you can still bring a bag of garbage to the TS for $3). We can also
manipulate the size of the solid waste user fee, which is an annual
fee charged to each household in the county. Larger organizations
(including non-profits, which pay no property taxes) pay multiples of
the user fee, depending on size. Raising the user fee (now $15)
spreads the cost among all County citizens pretty evenly. We raised
the user fee last year. Eventually, we decided that we wanted larger
users to pay a bigger part of the increase (and we didn't want to
raise the user fee two years in a row). </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">I
guess I've gone on and on about solid waste – something that was
farthest from my mind when I first ran for the Board. This is a
jack-of-all-trades job – and not for the first time, I look forward
to a County Administrator to bring some professional knowledge and
experience to each piece of this job.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">I've
only scratched the surface here – and I'll write again about some
of the details – but it's something that will continue to need to
be addressed in 2020 and beyond. Let me know what parts of this
you'd like to know more about.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">By
the way – Delaware County Solid Waste will have an open house on
November 9. Delaware has been way ahead of other rural counties in
bringing creative initiatives to fruition in this area – including
operating their own MRF. Even though I'll soon be done with all
this, I'll be going to the open house, just because I've heard so
much about them for so long.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-28780674520232947002019-09-18T12:41:00.002-07:002019-09-29T10:42:12.780-07:00Life on the Board VIII - Miscellaneous 1<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Some
odds and ends while I have a moment (just got back from a week and a
half away) -</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Purchasing:
About five years ago, or so, we began the process of outsourcing our
purchasing management to Onondaga County, based on a relationship
that a one-term Board member had with somebody in that organization.
It's been a very, very long and difficult transition which has only
really settled in during the last year or so.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Onondaga
County (including the City of Syracuse) has a pretty massive
purchasing system, and had never collaborated with a County before.
We pay them $30,000/year for the service, which is about 1/3 of what
it would cost us to create one position here in Otsego County. Before
all this, each Department pretty much did their own purchasing (there
was a half-time clerk in the Personnel office who did it for a while,
but that didn't work out). The transition took so long because change
is hard, and because Departments didn't like giving up autonomy, and
because Onondaga County took some time to learn how to integrate us
into their pretty well-oiled machine. It didn't help that the
Onondaga County Purchasing Director left his position about a year
into the collaboration, to work for NYS.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">However,
all things considered, everyone's been working hard to make this
work, and Andrew Trombley, the new Onondaga County Purchasing
Director, has been very responsive. As you may know, there are a lot
of restrictions on municipal purchasing, to ensure fairness with the
public's money and to restrict corruption, and when done right,
purchasing is just awash in bureaucracy and takes forever. But
there's a great advantage to doing it right, and it's usually worth
the wait. We haven't heard about any real problems in this area for
over a year.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Vehicles:
Otsego County uses a lot of vehicles, and most of them by far are
used by DSS: caseworkers are expected to be able to access any home
in the county if necessary, transport out-of-county for a lot of
reasons, etc. DSS has had a transportation coordinator for a long
time because of this.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">General
and routine maintenance was done by the Highway Department until
staff cuts during the economic downturn left Highway with half the
staff they had ten years earlier, and no time to work on County cars.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">A
few years ago the Public Works Committee started looking at
outsourcing our vehicle purchases and maintenance. I believe that
there were two (three?) proposals, and we chose Enterprise. They
lease us cars on a schedule, cycling them in and out on a four-year
rotation. The best estimates they and the Treasurer can provide
suggest that we'll save money. We've been doing this for about a year
or so, and so far, so good. We have control over whether we keep the
car (extend the lease) or not, which is a good thing: Enterprise's
schedule doesn't really take into account how the cars are used.
There's a hazmat truck that Emergency Services uses for specific
situations. It's five years old, so Enterprise wanted us to replace
it – but it's only got 16,000 miles on it. In addition, DSS –
which has been making decisions about cars for decades – is
requesting that a few of their cars be kept another year or so, for a
variety of reasons.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Everyone
agrees that we won't know if this whole system is cost-effective
until a whole four-year leasing cycle is over.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">AIM
payments: I am not familiar with AIM payments (Aid and Incentives to
Municipalities), mostly because it is State funding to cities, towns
and villages for them to do with as they see fit. However, this year,
there's a new way to pay for them: County sales-tax
payments from the State will be reduced by the amount of the AIM
payment totals within each County. In other words, the State no
longer has to pay AIM – the County does.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">The
justification here, such as it is, is that the new Internet sales tax
payments will make up the difference. We'll see; I'm betting not.
This is generally seen by counties as a very bad thing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Some
other NYS initiatives that will cost the County money – and for
which the state has provided some compensatory funding :</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Early
voting: It costs more than I realized to run an election, and when
you keep polling places open for over a week (October 26 through
November 3 this year) before the regular Election Day, it's going to
cost a whole lot more. Early voting in Otsego County will only be
available at the Board of Elections office in the Meadows County
Office Building, but will probably be expanded in future years.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Raise
the Age: This initiative moves the age of adult responsibility from
16 to 17 (October 1, 2018) and then to 18 (October 1, 2019). So as
of next week, individuals charged with a crime who are 18 and
younger will be treated as minors, not adults, by the court system.
The big cost here is if someone who is 18 or under needs to be
incarcerated. This is rare in the world of minors convicted of a
crime, but by raising the age, the possibility increases. Of
course, Probation and DSS, and others, will now be taking on
caseloads of 16, 17 and !8 year olds in a variety of their programs.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">Court
of First Appearance (CAFA) and cashless bail – and other justice
system reforms – I would check with members of the Public Safety
Committee for more details.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">And,
finally, Otsego County is, obviously, part of the Susquehanna River
watershed, since we boast one of the sources of the river, Lake
Otsego. Counties in this watershed, in NY, PA and MD, are members of
(I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the organization),
and are responsible for a certain level of water quality reaching the
Chesapeake Bay. The Otsego County Soil and Water District does a lot
of work in this area, including buffer tree plantings and
environmental education in the agricultural sector (fertilizer runoff
and sediment are the biggest problems). </span>
</div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-61829305982024645622019-08-28T09:10:00.001-07:002019-08-28T09:12:49.142-07:00County Administrator timeline, Which Is A Very Big Deal<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the IGA 'second meeting' yesterday, a timeline for moving on the County Manager* position was laid out.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There was general agreement that the Board as now constituted is in favor of moving forward (but not necessarily unanimously). So here's what we hope will happen, and when -</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- The IGA Committee will send all the job descriptions and local laws it has collected to Ellen Coccoma, County Attorney, so she can begin drafting our local law (first) and our job description (later).</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Ellen will come to the first IGA meeting in September (Sept. 10, 9AM) to talk about details of the local laws, ask the Committee questions, etc.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Ellen will present a draft to the IGA at their second meeting in September (Sept. 24, 9AM).</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- The IGA Committee will formally present their proposal for a CM/CA at the full Board meeting on October 2. Debate will be encouraged.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- It takes a while to prepare a local law for passage, including announcing it at one (two?) Board meetings and then having a public hearing (usually right before a Board meeting). Most of our required public hearings attract no speakers from the public, mostly because they're addressing pretty abstruse issues. But this one might attract opponents.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Vote on the local law during the December Board meeting (Dec 4). </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We talked about a six-month search process (beginning, obviously, after the local law is approved). The job description would be completed by the time this process begins. We want to be thorough, careful and patient. The Committee voted to request $75,000 in the 2020 budget for salary, fringe and staffing. There has only been general discussion about staffing, focusing on an administrative assistant, full or part time. This may be a new position, or one that uses existing staff in the Board Clerk's or Treasurer's office.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The fact that we've established a timeline and are talking specifics is a very big deal. This is something the Board has been talking about and debating for around 25 years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">* Actually, I think there was consensus on using the term County Administrator, as it more accurately describes what we want - not a Manager in authority over Department Heads, but someone who will provide administrative assistance and leadership. </span></span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-34809030815185343262019-08-19T13:24:00.000-07:002019-08-19T13:36:35.668-07:00Life on the Board VII - Homelessness<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our topic for today is homelessness. This is a little more extensive and comprehensive, since I"ve been in the middle of all this for all eight of my years on the Board.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In NYS, Counties have some substantial
responsibility for providing services to the homeless population. In
Otsego County, this costs taxpayers about $1M/year., which is a lot
of money. Until recently, that money went to local hotels, mostly in
Oneonta, at the rate of $50/night/person.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's still $50/night/person to house a
homeless individual in a hotel, but we have, over a somewhat long
period of time (4-5 years) been developing some alternatives.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">CROSSROADS: One of our solutions kind
of fell in our lap in about the best possible way. Out on State Rte.
