Co. Board Members Express Communication Concerns

By BILL BELLEN
OTSEGO COUNTY

Shortly before the Otsego County Board of Representatives was called to order for its September 2 meeting, Chairman Edwin Frazier Jr. offered remarks honoring recent county retiree Barbara Dulkis. Frazier shared that Dulkis had worked for the county for 15 years, holding multiple positions in the Department of Social Services and as a motor vehicle clerk before ending her career in the role of motor vehicle bureau supervisor—a title which she acquired in 2020.

Frazier said that Dulkis had already received a commemorative gift from her department, adding that her “contributions made a lasting impact and we truly appreciate the time and effort she’s devoted throughout her career.”

Following roll call, where Rep. Daniel Wilber was noted as absent, and a silent privilege of the floor, Rep. Keith McCarty jumped into his Public Works Committee report. McCarty recounted that Wilber had proposed the drafting of a policy that would require that the county plant a tree and place a plaque at the new farm property in honor of former board members when they pass away. While acknowledging the heartfelt sentiment behind the motion, McCarty explained why he and Rep. James Powers voted against the measure.

“Mr. Powers and I voted against it because we thought it would really not set a very good precedent for the ones that have been on the board and [already] passed away,” McCarty said. “But, it was approved, so we’ll see where that goes.”

Wilber also proposed a resolution to name the E911 communications tower in Butternuts after the late Rep. Jerry Madsen, who he said was instrumental in pushing for the project. The resolution passed the comm-ittee unanimously.

During the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee report, Rep. Andrew Marietta said Planning Director Tammie Harris had presented a draft copy of her presentation, “Data Centers: A Preliminary Assessment.” Marietta added that the presentation is in the process of finalization and is now scheduled for the October board meeting. Frazier said there will be a plenary about data centers at the next New York State Association of Counties meeting and for board members to forward questions they have about the topic to him to be answered there.

Rep. Adrienne Martini gave the Health and Human Services Committee report, during which she shared that there had been one confirmed case of measles in the county, with another suspected exposure.

Martini then highlighted Resolutions 349 and 357 on the consent agenda, which came out of her committee. Res. 357 calls for a two-year delay of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program administrative and benefit cost shifts, as well as a call to the state government to hold communities harmless should the federal government not make the requested changes. Martini explained that SNAP state administrative cost used to stand at 50 percent cost sharing between the state and federal government, while recent legislative changes have dropped federal input to 25 percent, adding a projected $300,000.00 in local costs once the changes are set to be implemented on October 1. Res. 349 compliments this outlook by recognizing September as Hunger Action Month, which Martini said serves as a reminder that “over 7,000 people [in Otsego County] are food insecure, and of those, one out of six are children.”

Following the Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee report, Rep. Leslie Berliant asked if a representative of the Sheriff’s Office had attended the latest PSLA meeting, to which the answer was no, marking four months with no direct communication to the committee from Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. or his office. Marietta emphasized his confusion over the lack of communication with regard to the investigation into alleged policy violations by First Sergeant Kristopher Solovitch during an internal investigation of former Lieutenant Thomas Fellrath.

Marietta pointed to recent reporting by “The Daily Star” that included information from an Oneida County Sheriff’s Office document detailing their outside investigation into the policy violations, questioning why Otsego County continues to deny Freedom of Information Law requests for the information when it is already public.

“We know now from the article in ‘The Daily Star’ what the report is about, but this county board has never seen that report,” Marietta said. “And again, just to emphasize, the sheriff actually has never even met with PSLA, nor discussed the report in any manner.”

Rep. Jill Basile and Berliant both chimed in as well, with Berliant expressing deep frustrations about misuse of credit cards in the Sheriff’s Office, including for the purchase of food.

“It just feels like they’re operating now outside the rules and policies of the county that the taxpayers are paying us to create and enforce,” Berliant stated.

County Attorney Denise Hollis said that a revised and more airtight credit card policy is in development that will help prevent further misuse in the future. Frazier said that it is the enforcement that’s weak and that the existing policy has “no arm to do the enforcement that we need,” to which Berliant rebutted by highlighting that the policy states that credit cards should be cancelled when misused. Frazier followed up by pointing out that the Sheriff’s Office has multiple cards and that the one being abused has been returned. He ended the discussion by noting that there will be an e-mail sent out by the end of the week giving a 30-day window for responses to provide missing receipts from within a lookback period of the last 60 days.

During the Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns Committee report, Powers shared that the fuel surcharge to Casella Waste Management—which was approved in a contentious vote during the board’s July meeting—came out to be $3,955.98 for the month of July. Later in his report, Powers said he is open to planting trees in the clearcut buffer along Ottaway Road, which Berliant said she would like to see on the next SWEC agenda. She cited problematic communication on behalf of the county as her primary concern, reiterating that local residents were told a buffer of trees would be left standing, despite the trees being later cut down per the request of the Middlefield highway superintendent.

County Administrator Steve Wilson gave a report on decision making and accountability during the budget process, which aimed to explain to new board members the multifaceted concerns of the budget process and how, in Wilson’s words, the budget is “a plan for what you say the county is going to do next year. It’s not just a bunch of numbers.”

After Wilson’s report, the board moved into an extended hour-long executive session to discuss “proposed, pending or current litigation.” Upon their return to public session, board members unanimously approved the consent agenda and all subsequent late resolutions. With no further business to attend to, the board then adjourned.

The next Otsego County Board of Representatives meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 7 at 10 a.m. This meeting can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaA_PZ-RXS0.