NORWICH – Chenango County will lose nearly a half century’s worth of government experience at year’s end when at least five or as many as nine new supervisors gather around the boardroom table, led also by a new chairman.
When combined, three town supervisors who are retiring account for nearly a half a century’s worth of experience. They are: Afton’s Robert D. Briggs, North Norwich’s Richard B. Decker (current board chairman); and Alan I. Johnson, who has represented Smithville since 2004.
Coventry’s outgoing Supervisor John Phelan Sr. would tack on another nine years of (intermittent) experience. The current supervisor in the final town making a change, Columbus, held office for only a year.
The remaining four seats being challenged are those held by seasoned supervisors as well: Linda E. Natoli, R-City of Norwich Wards 4, 5 and 6; Arrington J. Canor, R-McDonough; David J. Messineo, D-Otselic; and James B. Bays, D-Smyrna.
Republicans have always ruled the roost in Chenango County government, and only a few on rare occasions have voted with the opposition. Of the nine possible new officials on the board, three will definitely remain Republican: the City of Norwich, North Norwich, and Smithville. Even though the challenger in the county’s seat is running under an independent party affiliation, he is a registered Republican.
If the two major party affiliations, Republican and Democrat, were to switch in any of the remaining towns up for grabs, only the Town of Afton’s population is large enough to have significant political influence under the county’s weighted voting system.
If Afton and McDonough voters elect Democrat supervisors, their combined weighted vote count would be enough to over rule every Republican-held town’s vote except the county’s three largest: Greene, Oxford and Sherburne.
Candidates for county board chairman won’t be known until much later in the year, and possibly not until the organizational meeting in January 2012. However, Town of Guilford Supervisor George Seneck and Town of Oxford Supervisor Lawrence Wilcox, both Republicans, are already in the running.
Seneck took his hat out of the race in mid July when he said a core group of the GOP were supporting someone else, most likely Wilcox. But he’s a contender again and plans to discuss his candidacy soon with Chenango County Republican Party Chairman Tom Morrone.
The first-term Guilford supervisor said he enjoyed “good, across the board support” from supervisors. To educate himself about county government, he has spent the year attending standing committee meetings, listening to department directors’ concerns, touring the county’s public safety facility and landfills, and traveling to towns to meet supervisors on their own turf.
Oxford’s Wilcox has led the town and represented its concerns at the county level of government since 1998. During his tenure, he has been a member of nearly every committee and also served as chairman of the Chenango County Finance Committee for the past five years. While he acknowledged his candidacy, Wilcox said he is currently focusing all of his energy on the county’s budget for 2012.
“Right now I have an $80 million plus budget to worry about with a tax cap. I would like to put that to bed before I worry about that,” he said Monday, adding that mandates from Albany are making the 2012 budget the toughest he’s had to create in 14 years.