NORWICH – Oxford dairyman Lawrence Wilcox was unanimously appointed board of supervisors chairman Tuesday at the kickoff of Chenango County’s 214th year of deliberations.
The 63-year-old veteran lawmaker was sworn into office along with newly-appointed County Attorney Alan E. Gordon, Public Defender John D. Cameron, Budget Officer William C. Craine and Clerk of the Board RC Woodford. The Honorable Kevin M. Dowd, Supreme Court Justice, officiated.
Wilcox said he was “greatly humbled” by the board’s support. He thanked his family for shouldering the work of their business so he could accept the position, and saluted outgoing Chairman Richard B. Decker and past administrations for making the soon-to-be debt-free Chenango County “the envy of other counties.”
Looking ahead, however, Wilcox pointed to the challenge of levying the approximately $23 to $24 million required from property taxpayers annually in order to run the county’s government in the face of a state-imposed cap on the growth of those taxes as well as multiplying mandates.
“The tax cap on local governments is addressing symptoms of illness, but it’s not the county’s illness. The state wants county governments to take care of it,” he said.
Clerk of the Board of Supervisors RC Woodford introduced the seven new supervisors elected in November: John N. Lawrence of Afton; Tom P. Grace of Columbus; George L. Westcott of Coventry; Dr. Robert Wansor of North Norwich; Robert M. Jeffrey representing Wards 4-6 in the City of Norwich; Evan T. Williams of Otselic; and Fred J. Heisler Jr. of Smithville.
The first meeting of 2012 was not without controversy, however. Attempts by the supervisor from Smyrna, James B. Bays, to hold the board accountable to a 1996 resolution requiring that vacant department director posts be advertised were denied.
In his first ruling – and one that affected his own appointment – Attorney Gordon said resolutions adopted by past boards are not binding.
“A resolution is an expression of intent, but not a local law. It doesn’t bind future boards,” he said.
His statement was preceded by the same message from the newly-elected board Chairman Wilcox.
Gordon’s former assistant John D. Cameron was appointed to replace him as the county’s new public defender. Neither position was advertised and no candidates were interviewed for the posts, which pay $104,520 and $58,066 plus benefits, respectively. (Fringe benefits, health care and pension now average about 58 percent of salary.)
Supervisor Bays pulled up the 16-year-old resolution to make a case for following procedure upon the unexpected retirement of former county attorney Richard Breslin last month. While he said he had “no issue” with either Gordon or Cameron, Bays called upon the board to do their due diligence with vacant positions, especially those that pay more than $100,000 and have administrative duties.
“These positions should have been posted and advertised and I regret that we aren’t choosing to do that,” said Bays.
Assistant County Attorney Leonard W. Smith, sitting in for Breslin at the December meeting, concurred with Bays at that time, saying he was under the impression that the position would indeed be posted by the Personnel Department. A disagreement ensued between Bays and his fellow Democrat Dennis Brown of Pharsalia as to whether the county lawyer was actually a department director. Even Personnel Committee Chairman Wayne Outwater said the 1996 resolution could be followed if the board chose to do so.
“It’s not like there isn’t going to be anybody there to do the job. He does have assistants,” he said. “Let it roll into January, then advertise and set salary.”
During a discussion yesterday of a motion to appoint Cameron, City of Norwich Wards 1-3 Supervisor James J. McNeil asked another supervisor to volunteer to make a motion “to waive the 1996 resolution publicly so that we are all on board.”
“We have a vacancy now and definitely a department head here. The position should be advertised as the rules say,” he said.
Preston’s Peter C. Flanagan made the motion. It was seconded by George Seneck of Guilford. Cameron was likewise appointed, but Bays opposed.
During discussion of a motion to appoint Gordon, Flanagan successfully made a motion that was passed that amended and reduced the salary for the position’s add-on part-time worker’s compensation administrative duties. To follow, Town of New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello moved to combine the two titles into one, making the insurance portion part of the attorney’s regular duties. Supervisor Brown countered that the two positions were separated in order to receive revenues from towns for that portion of the county attorney’s job.
While Iannello stated, “but we all pay county taxes, so why separate that into a town charge? It’s all the same pot,” he ultimately agreed to rescind his motion and proceeded to send a referral to the Personnel Committee to combine the two posts.
The former public defender was appointed with the full support of all 23 town and City of Norwich supervisors.