7, between Oneonta and Otego, is an old motel called The Crossroads
(that's what it's called now; I don't know what it was called when it
was still a motel). A number of years ago, a couple bought the
property and turned it into a half-way house for people recovering
from addiction – mostly, people coming out of rehab and trying to
re-integrate into that dangerous world that hadn't worked out so well
the last time.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brad and Noel took this on as a
faith-driven mission, at least in part. They provided support,
encouragement, personal investment, and drove their clients to job
interviews, services appointments, and anything else that might give
them a leg up. There were a variety of reimbursement sources, but a
great deal of their revenue came from rent charged to, and paid by,
the clients themselves.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe around three years ago, their
lives took a turn that required them to look for a more reliable
financial base, and they, and Otsego County DSS, devised a creative
solution: DSS would pay for every one of Crossroads fourteen (I
think) rooms every night of the year, and would be charged
$35/night/person, a $15/night/person savings over what we were
already doing.*
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was DSS's job to make sure that
every one of the rooms was occupied every night – we paid even if
the room was empty. Empty rooms have not, since then, been a
problem.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Doing the math, which is not my forte,
seems to suggest that if the system worked perfectly (all rooms full
every night) the savings would amount to $76,660 in a year. Reports
I have seen indicate that the system is working to a capacity in the
mid-90s, percentage-wise, and that money is being saved. Considering
that Crossroads also provides transport and whatever casework they
can, it's an even better deal than that.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Brad and Nicole recently applied for a
DSRIP ** grant of around $82,000 to support more casework services,
and some other services. They got the grant, so the quality of this
collaboration will improve even more.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">TINY HOMES - There are Counties which
own properties designed to house homeless individuals. We're not
jumping into this realm with both feet yet ***– just the NIMBY
challenges alone are daunting – but we are in the midst of
providing homeless individuals with a place to stay that is owned by
the County. It's called the Tiny Homes project.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you're not familiar with the Tiny
Homes movement, it's a fascinating idea that's worth a Google.
Basically, they're what they say they are: houses that are around
400 square feet and smaller. The Otsego County Planning Department
collaborated on a $350,000 grant to build a few Tiny Homes on the
empty land behind the Meadows County Office Building. The building
trades program at Delhi Ag and Tech (I believe it was the Residential
Tech program, but not sure) teamed up with us to build the homes, for
the cost of the materials alone, and we wrote other grants for other
parts of the project, like a small community center (washer/dryer,
social hall, interview room) and the geothermal heating/cooling
systems.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Right now, the pads have been prepared
and two units are in place. The social hall is under construction,
and the geothermal folks will be on site soon (the buildings will be
powered by solar panels). Security is being developed, hopefully as
part of an existing contract. There is already regular public
transit service to the Meadows. And the casework can be coordinated
right from the Meadows itself, since DSS has a variety of services
based there.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again, my wobbly-at-best math suggests
that each unit, if occupied each night all year, will save us
$18,250. And remember – we haven't paid a dime for this system as
of this point, and we're not likely to pay much, if anything, for
heating and cooling. There are a few very persistent cases of
homelessness – individuals who, for a variety of reasons, are
homeless for very long periods of time – and right now the plan is
to populate the Tiny Homes with these folks.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We have a long way to go here, even
with Crossroads and Tiny Homes. At best, given, say, five Tiny
Homes, we will solve less than half of our $1M fiscal problem.
However, twenty homeless individuals each night will be getting a
much more significant chance to move on – to get a sustainable
foothold in the housing market – than was true before.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Which brings us to the inevitable next
step: providing adequate affordable housing in Otsego County, so
homelessness will be, at worst, only temporary. “Affordable
housing in Otsego County” is a massive topic, and although it is
probably the number-one long-term issue for the County Board to
address, I'm not going to try to summarize it this time. There are a
couple of serious proposals for large (for this area) affordable
housing projects that are currently being discussed – <a href="https://www.riversideoneonta.com/">the
Riverside Apartments</a> and the “<a href="https://www.thedailystar.com/news/local_news/common-council-hears-presentation-on-proposal-for-dietz-lot/article_0c10fde7-f5c3-5cef-ab9d-5229c8c5de66.html">Lofts
on Dietz Street</a>” project – each with it's own opportunities
and challenges. But anything that increases the stock of affordable
housing in Otsego County is going to have a positive effect on all
levels of our population.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PS: A twist on the homelessness issue
that was added about a year and a half ago, was the Governor's
initiative called “Code Blue.” This changes the rules regarding
accepting homeless individuals into shelters when the weather gets
dangerously cold. Details <a href="https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/get-help/i-need-shelter/know-your-rights-code-blue-code-red/">here</a>.
“Warming Stations” have, and continue to be, developed, mostly
in Oneonta.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PPS: <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">PPS: Opportunities for Otsego operates a homeless shelter in Oneonta, and they charge us $75/night/person. They are by far the best options for families - really the only good option. More </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ofoinc.org/find-program/emergency-housing/&source=gmail&ust=1566333344469000&usg=AFQjCNHIuQdDc9LtcoCCOlCzm-YTbkLzSQ" href="https://www.ofoinc.org/find-program/emergency-housing/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* - I tend to say “we” because I'm
the Chair of the Human Services Committee, which oversees DSS. I
t</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">ake no credit for any of the great creative stuff they do.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">** - DSRIP is a State funding stream
dedicated to support the Medicaid redesign (which is another whole
big thing). For further details, Google: NYS Medicaid takeover
DSRIP.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*** - There are some very, very
preliminary investigations at the moment into some funding which may
expand our ability to do this.</span></div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-78475803731832556572019-08-15T07:15:00.002-07:002019-08-15T07:19:59.928-07:00Life on the Board - VI - County Manager<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let's talk about a County Manager.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've hesitated writing about the top
issue we're moving on at the moment because it's such a long,
drawn-out, complex, controversial issue.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And then I thought again, and decided,
“No it's not. It's pretty simple.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let's start with this: What $115M/yr
corporation that you know of is functioning without some sort of
unitary executive leadership? In business, they're called CEOs. In
Counties, they're called Managers, or Administrators, or Executives.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The arguments for some sort of
executive county governance are many. First, as above, they always
do it in business, because you need a central authority for
communications, planning, decision-making, etc. Second, what might
be called the County's “executive functioning” is currently being
done by fourteen part-time laymen who serve two-year terms. What
could possibly go wrong? Third, believe it or not, up until two
years ago, when we instituted Department Head meetings, there did not
exist – I'll repeat: did not exist – any formal structure for
Departments to communicate with each other. Fourth, a central
executive will be able to reduce redundancy in County functioning and
purchasing. Fifth, a central executive will be able to take on the
roles of Budget Office (now residing in the Treasurer's office),
purchasing liaison, fleet manager, etc. And take on a large part of
the Department Head evaluation role. And approve smaller
expenditures and transfers, and authorize the filling of vacant
funded positions, execute contracts, and negotiate with the unions.
