The effort to lower the cost of Schoharie County government gave a thumbs-up to updated financial software Monday, but not yet—maybe never--to adding a deputy administrator and reorganizing the County Treasurer’s Office.
The meeting of the County Operation Review Committee was the second since County Administrator Steve Wilson shared his plan to “Stop Kicking the Can Down the Road,” with supervisors in November.
The plan proposes a new Human Resource & Financial Management Office staffed with employees from eight departments, five of them from Treasurer Mary Ann Wollaber-Bryan’s office--half her staff and a move she called vindictive; Mr. Wilson and her predecessor, Bill Cherry, famously didn’t get along.
Monday, CORC member Dan Crandell, Department of Public Works head, asked chair Alicia Terry of Gilboa to clarify their mission.
It’s to review the 55-page “Kick the Can,” Ms. Terry said and to make a recommendation to supervisors, likely not until at least January.
To do that, Mr. Crandell said, CORC members need to break the pieces of the plan apart with the software being the easiest “yes.”
CORC member Eric Stein, president and CEO of Cobleskilll Regional Hospital, argued that their charge is bigger and retired Margaretville Central School Superintendent John Riedl agreed.
“It seems to me our charge is to do something very, very different with county government,” Mr. Stein said.
It seems to me the status quo is not an option. Our job is to say what’s reasonable,” and he questioned whether breaking it up will accomplish that.
Bonnie Post, director of Community Services and another CORC member, said she still doesn’t see any cost savings from “Kick the Can.”
Mr. Crandell also questioned hiring a deputy county administrator without going through the usual process for new employees.
“We’ve all had to prostrate ourselves numerous times just to maintain staff,” he said.
Though several department heads said they can provide all sorts of financial reports they’d never been asked for, most at the meeting agreed up-to-date accounting software would make that easier.
In the end, that’s the path the CORC took, agreeing to recommend supervisors name a team to select a vendor for the new accounting system no later than July 1, 2022.
The CORC will continue the discussion on the rest of “Kick the Can,” at its next meeting, January 10 at 8:30am in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers.