NORWICH – Chenango County’s approximately 5,000 veterans aren’t being served as they have been in the past nor as they should be, a local administrator said Wednesday.

Staffing at the New York State Veteran’s Affairs Office in Oxford has been cut from three days a week to just Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Veteran’s Services Administrator Joe Coe told members of the Safety & Rules Committee meeting Wednesday that if a vet needed assistance on any other day, they would have to wait “a whole week and then make an appointment.”

“We are dropping the ball on these vets,” he said.

The office in Oxford connects veterans with the educational benefits and transportation services that they are eligible for as well as with medical services available through the federal office. Coe said the closest U.S. Veteran’s Affairs office is in Syracuse. He also said New York traditionally provides better access to services than are available through the federal office.