And so on and so on.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Currently, Committees spend an enormous
amount of their time doing a lot of this stuff that the executive
could take care of. That would free up time for the Committees to...
oh, I don't know... maybe do some planning... policy... and so forth:
the stuff we are elected to do and have, for the most part, not done
in the past.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A note on terminology: I have been
using the word “executive” with a lower-case 'e', meaning
“central management.” One thing Otsego County won't have is a
County Executive, with an upper-case 'E'. That decision has been
made. A County Executive is someone who is elected in a county-wide
election, serves at the pleasure of the voters, and has a authority,
to a great extent, independent of the Board. County Executives are,
generally (but not entirely) found in larger counties in NYS.<br />
<br />
(Fun fact: Otsego County is tied with Columbia County as the largest County in NYS without any kind of central adminstrator.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
County Managers and County
Administrators are employees of the County who are hired by the Board
and serve at the pleasure of the Board. There's not a lot of
important difference between a CM and CA. What level of authority
the CM or CA has throughout the various departments, and what their
functions would be, is determined by the Board when we establish the
job description.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The County Manager issue has been
handled in the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee (IGA), and Chair
Meg Kennedy (who's been doing a really good job in this area) has
held a second IGA meeting each month to discuss county governance. I
go to as many of these second IGA meetings as I can, and have
strongly encouraged all Board members to participate as well. The
next “second meeting” is on Tuesday, August 27, in the Committee
Room on the second floor of the Count Office Building. It's a public
meeting.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I was being a little offhand when I
said this wasn't really a complex issue. But the bones of it are
pretty straightforward. If I can master the technology, I'll put a “starting point” draft
County Manager job description in the next post. Please let me know what further
directions you'd like to take this particular conversation.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-12121136697961437752019-08-14T09:09:00.000-07:002019-08-14T09:09:03.271-07:00ThanksJust wanted to give a shout out to 'anonymous' who wrote to me to tell me he/she reads this blog and is interested in the current series (Life on the Board).<br />
<br />
Also - anonymous: you noted that you are a "future constituent." If this means you are moving into District 11 in the near future, then I look forward to representing you. But if it means that you're too young to vote and therefore feel you aren't a constituent - I already represent you. <br />
<br />
I represent everyone who lives or works in the City's 1st and 2nd Wards, no matter their age, their party registration, their voting status, or even their citizenship. Everybody, with no one left out.<br />
<br />
I love this job!Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-13555508073361164052019-08-14T06:37:00.002-07:002019-08-14T09:14:31.807-07:00Life on the Board V - Raises<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let's talk about raises.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Facts first: there are, essentially,
two types of County employees. There are union employees, members of
one of the three units operating in the County (Correction Officers,
Sheriff's Deputies, and CSEA (everyone else). All the rest of the
County employees (including Reps and other Electeds) are Management
and Confidential, universally known as M&C.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Union employee's salaries are laid out
in the contract, which includes specific percentage raises that will
be applied in each year of the contract. So Union folks always know
what their salary will be, practically to the penny, for the next few
years that the contract covers.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here's how M&C salaries are
determined: At the January Board meeting, there is a resolution
which lists each position and the salary attached to that position
for the coming year. That's it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
How is that list assembled? Usually at
the Budget Committee, at some point. And if you think that this is a
system that's ripe for abuse, you'd be right.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The assumption has always been that the
M&C salaries will start the budget process for the next year
unchanged from the previous year, and if there's any money available
at the end, they might get a raise. There's never any money left at
the end. Before 2019, M&C employees went 11 years with only one
raise (and not all of them got it).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is an issue that I have been
pursuing for about four or five years, and I think we're approaching
the finish line. Just one more major issue to address: an ongoing
salary scale that is automatically applied each year.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A few years ago, we got $50,000 added
to the budget for a comprehensive salary study, comparing our
salaries to salaries in comparable counties in NYS. Due to some
really frustrating complications and, frankly, the fact that no
competent organizations responded to our Request for Proposals, it
was a year later when we just decided to do the study ourselves. I
had already compared upstate counties on a large number of factors,
and we chose 18 of them to study. Penney Gentile and her Personnel
staff sent out detailed salary surveys to those counties, and
followed up, and followed up, and followed up. They were great, and
we got what I think is some really reliable data.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What we found was that Otsego County
was dead last, salarywise, for most M&C positions studied.
Overall, the picture was atrocious. We had kind of known this; in
casual conversation, Department Heads – who spend a lot of time
collaborating with their peers across the state – let us know that
our county was a well-known outlier in terms of salary.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
To make a long and complicated story
short, the Budget Committee did an astounding thing last fall –
they proposed pay raises for all M&C employees that would put
their salaries right at the average paid across the comparable
counties. This was way better than I expected, and right now, our
M&C employees are just a bit below average (the study was done in
2018, with salary data up through 2017, so our folks are actually
getting the 2017 average; everyone in the other counties have gotten
two raises since then).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So the final hurdle: how do we set up
a scale that provides reasonable raises to M&C every year? The
PRGS Committee debated this for a year – 2018.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Performance Review and Goal Setting
Committee (PRGS), of which I've been Chair for a few years, and a
member of for all my 8 years, works in two year cycles. In the
second year of the Reps term (after new Reps have had a year to learn
the ropes and get to know everyone involved) we facilitate
Performance Evaluations for all Department Heads. That's what we're
doing right now. During the first year of a term (for instance, 2018
and 2020), we discuss issues related to staffing, evaluation,
compensation, and anything else that seems relevant. For a number of
cycles we created and refined the Department Head evaluation forms
and the system for evaluation, which was much more complex (and long)
than one might think. In 2018 we attacked the M&C salary issue,
worked with Penney to do the salary study, and came to some general
conclusions regarding M&C salary scale and merit pay issues.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So we're ready to ask the Budget
Committee to consider all this – I've got to write it up and send
it out soon. Here's the proposal – not a hill to die on, but the
beginning of a conversation:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Department Heads</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1.5% raise annually</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Another 1.5%, in increments of
0.5%, depending on outcome of latest Performance Evaluations</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Non- Department Heads</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Same increment as CSEA contract
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
An important reason why this is
essential to do is that, in the last few years, there have been union
employees whose salary has risen above that of their supervisor.
This is a demoralizing situation, for sure, for the M&C
supervisor, but in addition, when the supervisor leaves, what
motivation does the union employee have to apply for the supervisor's
position? In addition, we found that we were hiring and training
employees only to see them take a job in a different (often nearby)
county for significantly more money.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So that's it. I've simplified some and
left a lot out, but this should be enough to understand why you might hear that the County is talking about raises for County employees.</div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-57338843026879390792019-08-05T08:19:00.001-07:002019-08-14T09:14:51.584-07:00Life on the Board - IV<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I thought it might be important to talk
about some of the issues that are front and center at this time.
There are dozens and dozens of things that are in progress at any
given time. There are over 25 Departments, depending on how you want
to define the term, and every department is constantly acting,
responding, planning, collaborating, etc.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of this is taken care of at the
Department level, and perhaps discussed at Parent Committee. But
there are some big things that we, the Board, really need to be
working on at this point, things that I just listed in a previous
communication.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">HIGHWAY GARAGE – The main highway
garage has not been used for a couple of years because it is so
structurally unsound that it must be torn down (which means that
vehicles have been outside, year-round, for a long time). Funds for
this demolition project – in the six figure range – were budgeted
for last year, but it wasn't done, and they're in the budget this
year. No word on any preliminary plans for starting the project.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Part of the problem is long-term
planning: should we stay on Linden Avenue in Cooperstown? There are
a lot of problems with keeping the site, including the fact that it's
cramped and is adjacent to the Cooperstown CS campus. The land is
probably worth a lot. Moving, on the other hand, is a monumental
undertaking, and there's always the possibility of a brownfield
issue. A year ago there was some talk of buying some land adjacent
to OAOC in Milford, and creating a common transportation facility for
BOCES, Milford CS, and the County (and any other entity that was
interested). This may still be included in our shared services grant
proposal.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">242 MAIN ST., ONEONTA - The County
maintains an office building in downtown Oneonta (right next to
Autumn Cafe) which is used primarily by the Mental Health Clinic
(which also includes addiction services). Its probably been three or
more years since there were conversations about selling the building
and moving to a more efficient space. The chief motivator for this
initiative was (and still is) the need for security in the building.
Given the clientele, there are occasional incidents which may become
dangerous without some kind of security services.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Security is problematic in this
building because there are three entrances, and estimates ranged up
to $200,000 a year for access security focused on all three. In the
frustrating way that large organizations operate, we have talked and
worried and problem-solved for these three years, and still there is
no security at all in the building.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Complicating the issue is the fact that
the City showed a good deal of interest in buying the building and
including it in the DRI. Also, there are other County Departments
who would like an Oneonta presence and are looking at space in the
building (for instance, DSS, Probation, Public Defender,etc.).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After some pressure from Oneonta Reps
to make a decision, the Public Works Committee recommended that we
keep the building and provide appropriate security. At the present,
we are still talking about what kind of security would be best
(contract with a private company? Hire retired DA investigators?
