Schoharie County Treasurer Bill Cherry is shedding a few of his duties.
He plans to remain as treasurer and the county's flood recovery coordinator, but Mr. Cherry is relinquishing the posts of budget officer and economic developer.
Although he's giving up those positions, Mr. Cherry will help transition those duties to the new county administrator. County supervisors are expected to hire an administrator later this year.
He announced his intentions in a letter to Dick Lape, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and the rest of the board on Friday.
Mr. Cherry is stepping down as economic developer "because there aren't enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done for economic development," he said.
"Bill's been well over-worked with what the board's asked him to do," Mr. Lape agreed.
The Board of Supervisors asked Mr. Cherry to take on economic development earlier this year, after he engineered the sale of the Guilford Mills plant to Green Recycling Solutions International.
Since then, Mr. Cherry's been involved in several regional projects, including Mohawk Valley 500, a thrust by Schoharie and five other counties to secure and split $500 million from the state for economic development.
But he feels he doesn't have enough time to do justice to the project.
"The only way Schoharie County will get a piece of the pie is to have someone at the table every day," Mr. Cherry said.
He believes the new administrator, or a new department under the administrator, would be best equipped to handle economic development.
Officials will meet with Senior Planner Shane Nickle to determine the set-up for economic development, Mr. Lape said.
Mr. Cherry will remain as economic developer until the administrator can take over.
"I'll continue to perform the role in any way they [supervisors] want me to," he said.
The budget officer prepares the county budget every fall, and Mr. Cherry believes the administrator should fill that role.
The county administrator will be working with department heads and would be in the best position to put together the annual budget, he said.
"I want the county administrator to succeed, and I believe that he or she should also be the individual who manages the budget," Mr. Cherry said.
Besides his $81,170 salary as treasurer, Mr. Cherry receives $10,200 as budget officer and $30,000 as flood recovery coordinator.
The flood recovery salary is reimbursed by at least 90 percent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The money for being budget officer would presumably be applied to the administrator's salary, Mr. Cherry said.
He receives no pay as economic developer.
Mr. Cherry is stay