Sheriff, Bliss

Reach Accord

On Devlin Son

Medical Examination Agreed Over

Deputy Suspended More Than Year

By JIM KEVLIN  • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

COOPERSTOWN – A breakthrough has been agreed to in the case of county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr.’s son Ros, a correctional officer at the county jail who has been under suspension since January 2017.

The sheriff has agreed to recuse himself under Section 72 of state Civil Service law, which will allow county board Chairman David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield, to order a medical examination of the son, Bliss confirmed a few minutes ago.

The examination could determine whether the younger Devlin can return to work, or could open the way for his eventual dismissal.

Bliss said he received a letter from Devlin proposing this as a way of resolving a standoff between the sheriff and the county board.   A resolution sketching out the agreement will be voted on at Wednesday’s county board meeting.

The sheriff has said that, under former county board Chair Kathy Clark, R-Otego, he believed measures against his son were political.   Clark’s husband Bob Fernandez, a retired state trooper, is now running for sheriff in the November election.

However, since Bliss was elected chair at the beginning of the year, Devlin made overtures to see if his son’s case could be resolved.

According to testimony that surfaced under oath when Ros Devlin sought to have his gun permits reinstated a year ago February, the prison guard had threatened to create an “incident” at Milford or Oneonta schools with the idea that, during the diversion, he would commit suicide in front of his supervisor at the jail.