Etc.).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING - The “Old
Jail” is next to the Cooperstown County Office Building and the
Courthouse. The current Public Safety Building was built (I think)
around 25 years ago, and needs some major renovations, due partly to
age, and partly to new technology and requirements. After a couple
of years of talking, the money for the renovations is in the budget
this year. It's a $1.5M project; we've borrowed $1M, and budgeted
$0.5M in the 2019 budget. It should be done by the end of this year.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is only a start on renovations
that the Sheriff has asked for. New “pod” architecture
(requiring rebuilding much of the jail) would reduce the number of
Correction Officers needed. However, recent changes in State law
(most prominently, cashless bail) may reduce the number of inmates
coming through our facility. On the other hand, we could “board
out” extra beds, providing them for other counties' overflow, for a
fee.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">EMERGENCY SERVICES TRAINING CENTER - I
know very little about this project – just that it needs to be
replaced. The current facility is off Hemlock Road in Oneonta, next
to Medicoaches. There are lots of people and groups county-wide who
are involved in planning for this, and it is taking a long time to
come to the set of conclusions that would lead to the next step.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">COUNTY MANAGER - As you know, this has
been going on for ten years or more. It really deserves an essay of
its own, so I'll put that on the list. We may have a decision by the
end of this year.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Again, just scratching the surface on
all of these.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the way, feel
free to contact any of the Board Reps for more details on subjects that are
handled in their Committee. Committee assignments can be found <a href="https://www.otsegocounty.com/Document%20Center/Legislature/Committee%20List.pdf">here</a>.</span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-1394120852196159432019-08-01T11:11:00.002-07:002019-09-30T12:48:16.498-07:00Life on the Board III - Taxes<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Time for taxes (and just scratching the surface) -</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
From our constituents, we hear more about taxes than almost anything. Sometimes we'll get notes and calls about high-visibility issues, but these come and go. Taxes are forever.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's my personal opinion that complaining about taxes is one of those tropes that people use as social cartilage – a common stereotype, based on pretty much nothing, that you talk about when you can't thing of anything else, like how bad institutional food is, or how politicians are all crooks, how busy you are, or how we really needed that rain.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So the first thing to do when confronted by someone unhappy about how high taxes are is to challenge them to educate themselves. Ask them to go back to their tax bills – municipal and school – add the totals, and then divide the County tax by the total. That'll show the percentage of their tax burden that is County tax. I did that for my bill, here in center city Oneonta, and the County share came to 11%. I assume it's a pretty typical bill. If the county raised property taxes 2% for 2020, it would cost me about $10 more.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Another strategy with someone unhappy about taxes is to ask where they think Otsego County falls, in regard to tax rate, compared with all the other counties in NYS. I've included that comparison in the attachment to this e-mail</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The truth is, <b>Otsego County has the lowest tax rate among all Counties in New York State.</b><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are actually two ways to figure tax rates, as shown on the attached spreadsheet. Otsego County is the lowest in the state on one measure, and third lowest on the other.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One of the reasons that this is so is that Otsego County is unusual in a particular way: whereas most Counties (I think I'm right on this) collect more property taxes than sales taxes (the two major revenue sources for Counties), Otsego County, with our robust tourist economy, collects three time more in sales tax than property tax. This has a very significant impact on our fiscal functioning. All County Board members are secretly rooting for higher gasoline prices, so balancing the budget will be easier (just to be clear in this litigious society, this is a joke)..</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Another piece of the puzzle: the NYS 2% tax cap. NYS provides incentives for Counties to keep their annual property tax increase below 2%, and there are penalties for exceeding it. Actually, up until this year, it's been a slightly different figure (but all under 2%) for each County (based on inflation and other things – but this is getting too deep into the weeds). This year, for the first time in years, Otsego County can go all the way to a 2% increase for 2020.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So – let's see what a 2% increase in the tax levy gives us for the 2020 budget. 2018's tax levy (don't have 2019's in front of me) was $11,407,756. Two percent of that is $228,155. That seems like a lot of money, but that won't even pay for the contractual raises for our Union employees. So although the tax hike each year gets a lot of play in the media, it's a very small part of constructing the Budget.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Going back to our unusual sales/property tax ratio, when property taxes are (relatively) low, then 2% of a low number is a low number. Counties with a higher tax rate get a lot more benefit from a 2% rate hike. Also - and this is grist for another mill - our lower taxes are partially a result of some ruthless cost-cutting during the recession that cut some departments in half (Health, Highway). We are very slowly (the only way we can do it) increasing staffing in some areas, but there are departments that just aren't getting their work done because of low staff levels.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And add to that: we probably won't do the full 2% tax increase for 2020, because there is a political price to pay for a headline that reads “County Board Applies Maximum Tax Hike Possible.” It's much better to see “County Board Restricts Tax Hike to Below Maximum” or, even better, as we did I think two years ago, “No Tax Increase for Otsego County Property Owners.”(Remember, at 2% we're talking about ten bucks for the average property owner. But headlines can make policy.).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So that's all on taxes right now. The attachment shows the County's revenue and expense pie charts in the first two slides, and the fifth slide is the state-wide comparison of County tax rates. The rest are interesting data-sets, which you may find useful or not.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Cheers til next time -</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
PS: The Budget is an extremely complicated document, except for the line items for each Department, and I am avoiding using numbers for the most part and being general rather than specific because it's never that simple and I have never understood all of the accounting-level ins and outs. I've attached a copy of the 2018 budget. Good luck!<br />
<br />
PPS: I couldn't figure out how to include the documents mentioned in this blog post. Please let me know if you'd like copies and I'll get them to you right away.</div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-87391670960953515132019-08-01T11:05:00.002-07:002019-08-01T11:05:43.989-07:00Life on the Board II - Planning and Timliness<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the budget, I'll move on to a potpourri of issues, plans, challenges, obstacles, etc., that are facing the Board presently. They were all discussed, in some form, at the Budget Committee meeting on Monday July 29.<b>I'll be sending them in installments.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, a very high-altitude overview of two fundamental issues that may or may not come as a surprise.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First: The County Board really, really stinks at planning ahead, long-term. I think we have a long history of dealing only with what's right in front of our noses.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my opinion, and in the opinion of most of the Board members I have spoken with about this, we have a truly excellent group of Department Heads, and one of the things almost all of them do very well is long-term planning. So each individual department is looking down the road and making plans for what's ahead for them. However, when it comes to the bigger projects, and taking the Strategic Plan and using it to plot the overall direction of the County and its various components – this seems always to fall down the list of priorities and we often go month after month without making headway on most of them.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For instance, here is a representative sample of some of the projects we must address (and more on each of these later):</span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Demolish Highway garage and build a new one – move the whole Dept to a new location?</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perform $1.5M repairs and renovations on 25-year-old jail</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Decide on how to upgrade/sell/use as is – 242 Main St., the County building on Oneonta's Main Street</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Replace Emergency Services training facility</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We've been talking about, and putting off, these projects for years (the Jail renovations are occurring now, and should be finished by the end of the year. But there are still decisions to make here).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of these (and other examples) cost a lot of money, and that's probably another reason we tend to avoid making progress – at some point in the process, real money will need to be spent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This all needs to change, and I, for one, am hoping that adding a County Manager/Admin to the mix will help a lot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which brings us to: Second: Everything in government takes a whole lot longer than anyone expects. And the County Manager issue is a good example – we've been talking about this for at least ten years, and we may be on our way to a decision and detailed plan by the end of the year. But it has taken forever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason is probably the combination of our reticence regarding long-term planning, and our actual system of governance. We've discussed the planning issue. Our system of governance really requires a thoughtful, complex path to completion, a path that takes time. There are a couple of reasons for this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, we have a number of layers of decision-making. On a Department level, decisions are made every day, but as plans, and the decisions needed to implement them, become more substantial and/or complex, they need to come to one or more Committees, and the Committees usually take a good deal of time to consider, come up with and deal with objections and alternatives, put it off for a while to think about it or to consult with others, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When this process is finally complete, and the Committee has agreed on an action, the action usually needs to come to the Administration Committee, which must approve spending, policy and plans that are above a certain level of cost, complexity, etc. Then, if and when the Admin Committee agrees (which, for bigger projects could also take many meetings, for the same reasons the Parent Committee took so long), the proposal needs to be drafted as a Board Resolution and voted on by the full Board. Since each of these entities (Parent Committee, Admin, Full Board) meet only once a month, even a relatively simple proposal could take months to work its way through.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are pros and cons to taking a long time. We certainly give everyone a chance to weigh in, much time is spent in debate. But many things take too long. Again, we hope the insertion of a County Manager will help to speed this up without losing the thoughtful approach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second reason things take so long – and this is more opinion than system analysis – is that nobody likes change or spending a lot of money, and most of what we need to do requires both. It used to be that the Board included many members who were unwilling to spend any money at all, and spent a lot of time trying to slash the budget (not so much any more). So it's so much easier to kick the can down the road in the hopes that it will go away, and in many cases, this is what happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Board needs to be wise stewards of the taxpayers' money, and we can never forget that. But stuff costs money. It's so often the case that expensive plans and proposals that are hotly debated will eventually save us money (Enterprise fleet management, preventive maintenance) or are just the right thing to do (M&C raises). You will get used to hearing the phrase “unfunded mandate,” which means that NYS has required Counties to do something expensive without providing any, or enough, funding to help pay for it. And so forth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we move forward, it is our hope that we can become an institution that plans well and pursues those plans in a timely manner.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next - taxes! Aren't you excited?</span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-89971655170939206322019-08-01T11:01:00.001-07:002019-08-01T11:02:40.699-07:00Life on the Board I - The Budget<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First of all, thanks for running.
