NORWICH – A conflict of interest issue has not stopped swirling around a consultant who was hired in mid-September to develop economic opportunities within the natural gas industry for Chenango County.
Lengthy executive sessions were held during this month’s Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday at a meeting of the Planning & Economic Development committee where Preston businessman Steven Palmatier’s contract was discussed. The contract has not been signed, and Palmatier hasn’t been paid.
While both sessions were closed to the media, at issue appears to be specific wording in the contract that would prohibit Palmatier from talking to energy companies or pipeline developers in the scope of his duties.
Board Chairman Richard B. Decker said Palmatier’s personal business relationship with Norse Energy Inc., a gas company that has drilled a well on his wife’s property and is proposing to build a pipeline through or near her land, would make it a conflict of interest if he were to discuss economic development matters for the county with them.
“Direct contact is where the problem lies. There’s a perceived ethical problem with that,” said Decker.
The chairman, who said he remains optimistic that Palmatier can be officially hired “and do good work for the county,” said the entrepreneurial, corporate, trade, educational and other contacts and proposals Palmatier forges need to be turned over to Commerce Chenango, SUNY Morrisville or the Planning Department, for example, which would then market the prospective ventures to the energy or pipeline companies involved in the region.
“Let the Chamber or private business talk to them,” said Decker. “He has to be able to separate that in his private life, and I think he can. There are certain restrictions and laws that govern the conduct that you have to live with. That applies to me doing business in my town as well as to Steve.”
City of Norwich Supervisor Linda Natoli, who is chairman of the Planning & Economic Development Committee, said Chenango County would be missing opportunities without someone like Palmatier “championing for good ideas” and “owning them.”
“You know what happens when you turn things over to other people to do them. They aren’t as passionate. Steven is fired up and passionate about the possibilities for all of us with this gas,” she said. “He’ll do nothing but help Chenango County. We need his expertise; but, he doesn’t need us.”
After a 30-minute executive session, Natoli’s committee sent Palmatier’s contract back to the county’s attorney with suggested verbiage changes.
“The changes are extra options that our consultant will be able to move forward with,” she said.
The Chenango County Board of Supervisors threw their full support behind Palmatier at the September board meeting, agreeing to pay him $10,800 through December and $38,000 for next year. New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello appeared to express the sentiments of all when he said hiring Palmatier for that amount of money was “a heck of a break.”
Decker said he hoped the committee wouldn’t “get hung up” about the specific wording and “step back and take a breath and work within the contract.”
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 the county for several months.
Natoli said the board’s previous questions regarding a possible conflict of interest in hiring Palmatier were “not a conflict in the name of economic development.”
Commenting on the county’s choice for a consultant, Todd Barnes, a founding member of the Central New York Landowners Coalition, said Palmatier was “very capable” and that that “gives him credibility.” However, speaking on behalf of the 166,000-acre organization, Barnes said many landowners are concerned about Norse Energy Inc.’s “strong arm tactics” for leasing land for wells and for pipeline infrastructure.
“It’s still going on,” he said. “A lot of us feel that Norse Energy has taken advantage of people who didn’t know what they were doing. ... We just don’t want the county running the industry over the people who are here.”