Palmatier hired as business development consultant
NORWICH – The Chenango County Board of Supervisors threw its full support behind a consultant who is charged with developing business opportunities within the natural gas industry.
The board voted unanimously Monday to hire on Preston businessman Steven Palmatier of Walking Ridge Development LLC for the remainder of the year and throughout 2010. Palmatier already serves on Commerce Chenango’s governmental affairs committee and the county’s natural gas committee, and has actively pursued economic development, educational and training contacts on behalf of Chenango County for the past several months.
Planning and Economic Development Committee Chairperson Linda E. Natoli said the board’s previous questions regarding a possible conflict of interest in hiring Palmatier, who is a well owner, were “not a conflict in the name of economic development.”
“We are all very aware and we are confident that he will contact us if anything comes up that is questionable in terms of ethics,” she said. “We need to move ahead with this opportunity. We don’t want to blow it.”
Natural Gas Committee member Supervisor Ross Iannello, unaffiliated-New Berlin, said the salary for Palmatier, $10,800 through December and $38,000 for next year, was “a heck of a break.”
“It would cost us five times more to afford this,” he said.
According to a report to company shareholders this spring, Norse Energy identified 1,850 sites for drilling multiple wells into the Herkimer, Marcellus and Utica formations in Central New York over the next 10 to 15 years. Palmatier has suggested as many as 16,000 plus wells could potentially be drilled within 50 miles of Chenango County, creating more than 2,600 jobs and attracting well supply, trucking and other natural gas related industries to the area.
Members of the board discussed the need for an ethics committee to review possible conflicts of interest that might arise from the development of natural gas. Many town supervisors, and indeed the county itself, could profit from land leases and natural gas production.
In a separate resolution adopted by the board, the county urged New York State to provide adequate resources for the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Mineral Resources. The measure, to be mailed to Gov. David Paterson and regional state representatives, states:
“The NYSDEC division lacks the capacity to provide complete and timely regulatory oversight” and the pending Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement is “long overdue.”
Supervisor James Bays, D-Smyrna, said hiring more staff was “critically important” for Chenango County’s towns that are already facing well development.
“The DEC is woefully understaffed and needs to ramp up quickly,” he said.
The county’s resolution calls for funding staff with permit fees as opposed to a state severance tax.
Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown said state lawmakers should realize the opportunity from natural gas development and immediately fund the staff and resources necessary out of the general fund.
“The fact that the gas deposit in the Southern Tier of New York and in Pennsylvania rivals that of major natural gas finds nationally ought to tell them that the opportunity is at hand,” Brown said. “We need to tell them, ‘Get off your ass and do the job before it’s too late.’ ... We need to get this done. The details have to be worked out, but if the state can hand over $460,000 in Back to School supplies (from the general fund) when they (the eligible recipients) are buying Nintendo and beer, and we all know it, then they should be able to do this.”
Brown was referring to a state authorized program this fall that gave $200 each to 2,312 Chenango County students aged 4 to 17 whose families were on temporary assistance or food stamps programs.
The board voted unanimously Monday to hire on Preston businessman Steven Palmatier of Walking Ridge Development LLC for the remainder of the year and throughout 2010. Palmatier already serves on Commerce Chenango’s governmental affairs committee and the county’s natural gas committee, and has actively pursued economic development, educational and training contacts on behalf of Chenango County for the past several months.
Planning and Economic Development Committee Chairperson Linda E. Natoli said the board’s previous questions regarding a possible conflict of interest in hiring Palmatier, who is a well owner, were “not a conflict in the name of economic development.”
“We are all very aware and we are confident that he will contact us if anything comes up that is questionable in terms of ethics,” she said. “We need to move ahead with this opportunity. We don’t want to blow it.”
Natural Gas Committee member Supervisor Ross Iannello, unaffiliated-New Berlin, said the salary for Palmatier, $10,800 through December and $38,000 for next year, was “a heck of a break.”
“It would cost us five times more to afford this,” he said.
According to a report to company shareholders this spring, Norse Energy identified 1,850 sites for drilling multiple wells into the Herkimer, Marcellus and Utica formations in Central New York over the next 10 to 15 years. Palmatier has suggested as many as 16,000 plus wells could potentially be drilled within 50 miles of Chenango County, creating more than 2,600 jobs and attracting well supply, trucking and other natural gas related industries to the area.
Members of the board discussed the need for an ethics committee to review possible conflicts of interest that might arise from the development of natural gas. Many town supervisors, and indeed the county itself, could profit from land leases and natural gas production.
In a separate resolution adopted by the board, the county urged New York State to provide adequate resources for the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Mineral Resources. The measure, to be mailed to Gov. David Paterson and regional state representatives, states:
“The NYSDEC division lacks the capacity to provide complete and timely regulatory oversight” and the pending Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement is “long overdue.”
Supervisor James Bays, D-Smyrna, said hiring more staff was “critically important” for Chenango County’s towns that are already facing well development.
“The DEC is woefully understaffed and needs to ramp up quickly,” he said.
The county’s resolution calls for funding staff with permit fees as opposed to a state severance tax.
Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown said state lawmakers should realize the opportunity from natural gas development and immediately fund the staff and resources necessary out of the general fund.
“The fact that the gas deposit in the Southern Tier of New York and in Pennsylvania rivals that of major natural gas finds nationally ought to tell them that the opportunity is at hand,” Brown said. “We need to tell them, ‘Get off your ass and do the job before it’s too late.’ ... We need to get this done. The details have to be worked out, but if the state can hand over $460,000 in Back to School supplies (from the general fund) when they (the eligible recipients) are buying Nintendo and beer, and we all know it, then they should be able to do this.”
Brown was referring to a state authorized program this fall that gave $200 each to 2,312 Chenango County students aged 4 to 17 whose families were on temporary assistance or food stamps programs.
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