Public service is difficult and largely thankless, but it is what
America runs on. You continue an unbroken legacy that goes all the
way back to the Founding Fathers, and before. Win or lose, you're
willing to make a substantial contribution to your community – so
thanks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a good idea to start with the budget because this is the beginning of budget season. I wouldn't say that budget development consumes us, but it's never far from any conversation we have from now through December.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first Budget Committee meeting was Monday morning, and we talked just in general terms about this challenges. The Budget Committee is the Administration Committee plus Andrew Marietta, but it's a public meeting and other Reps, and sometimes even candidates, attend pretty regularly. It's a really good place to get a long-term overview of County functioning. The next Budget Committee meeting is on Thursday, August 29 at 10:00 in the second floor committee room of the County Office Building.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first thing that happens in the budget process is that the Treasurer “opens the budget tool.” The budget tool is software accessible by Department Heads, and is essentially the budget structure without any numbers in it. This has already happened; the budget tool is now “open,” and has been for a few weeks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ideally, Department Heads spend July filling in the budget tool. At the same time, they are presenting their budget for the next year to their parent committees. The Treasurer usually attends these Committee meetings to act as a resource. After whatever negotiation is necessary, the Department's final (up til that point) budget is entered into the budget tool.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Around the end of August, the budget tool is “closed,”, meaning that Department Heads cannot make any more changes. From then on, the Budget Committee meets pretty regularly and makes the changes necessary until, hopefully, around the middle of November, we have a balanced budget.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the way - in many/most Counties, the Treasurer and the Budget Officer are two different people. In Otsego County, the Treasurer is both. If/when our County Manager comes on board, (s)he will almost certainly take on the role of Budget Officer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When the budget tool is closed, the Treasurer figures out the “gap” - the difference between revenue and expenses, given the budget lines as they stand at that time. The rest of the autumn is spent reducing that gap to zero. The Budget Committee can do it any way they want to, and often we call in Department Heads to talk about their requests, etc. The Treasurer is always there as a resource.</span><br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The budget gap is usually huge and scary – it has been as much as nine or ten million dollars – but there are always things to do – some hard, others easier – to bring it down to zero. By the way, our recent budgets have been around $110 million.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By state law, the Budget must be done by November 15. We usually have a public budget hearing at the Courthouse on the first Monday night of December, and no one ever comes. We can amend the budget by resolution until the budget is approved by the Board. We usually have a second full Board meeting in December, and that's when we approve the budget.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's a quick overview of the way it works on paper. Watching the sausage being made in Budget Committee should add some important dimensions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'll be sending more summaries and overview of structure and function (and some opinions!) on an irregular basis. Please let me know if there's anything you particularly want to know more about, and if/when you would like to meet to talk in more depth, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">(That last goes for you too, my hypothetical reader!)</span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-61369718454356083232019-08-01T10:57:00.002-07:002019-09-29T10:30:45.426-07:00Does This Thing Still Work?Testing, testing... one, two, one, two...<br />
<br />
I'm back, for a short time. I've been away for quite a while, almost entirely because I've had no evidence than anyone reads this blog. For a while, it helped me organize my thoughts and keep track of the really wide variety of issues and directions that the Board is involved in.<br />
<br />
But eventually, perhaps inevitably, I drifted away from preparing regular posts. However, I'm currently involved in the process of supporting new candidates for Board seats - providing some background information and data, so they can discuss issues with constituents, and participate in debates, with more information at their command.<br />
<br />
So I'm going to post my notes to the candidates here, for easier reference and, again, to organize and archive my thoughts on this interesting journey.<br />
<br />
As you, my hypothetical reader, probably know, I will retire at the end of this term, December 31, 2019. More on that, perhaps, later. For now, I am looking forward to the energy, intelligence and commitment of those who will come after.Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-86886939999257119802018-01-25T09:36:00.001-08:002018-01-25T09:36:38.731-08:00Priorities for 2018<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As promised, some discussion (a beginning, at least) of projects and
directions that will be on the Board's agenda this year.</span></div>
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</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Certainly, the highest-profile issue on the agenda is the move toward
professional management of County services. As I think I've noted
before, Otsego County is the largest county in NY that does not have
a County Manager or Executive (to be fair, Columbia County doesn't
either, and it's almost exactly the same size). Over the years, more
and more has been expected of counties by the state and federal
bureaucracies, and nothing of note has been taken off of our plate.
While it might have been possible for fourteen laymen to run Otsego
County twenty years ago, it is less and less so as time goes on, and
there is no evidence that this will change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
Professional management can take on any one of a number of formats.
County Managers or Adminstrators are hired by the Board, usually for
a specified term, and it is the Board that offers the opportunity for
another term, or not. A County Executive is elected for a certain
term in a county-wide election, and the voters determine whether
another term is appropriate. Both forms of management have advocates
in the County. I will dip into politics for just a moment to say
that the leaders of the political party which represents the majority
of voters supports, unsurprisingly, the County Executive model. I
support the County Manager model, because I do want the Board to have
clear oversight of the employee who will have day-to-day executive
authority over all the workings of the County. And also because I am
a member of the minority party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
Having a professional manager/executive/administrator at the top of
the organizational chart will bring efficiency, an appropriate level
of uniformity of function, and heightened transparency and
communication to our very diverse set of functions and services.
Simply said, it's crazy for a $110 million organization not to have a
CEO.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Second on the list of 2018 goals, at least for me, will be a salary
scale for Management and Confidential (M&C) employees, which
pretty much means all non-union County employees. These are the
department heads, and upper management and supervisors, for the most
part, as well as a variety of professionals (Social Service
attorneys, for instance). We finally got a raise for them in 2018 –
the second in ten years – but it's for one year, and there is still
no comprehensive, perpetual salary scale for determining reasonable
increases for this important part of our County. We have serious
problems with retention and promotion (promotion from a union
position to an M&C position often does not include a meaningful
wage hike) because of this.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
I'll chair the committee (Performance Review and Goal Setting) that
will address a salary study and scale, with the goal of having it in
place by the time the 2019 budget is approved in December. This is
an important goal for anyone who puts value on the quality of work
done by County departments, rather than valuing the minimum output
for the lowest cost.
</span></div>
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</div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-34424972285355846802018-01-16T10:59:00.004-08:002018-01-16T10:59:49.477-08:002018<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Well, a lot has happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
As you know, there is new leadership on the County Board for the
first time in six years. Dave Bliss, from Middlefield, is now the
Chair, and I am the Vice-Chair (which means only that I sit in the
Chair when Dave can't be there).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
If you're reading this blog, you probably know this, but humor me for
a moment. In Europe (and probably in other places), countries often
have many political parties on the nationial level – many more than
the two which we have in the US - and so it is often the case that no
political party wins a majority of the seats in the legislature. In
this case, in order to govern (in other words, in order to pass
legislation with a majority of votes), parties have to work together.
Two or more parties end up coming to a set of agreements on policies
and progress toward goals. This is known as a coalition government.
Leadership in these countries has to focus on collaboration,
compromise and diplomacy (which is necessary to keep the coalition
together and functioning).</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
In most legislatures in America, there are two parties and one has
the majority, and therefore governs. No compromise is necessary.
