NORWICH – A game of musical chairs got kick-started Tuesday when the county’s board chairman recommended that a number of government offices switch places.
The moves would take place next year as the estimated $2 million in demolition and exterior renovations are completed at the former Sheriff’s Office and Chenango County Jail on West Park Place in Norwich. An architectural firm is currently completing material selections and contract documentation for the project.
Members of the Agriculture, Buildings & Grounds Committee passed a resolution yesterday onto consideration by the full board of supervisors that calls for moving the Chenango County Department of Social Services administration, legal and information technology offices from the County Office Building on Court Street over to the two buildings. A division of DSS already operates from a renovated portion of the old jail.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker’s executive suite, which includes the county attorney’s offices, along with the boardroom, Personnel Department and Clerk of the Board’s offices would move into the vacated space. Some Mental Hygiene Services offices on the third floor of the County Office Building would move into Decker’s former suite, leaving the entire third floor available for use by New York’s Sixth Judicial District Court.
The office switches are meant to accommodate the district’s requirements for additional secure space in the county - including for a future second judgeship - as well as take advantage of any cost efficiencies.
“That should solve their (the district’s) security problem,” Decker, R-North Norwich, said. “There would be no public access up there on the third floor nor at the new DSS administrative space at the former Sheriff’s Office.”
Decker said the New York State Department of Social Services would absorb any costs related to completing interior renovations to fit their needs, including fiber optic network and other utility work.
“We are getting a social services administrative building for one-tenth of what we would have had to pay,” Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown said.
“It makes a whale of a lot of sense,” Committee Chairman Robert D. Briggs, R-Afton, said.
The boardroom would become a multi-purpose room available for use by any department, Decker said, adding that there shouldn’t be a lot of costs involved with the actual move.
“There will be reciprocal (cost-associated) benefits from the courts moving in here,” Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said.
Members of John Snyder Architects were on hand at the committee meeting yesterday to showcase material samples and proposed colors for the office buildings. The committee’s intentions are to restore the 104-year old facades, including cleaning the orange, red-toned bricks rather than painting over them.