NORWICH – Plans are on hold for moving departments around in the Chenango County Office Building despite a recent plea from the district attorney for more space and promises made to administrators of New York’s Sixth Judicial District that renovations on their new offices would begin this year.
With the Social Services department fully ensconced in the former jail and sheriff’s complex across the street, vacant space in the county government building’s Annex wing is currently available for one or more departments. Once those office moves are made, a resolution adopted in the county’s Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee in August of 2007 stipulates that the entire third floor of the main building on Court Street would be set aside for the courts.
Chenango County, Family and Surrogate Judge W. Howard Sullivan and court administration representatives delivered a formal draft floor plan and a space analysis to county officials in August of 2008 and, at that time, were given a two-year time frame for beginning the renovations. The court district has been requesting more space for more than a decade.
But, Chenango County Chairman of the Board Richard B. Decker said last week that not knowing the state’s budget for next year has put any plans for further office moves on hold.
“We have to wait and see. We’re not ready to make that step. ... It’s such an unknown about where we are going to go,” he said
No cost estimate for the court district’s renovations was given, however Decker said he believed the move “would be expensive.”
“We had an idea of what we were going to move and what that would be (the cost), but if we make any physical changes like what the courts want to do upstairs, that’s a whole different story,’ he said. The courts have requested approximately 12,100 square feet of space versus the 4,394 square feet presently occupied.
In an April 1, 2010 letter to Chenango County Safety and Rules Committee Chairman Jack Cook, District Attorney Joseph A. McBride said his physical office space was inadequate for meeting with victims and addressing their concerns privately. His secretaries, he said, “can’t hear themselves talk” and his assistants “can’t concentrate” because of the number of victims, police officers and witnesses in the two rooms.
McBride presented a comparison of space for DA’s offices in the surrounding counties. In Cortland County, with a comparable population of approximately 50,000, the DA has 1,370 square feet of space with six offices, a support staff area and a conference room. Chenango County has two rooms with approximately 520 square feet of space.
Adequate storage space for record keeping purposes has also plagued the county for many years.
DSS’s move to West Park Place was precipitated by court space requirements, but questions remained regarding the nature and amount of court facility aid that would be available to the county for the additional accommodations.
Decker said it was important to react “in a timely manner” to space needs at this time of fiscal constraint. “The danger is that we don’t overreact,” he said.