But parties often have factions, which disagree about important
issues, and therefore some initiatives need to be bipartisan. But
for the most part, the majority rules.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
This has been the case forever in Otsego County, until now.
Republicans have maintained the majority on the County Board, for
pretty much always. And that is true for 2018, as well – the Board
is split 7-7, but the Republicans hold a slim weighted vote
advantage.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
However, the Board Republicans have split into two factions, for a
number of reasons, and seem to be functioning as two different
parties. After working closely with all the current Republicans for
the last two years, it seemed that, from our standpoint, one faction
was more progressive, and more aligned with our approach to County
business, than the other. So the seven Democrats on the 2018 Board
have allied with the faction headed by new Chair Dave Bliss, and have
formed a coalition government.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
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<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
As noted above, it will take compromise, collaboration and diplomacy
to allow the coalition to work efficiently and maintain progress
toward goals. So far, so good. Stay tuned. I'll talk more about
specific projects and directions in future posts.</span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-65662626015706363162017-12-30T18:24:00.001-08:002017-12-30T18:26:03.610-08:00Time<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Otsego County
Board of Representatives Rules of Order (Rule #2) says that
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Regular meetings of the Board shall be held at 10:00 a.m. on the
first Wednesday of each month. All regular and special meetings of
the Board shall be held at the Representatives' Chambers in the
Village of Cooperstown, New York, except that upon approval of the
affirmative weighted vote of at least three-fourths of the total
membership of the Board, the time and meeting place of the Board may
be changed...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
So the time and day and place of the regular monthly meetings are
baked into the Rules of Order, which are the Board's bylaws. And it
takes three fourths of the board – three fourths! - to make a
change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Our monthly meetings are in the middle of the day, on a weekday (<a href="https://otsego11.blogspot.com/2017/12/time.html" target="_blank">see below</a>). The fact that it takes three fourths of the Board to change
this – and nothing else we do is held to such a high standard –
suggests something fishy, at least to me. When this rule was
established, long ago, it was in someone's interest to make it very,
very hard to change the meetings to the evenings, when many more of
us can attend and participate. Having the meetings midday, midweek,
means that it is much harder for nine-to-fivers to run and serve in
the Board, and easier for small business owners, farmers and retired
folks to run and serve. Guess which group the perpetual majority
party is more likely to be made up of?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Time to move into the 21<sup>st</sup> century and embrace diversity
and citizen participation. In the January meeting, Andrew Stammel
will propose this change to the Rules of Order: that the time, day
or place of the regular monthly Board meeting will be established by
majority vote.
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 0.17in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">
Majority vote is the way we make the vast majority of our decisions,
profound or trivial. If the majority of the Board – this or any
future Board – wants a change, they should be able to do it, and
not be held hostage by the partisan machinations of long-forgotten
members. </span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-54862267456604906972017-12-11T08:14:00.002-08:002017-12-11T08:14:43.718-08:00Raises are Back!<span style="font-size: large;">Looking back over previous posts, I see we left the "raises for M&C employees" story in a perilous position. Things are looking up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I am on the Budget Committee this year, as well as Admin, and between the two, we managed to establish an M&C salary raise for 2018. This was a very good budget year, compared with the last ten years or so, with a lot of financial issues falling the right way for us (including a robust sales tax report). This led some other Board members to be a bit more accepting of the idea of giving our management their second raise in nine years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Everyone (except elected officials) gets a raise; those who have been in their current positions longer get larger raises. This coming year, the PRGS Committee will spend whatever amount of time it takes to develop a perpetual salary scale for M&C employees, so we won't have to do this again, and so our management staff get the raises they deserve on an onging basis. We'll either find a consulting firm who can help us develop the scale, or develop it ourselves (the more likely, and less expensive, option), with the help of our outstanding Personnel Director, Penney Gentile.</span>Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-75932197641144068542017-12-10T10:36:00.001-08:002017-12-10T10:36:15.945-08:00Time<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://otsego11.blogspot.com/2017/12/county-issues-as-of-now.html" target="_blank">Below</a> is a list of
current issues that the Otsego County Board of Representatives will
be addressing, in the short or long term, in the new year. PLEASE
let me know if you have any questions, concerns, ideas or suggestions
regarding any of them. These are the things we'll be spending time
and energy on, and we'd like to get them right.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One issue that may
come as a surprise is the time of day that the Board meeting is held.
In Otsego County, the Board meets as a whole on the first Wednesday
of each month, at 10:00 in the morning. This means that, in general,
people who have regular nine-to-five or other types of weekday jobs
probably can't attend our meetings, either to speak their minds, as
they have a right to do, or just to watch, observe, listen and learn.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In addition, of
course, this restriction applies to anyone thinking of running for
the Board, as well. With daytime meetings, you'd really have to own
your own business (including a farm), be retired, or have a job with
very flexible hours. Not surprisingly, those are the kinds of folks
the Board is populated with. Nothing wrong with that, except that
the daytime meeting time is keeping a lot of people with other kinds
of jobs from running. I was actually looking into running in 2005,
before I retired, and my boss – OCSD Superintendent Mike Shea, a
great lover of history and government – had to ask me not to, as he
felt the daytime meetings would have too great an impact on my work.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">About half of all
upstate rural NY Counties have their full Board meetings in late
afternoon or the evening, so it can be done. It's time we opened the
democratic process in Otsego County to everyone.</span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-59164081778577662072017-12-10T10:17:00.000-08:002017-12-10T10:19:11.516-08:00County Issues as of Now<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;"><b>CURRENT
ISSUES – Late 2017</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;"><u><b>To
be addressed before Jan 2018 Board meeting:</b></u></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Leadership
– determining how everyone in the coaliton communicates and
collaborates </span><span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">to
develop an agenda and process for going forward.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">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? </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">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?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;"><u><b>Issues
requiring longer-term planning, starting soon:</b></u></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">County
Manager – how to begin talking/acting on this? Task Force?
Assign to Committee? Lots of data has already been gathered. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Salary
Study – Either contract with a consultant to create a perpetual
salary scale, or make one up ourselves. PRGS Committee?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Strategic
Plan – How to go forward with this. Continue with current process
(separate Committee)? How to establish clear guidelines for
implementation?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">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?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Jail:
Upgrade, expand, replace? </span>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;"><u><b>New
systems to routinely monitor and assess, and report regularly to full
Board </b></u></span>
</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Onondaga
County – Otsego Co. Purchasing Dept. - Need a Rep, or a staff
person, or a Committee to be dedicated liaison</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Enterprise
Fleet Management – Public Works? Need to support a seamless
transition and keep our eye on costs.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">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?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">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.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">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?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">County
Forester (Soil & Water) – SWEC tracks progress toward explicit
goals</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Ethics
Board</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif;">Various
litigation issues</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-16725325567897962017-12-10T10:15:00.001-08:002017-12-10T10:15:30.245-08:00Going Forward<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's been a long
time, again, and a lot has been done.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Since August, I
have been working with the Democratic candidates for County Rep;
other than Andrew Marietta and Andrew Stammel, they were all new to
the work of the County Representative. I provided a lot of
background regarding Board structure and function, as well as very
extensive communications and conversations about particular issues
that the Board has been working on. This work intensified during the
run-up to the debates, which were held in a variety of places
throughout the County.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Four of the new
candidates, as well as Andrew and Andrew and I, were elected, and we
had what turned out to be a pretty joyful election night celebration.
As of January 1 there will be seven Democrats on the Board, although
the Republicans represent a slight majority in weighted votes. But
the Republicans may not be unified regarding Board leadership as we
go forward, and there is a distinct possibility that we Democrats will
be participating in what can only be called a coalition government
when the gavel comes down on January 3.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I try to avoid
partisan politics in these messages, but at this point I think it's
important to lay out how things stand. There are some Republicans
who have expressed dissatisfaction with current leadership. However,
they cannot prevail without Democratic votes. So we will all be
talking about how we can go forward, supporting each others' vision
for the County and the major issues we are facing.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I think we will be
able to work out a plan which will satisfy everyone. There's a lot
of work to do, and I think that with a commitment to transparency,
communication and bipartisan cooperation, we'll get that work done.
