NORWICH – A closed meeting of a small group of Republican supervisors held last week in the county office building raised the ire of at least two county leaders who weren’t invited, both of them also Republicans.
The meeting was convened in the morning on Thursday, May 5 to introduce Chenango County’s newly-contracted union negotiator and to discuss new labor contracts with the Law Enforcement Association and Chenango County Sheriff’s Employee’s Association. Wayne Outwater, R-Lincklaen, chairman of the county’s personnel committee, said Monday that he called the meeting, but he was not specific in a previous phone interview about that. He said it was a meeting of “mostly committee chairmen.”
City of Norwich Supervisor Linda E. Natoli brought the special meeting to the county board’s attention Monday, and complained that if all lawmakers are to vote on union contracts eventually, they should be able to know the particulars.
Town of Plymouth Supervisor Jerry Kreiner said the unannounced gathering was “a slap in the face to the rest of us.”
“As we go forward and begin to talk about the budget and any possible lay offs that might result from these discussions ... it shouldn’t be a select few who are involved,” he said.
Chenango County Board Chairman Richard B. Decker, R-N. Norwich, did not attend the meeting, nor was he invited. Decker has traditionally represented the county in negotiations with the support of the law firm, Hancock Estabrook, LLC of Syracuse. He said the firm recommended a new consultant, LeRoy Kotary of New Hartford, to handle the job this year because, as he said, “I’m not going to do it any more.”
Decker, who is in his 14th year in the top job, said he has become frustrated by government employees’ rising health insurance and retirement costs (some pensions are over 3 percent this year), and the lengthy push/pull between union reps protecting workers’ compensation packages and supervisors wanting to rein in both benefit costs and raises.
“It’s a process that they (the unions) set, whether you like it or not,” said Decker.
Outwater said negotiations with the two unions, which are both represented by the same person, “aren’t going that great.” Both contracts expired at the end of 2010. The LEA, which covers the sheriffs and deputies, filed for interest arbitration five months ago, meaning raises are most likely set already. The CCSEA contract, which covers corrections officers and all other staff, is still undetermined.
“We’ve already given each other concessions, but no decision has been reached by either side,” Outwater said about the CCSEA contract. He called the LEA contract “elite.”
“They (deputies) have different rules and regulations. They can negotiate on salary and health care, but I don’t think they want to do that. ... It’s been a one-way street for the last couple of negotiations,” he said, adding that the rep for both unions “is an ex-cop from downstate who thinks he ought to be paid the same thing the police is paid in metropolitan New York City.”
“He’s been a real bear cat to get a hold of,” Outwater said.
The county’s new consultant, Kotary, did not return a phone call.
Attending were supervisors from the towns of Norwich, Afton, Lincklaen, Greene and Oxford, all chairman of their respective committees. Two of the seven committees weren’t represented.