NORWICH – A flurry of phone calls flew over the holidays between Chenango County’s supervisors in preparation for Monday’s appointment of a board chairman for 2010.
The seemingly pre-orchestrated effort by the Democratic Party to unseat incumbent Richard B. Decker, R-N. Norwich, resulted in not one but two candidates nominated for the position – and both of them Republicans. First-term Supervisor William Craine, of Sherburne, and ninth-term City of Norwich Ward 4, 5, and 6 Supervisor Linda E. Natoli accepted nominations to the position.
Nonetheless, after the roll call, Decker came out the victor by a majority of weighted votes. All but one of the board’s Democrats, Independent George C. Coates of Columbus, the politically unaffiliated New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello, newcomer Republican John Phelan of Coventry and Craine himself threw their support behind the Sherburne supervisor.
Finance Committee Vice Chairman Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, sided with the Republicans by voting for Decker. His weighted vote, at only 26, would not have mattered, however.
“I was aware of it (the challenge to his position). I heard there were a lot of phone calls made over the break to get ready for this. I didn’t get any,” said Decker in response to the unprecedented challenge to the position he will resume for a 13th year as chair. He has represented North Norwich since 1994.
In his acceptance speech, Decker said he recognized that politics is the “name of the game” in government. He thanked the members of his party for nominating and voting for him. He said he would continue as board chairman for “as long as they want me.” The office is for a one-year term.
Decker pointed to his administration’s success at paying off the Chenango County Public Safety Facility on schedule using the mandated 1 percent sales tax as a way to save property taxpayers’ money. He also noted the restoration and transformation of the former Sheriff’s Office and Jail into new offices for the Department of Social Services as well as the 911 Emergency Management project that is expected to be up and running in the spring. Some of the new communications towers will likely offer space to cellular telephone companies in the future, he said.
Decker also mentioned Agro Farma’s pending employee expansion and relocation into the former Procter & Gamble Woods Corners facility, saying the company’s vow to purchase milk from local producers to manufacture yogurt would be “good news for our dairy farmers.”
But, it was Decker’s insistence that county supervisors be more “proactive” but “sure of the effects on residents water supplies” when it comes to involving county land in the natural gas drilling industry that struck to the core of yesterday’s challenge to his position.
After the vote, Natural Gas Committee Chairman Peter C. Flanagan, D-Preston, called an executive session to discuss what he said was “a legal issue.” After the lengthy session, New Berlin’s Supervisor Iannello, who nominated Craine for county chairman, said he was “disappointed” with the outcome. Though he wouldn’t go into specifics, he said the executive session was about natural gas and that he had nominated Craine because he felt the county needed “new direction” in handling offers of leasing county land.
Chenango County is currently facing a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation compulsory integration hearing next Thursday. Members of the Natural Gas Committee have urged Decker and County Attorney Richard Breslin to enable taxpayers’ to profit as much as possible from a natural gas well to be drilled adjacent to county-owned land in the Town of Preston. Despite wording in county law that might possibly enable a renewable lease, Breslin has advised the county to become a non-participating owner, the least lucrative of the three choices offered at a the hearing.
Iannello said county taxpayers would, in effect, be forfeiting “tens of thousands of dollars.” The county owns 1,500 acres that might possible be of interest to natural gas companies in the future. Iannello said the county’s highway department should be identifying its right-of-ways and acres of highway. “We should be identifying it all,” he said.
Craine, a Sherburne businessman who was previously chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s, made his case for assuming the position. He said he has spent his career leading companies through “some very difficult times” and his experience has made him capable of handling “the financial challenges” facing the county. He said he had a forward-thinking nature and quoted the Fleetwood Mac song, “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.”
Natoli, who received no votes, was nominated by Jerry Kreiner, R-Plymouth. She said she didn’t make any phone calls to garner support. “I knew I wouldn’t win, but Jerry and I wanted to make a statement that we all just don’t line up like sheep. ... It proved the fact that the good old boy network is still alive and well,” she said.
Town of Greene Supervisor Jack T. Cook, a Republican, said he was happy Decker was voted chairman again and had nothing against the other candidates. He said he “went with the man most qualified.”
“I don’t think coming in here the first year, you can take over,” he said of the challenge by Craine. “It takes a little time to know what’s going on.”