Stay tuned.</span></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-81233270805529948322017-09-14T10:33:00.001-07:002017-09-14T10:39:23.854-07:00XNG CNG Truck Crash<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "new york" , "times" , serif; font-size: large;">Here's the report of our 911 coordinator regarding the crash of the XNG CNG truck that overturned just out of Hartwick (please forgive the formatting errors which are apparently inherent in the cut/paste process):</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "new york" , "times" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Good
Morning,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in 0in 0.02in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">At
the request of Mr. Frazier I am forwarding to the full Board a
summary of Tuesday's incident in the Town of Otsego that
was provided to the Public Safety & Legal Affairs Committee on
Tuesday evening. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in 0in 0.02in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m_1514217239367181956OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1135_com_zimbra_date"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m_1514217239367181956OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1136_com_zimbra_date"></a>
<em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I want
to take an opportunity to update all of you on the accident this
morning. At approximately 8:20 this morning I
monitored the Fly Creek Fire Company dispatched to a one car Motor
Vehicle Accident on St. Hwy, 205 near the intersection with Bristol
Road with information that it was a gas truck on it's roof. At
the same time I was notified of the same and was only approximately 5
minutes from the scene. Upon my arrival, I discovered an XNG
tractor trailer on it's roof in the ditch on the right hand side of
the road. The driver had somehow climbed out of the truck and
was seated in another vehicle being treated by a paramedic that was
travelling through. The driver confirmed that he was "empty"
and traveling to PA. I contacted the 911 Center who advised
they had made contact with the Gas Company's 24 hour response line
and they would have personnel there within 90 minutes. Two
other XNG drivers also stopped and provided information about the
truck and stayed at the scene until the Company representatives
arrived on the scene. There were no residences within a 1/2
mile radius.</span></span></span></em></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Working
with the parties represented at the scene, it was determined that
there was no damage to the tanks within the trailer and no leak was
present. Tow companies (Chuck's Towing in Richfield and Clinton
Collision) were notified to begin working on recovering the truck and
trailer. NYS Department of Transportation was notified to
respond and close State Highway 205 to ensure a safe work zone.
It was decided to perform a controlled release of the
compressed gas that the tractor operates on prior to recovery.
During the controlled release, the road was closed and all
individuals retired to a safe zone. Gas monitoring was
performed during the release to ensure safety. The highest
recorded reading of gas during the release was approximately </span></span></span></em><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">0.4</span></span></span></strong><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
To put this in perspective a reading of approximately </span></span></span></em><strong><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">5.0</span></span></span></strong><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> is
the lower range of the "zone of concern". </span></span></span></em></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in 0in 0.02in;">
<em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Agencies
on the scene included the Fly Creek Fire Company, Otsego County
Sheriff's, State DOT, Verizon, tow companies and XNG. The
Hartwick Fire Department was utilized in assisting with the closure
of State Hwy 205 at the four corners in Hartwick. All agencies
worked well together and the situation was successfully resolved with
no other issues noted. The last units cleared the scene at
approximately 4:45PM.</span></span></span></em></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-style: normal;">If
you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the office
number below or via cell at 437-4247.</span></span></span></em></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
addition, I have attached several hand-outs that were provided by XNG
to the folks that attended the classes hosted by this office.
The safety features on the trailer performed as they were designed
and there was minimal damage to the trailer itself. While not
being complacent, there was a comfort level with this situation due
to the knowledge that we had received in the training offered by the
company. <br /><br />I encourage any of you to
speak with members of the Fire Departments in your respective
districts that may have attended the training. In addition, if
there are any local governments or groups that may want additional
information I would be happy to attend any meetings that may be
arranged to ensure accurate information is provided concerning this
incident.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Arthur
R. Klingler Jr.<br />Emergency Services Coordinator-Otsego
County<br />Phone <a href="tel:(607)%20547-4227" target="_blank">(607)
547-4227</a><br />Fax <a href="tel:(607)%20547-4377" target="_blank">(607)
547-4377</a></span></div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "new york" , "times" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">This truck crash enjoyed every bit of luck possible: 'empty' (which is a relative term), no breaches, driver not injured, no other vehicles involved, no buildings involved, no houses within half a mile.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;">The next one, given the laws of probability, will not enjoy every one of these benefits. Which one(s) won't we benefit from?</span></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; margin-bottom: 0in; padding: 0in 0in 0.02in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m_1514217239367181956OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1135_com_zimbra_date"></a></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-60354410746205847622017-08-15T10:32:00.002-07:002017-08-15T10:39:13.170-07:00Raises: Slip-Slidin' Away<span style="font-size: large;">We got some bad news recently regarding our proposed salary study, which should institute a salary scale and an orderly progression of raises for our Management and Confidential (M&C) employees. But first, some background.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Last summer, the Performance Review and Goal Setting Committee (PRGS) developed a one-year raise plan (<a href="http://otsego11.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2017-07-12T13:08:00-07:00&max-results=10" target="_blank">details here</a>) in order to begin the work of salary justice among our M&C workers. In September, a special meeting of PRGS was held, with all Board members invited, to hear Ronni Travers, from Public Sector HR Consultants, outline the consultant services her company could provide in this regard: a comprehensive salary study including recommendations for an ongoing salary scale, including comparisons with other similar County scales - not just salary, but benefits, hours, working conditions, job titles and descriptions, etc. They would also fully integrate a County Manager into the study. To most of us, it sounded like the best approach to an ever-growing problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The County can't just decide to contract with a consultant - we have to send out a Request for Proposals (RFP) and invite a wide variety of consulting organizations to respond with their plans and pricing. The RFP for the salary study finally went out early this year (after a completely unnecessary delay), and because of the way it was written - by 'our purchasing department,' which is the Onondaga County Purchasing Department - Ms. Travers' company did not respond. The two organizations which did respond really weren't qualified, primarily because they had no experience working with Counties. One, it seemed, had no experience at all, and the other wanted to charge us twice the rate noted in the RFP.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So after further unnecessary delay, a second RFP was "put out on the street" in July, this time written with more care and clearly encompassing what PSHRC had offered to do. However, just last week, we received a response from PSHRC, informing us that they were not able to take our project on at this time. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We will see if we get any other responses this time that are any better than the ones we got last time. But the truth is, we will have spent an entire year in a fruitless attempt to solicit a professional salary study that a respected organization had offered us at the beginning of that year. This seems incredible to me, and suggests that there are major problems in the way we do government.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What makes this even worse is the fact that the salary study was our single, focused initiative for moving forward on the County Manager. So - unless we get a wonderful proposal out of thin air in the next few weeks, we have no plan for establishing an M&C salary scale, and no plan for moving forward with a County Manager.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This does not mean that plans will not emerge. They will, and, given the timing, they will be substantially affected by the results of November's elections. But for now, this does not look like the way to run a County.</span>Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-6161858360258385102017-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:002017-08-15T07:01:46.460-07:00To the Heart of the Matter<span class="fontstyle0"><span style="font-size: large;">...and here is the rest of <a href="https://otsego11.blogspot.com/2017/08/for-last-year-and-half-i-have-received.html" target="_blank">the letter begun below</a>. Andrew uses the difficulties in managing the NTS closing as an example of the real inadequacy of County government, as it is currently structured, to manage large numbers of these types of issues in a coordinated manner. We are largely working in silos, semi-independent Committees made up of a handful of laymen, operating without clear lines of communications or procedural guidance, trying to oversee twenty-some-odd departments without providing any overall direction or coordination. We're a $110,000,000 organization without a CEO.</span></span><br />
<span class="fontstyle0"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="fontstyle0"><span style="font-size: large;">I don't agree with everything that Andrew says here, but our disagreements are minor and often just a matter of scale. I believe that a County Manager is part of the solution to these fundamental structural problems, but only one part - we have quite a bit more to do even after a manager is in place. </span></span><br />
<span class="fontstyle0"><br /></span>
