With an eye toward one-stop shopping, a handful of agricultural-service agencies are moving in together and moving from Cobleskill to Schoharie.
The Schoharie County Soil & Water Conservation District is just one of the agencies that will be relocating to a USDA Service Center being built in the industrial park behind Dunkin Donuts in Schoharie.
S&WCD’s Brenda Weaver said they’ll be joined by Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, and the USDA in the move from the Cooperative Extension building on South Grand Street.
The Rural Development Agency out of Johnstown is also interested in joining them in what will be a one-stop service center, Ms. Weaver said.
“It was a hard decision for Soil & Water, but so much of the work we do requires information from these other agencies,” she said.
“We’ll be able to share computer systems and it’ll also put us closer to other county agencies. Where we are now, there’s no room to expand.”
Ms. Weaver said their office, which has been located in various Cooperative Extension buildings since its inception, hopes to move into its new space in March.
That will leave behind a 3,000 square-foot space to fill, said Cornell Cooperative Extension Director Don Smyers.
“We’ve been floating the idea [renting the space] to other agencies in the county, but so far, we have no offers,” Mr. Smyers said.
If there are no bites there, he said, and no interest from town or village government or some non-profit, then CCE could consider a commercial tenant, he said.
CCE has owned the property—the former GLF site—since just after World War II.
The building there today was built about 25 years ago and the USDA offices have always been tenants.
“Our building has always been a sort of ag service center,” Mr. Smyers said, “but times are changing…the USDA is doing things differently.”
Times are also changing for Extension: After Schoharie County CCE approved a merger with Otsego County in November, Otsego in December did the same.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schoharie and Otsego Counties has sent its new constitution to Ithaca for approval, Mr. Smyers said; its organizational meeting will be January 26.
The merger comes as a way to make more efficient use of funding and staff and the new organization will be rolled out over the next few months, he added.
Also moving to Schoharie—but from Mineral Springs Road, not the CCE building—is Planning and Development.
Director Alicia Terry said her office will take over the second floor of the County Health offices once a few renovations there are completed.
“It’s an opportunity for consolidation,” Ms. Terry said. “Plus, being right there in Schoharie will give us better access to other offices and the technology we need for things like our mapping services.”
Currently, the county rents space for Planning from the Industrial Development Agency.
Saving on some of those costs by moving her office into space the county owns is important, especially when balanced against costs they have no control over, Ms. Terry said.
“Now only is 2011 going to be a transition year for state government, but it’s going to be a transition year for the county as well,” she said.
“With my budget officer’s hat on, we have to look at ways to better manage expenses.”