<span class="fontstyle0">In reflecting on these recent developments about the upcoming closure of NTS and the notification process, I<br />have come to realize the situation facing Otsego County government operations is a true crisis. Otsego County<br />government is dependent on an ineffective committee and leadership structure, and immediate action is required to<br />strengthen and improve the County for success to result. First, it is important to remember that the County’s operating<br />budget is well over $100 million and hundreds of people are employed, and yet, the County has no central authority,<br />manager or administrator. Thus, all operating decisions are funneled through a group of committees carrying out a<br />duplicative approval process where a home committee votes on actions like a new hire or purchase request first, then<br />this same action is voted on and approved by the Administration Committee, and finally the full Board votes on this<br />resolution at a Board meeting. This system of management by committee is significantly limited by committee and<br />Board meetings that are held once a month. The end result is that the Otsego County Board is mostly approving<br />operating transactions. Hiring a new employee, making a budget transfer, carrying out a purchase of supplies, or<br />attending training are common examples.</span><br />
<span class="fontstyle0">The County Board’s focus on transactional decisions limits the opportunity to address other policy<br />considerations. Committee meetings require Department Heads to provide detailed background information on actions<br />like a budgeted new hire, while leaving little to no time for other policy considerations and discussions. Compare this<br />situation to most other companies or organizations of similar size (or smaller) where a manager can move forward with<br />this hire based on approval by budget or from the company president or organizational executive director. Overall,<br />many County committee meetings are lengthy, lasting hours.<br />Another challenge resulting from the County’s committee structure is the micromanagement of general<br />operations. Over the last year and a half (and longer in some cases), committees have struggled to complete various<br />projects, like a workplace violence investigation, compensation study of department heads, fleet management program,<br />the management of tower site leases, and even the Onondaga purchasing partnership. Where committees have<br />specifically taken it upon themselves to carry out general operations, the structure and limitations of the committee<br />system have been obstructions to decision making and taking action. Ultimately, Department Heads, who are the<br />experts and carry out the day-to-day operations, are the key to successful implementation of policy decisions the County<br />Representatives approve. Thus, when the County decided to repair and renovate the Northern Transfer Station, the<br />implementation of this decision rests with the Director of Planning, Karen Sullivan, and the Planning Department. If the<br />SWEC Committee were to have taken a direct operations role in managing this process, the construction decisions would<br />have been clearly limited and slowed or even not completed in timely manner.<br />Finally, the County’s leadership structure is insufficient to support County operations. There is a County Chair,<br />who is elected annually by the Board, but the Chair is not a full-time position. The County Chair is not positioned as a<br />County manager or administrator, nor does the Chair supervise Department Heads on a daily basis. The County Chair<br />also does not convene any management meetings with all Department Heads. There is no coordination of the<br />committees or committee chairs either. Committee chairs are not convened as a group, and there is not a standard<br />committee operating approach. The County Chair position exists more so as a mechanism to set the committees, make<br />appointments, run Board meetings, approve contracts and serve as a point of contact. It is a position offering<br />coordination, but there is no primary focus on policy development, nor focus on management. Thus, the current<br />position structure creates a shortfall in both areas negatively impacting County operations.<br />The future success of Otsego County depends on embracing change. The current system is failing us, and we<br />must take immediate action. First, the County should not delay any longer in approving a County manager or<br />administrator position. Otsego County needs a central point of contact who will supervise and convene Department<br />Heads, while supporting them in their positions. A County manager will also guide the implementation of policy set by<br />the County Board of Representatives and bring it into action. Committee meetings can be streamlined and focus more<br />on policy discussions. The County Chair position will be improved and allow more focus on policy setting. The County<br />Chair can also better coordinate the committee chairs and provide more direction. Overall, these changes will allow the<br />County to be more effective and achieve greater success with its committee system and County Chair position.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I need to make it clear that none of these problems is the result of any failing on the part of our Department Heads or management staff. In fact, it is they who have held us together as County leadership kind of stumbles forward from crisis to crisis without a way to truly lead everyone. I give them all - what did we do to deserve such talented leaders? - enormous credit for the hard work and ingenuity they exhibit day in and day out to keep the County moving in the right direction.</span>Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6048917059485196857.post-30019014336613402432017-08-15T05:44:00.001-07:002017-08-15T05:55:53.411-07:00Northern Transfer Station<span style="font-size: large;">Andrew Marrietta, County Rep from the town of Otsego, recently prepared this letter in order to clear up the confusion, created primarily by a political opponent, regarding the closure of the Northern Transfer Station, outside of Cooperstown on Rt. 28. The facility, which has been deteriorating for years and was, originally, poorly designed, leading to safety and traffic issues, will be updated and improved, resulting in a much better experience for all concerned. The renovation will, however, required a six week closure, which is, naturally, of concern to residents.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="fontstyle0"> For the last year and half, I have received many phone calls about the disrepair of the Northern Transfer Station<br />in Cooperstown. I have had local Cooperstown residents call me about punctured car tires, and they have related how<br />they no longer visit the Transfer Station or bring their recycling because of the poor quality of the entrance road and<br />paving around the building. I’m a frequent visitor to the Transfer Station myself, going there weekly. There is no<br />question that the Transfer Station is in need of significant repairs and shows the impact of years of deferred<br />maintenance.<br /> Since being appointed to the Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns (SWEC) Committee in January of 2016, I<br />have continuously learned about the County’s solid waste management operations, including the significant repairs<br />planned for the Southern Transfer Station in Oneonta and the Northern Transfer Station in Cooperstown. The SWEC<br />Committee received updates on these construction plans and coordination between Casella Waste Management and<br />Cobleskill Stone, including that the general rollout was to occur sometime in 2017. This construction information shared<br />with SWEC also made clear that the scope and scale of the work at the Northern Transfer Station would require some<br />limited closure. Although the question was raised about trying to allow some kind of access during the repair and<br />renovation, the safety and logistical challenges were stressed and outweighed any such option.<br /> I also have learned through the SWEC Committee that the County supports a number of Drop-Off Centers, which<br />are listed on the County website (</span><span class="fontstyle0" style="color: blue;">www.otsegocounty.com/depts/sw/OCDropoffCenters.htm</span><span class="fontstyle0">) , and include Cherry<br />Valley, Decatur, Exeter, Hartwick, Maryland, Morris, Oneonta, Pittsfield, Richfield, Springfield, Unadilla, Westford and<br />Worcester. Many of these Drop-Off Centers offer recycling and bagged garbage disposal options. More specifically, I<br />learned that the Drop-Off Centers in Exeter, Cherry Valley and Richfield Springs offer recycling and bagged garbage<br />options, while Hartwick offers recycling only.<br /> Otsego County’s solid waste management information and efforts are guided by the County’s Planning<br />Department Head Karen Sullivan and her staff. The SWEC Committee members are supported and informed by these<br />essential County employees. With this in mind, the July 31</span><span class="fontstyle0">st </span><span class="fontstyle0">announcement that the Northern Transfer Station closure<br />would occur August 21</span><span class="fontstyle0">st </span><span class="fontstyle0">and last until September 30</span><span class="fontstyle0">th </span><span class="fontstyle0">was not ideal. I myself actually learned on July 31</span><span class="fontstyle0">st </span><span class="fontstyle0">of the<br />Cooperstown Transfer Station upcoming closure first from a constituent, John Phillips, who called me from NTS about<br />notices being given. I then called Karen Sullivan about this notice, which she confirmed and explained the reasoning for<br />the action and her Department’s plans to notify residents and work to make the most of the 3 week timeframe. She<br />indicated Board notification and a press release were being sent, which all County Reps received that day (July 31</span><span class="fontstyle0">st</span><span class="fontstyle0">).<br /> Overall, this news was unexpected, but regardless of the timing, I understood this was a difficult decision made by our<br />Department Head in the best interest of Otsego County, so I contacted the Town of Otsego Supervisor, the Mayor of<br />Cooperstown and my additional contacts about the closure on July 31</span><span class="fontstyle0">st</span><span class="fontstyle0">. I emphasized the scope of the work being<br />carried out (relocation and replacement of 30 year old scale; improving the scale entry and traffic flow; new drainage<br />catch basins; removing the “mound” that exists adjacent to the existing scale house with a smaller unit; road<br />improvements; and new signage), and I pointed out the Drop-Off Centers. I also encouraged people to attend the<br />August 2</span><span class="fontstyle0">nd </span><span class="fontstyle0">County Board meeting, including John Phillips, to share their feedback and concerns about the closure. It was<br />at this meeting that expanding the operating hours of Exeter to mirror the Cooperstown Transfer Station (Mon, Wed,<br />Friday 7am to 12pm and Saturday 8am to 2pm), which was already a County Drop-Off Site, was discussed and then<br />finalized the next day.</span></span></blockquote>
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Gary Koutnikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16431656279660089067noreply@blogger.com0