Members present: Kay Breed, Chairperson; Scott Elston, Vice Chairperson; Marilyn Brown; Steve Dafoe; Michael McKee; Carol Tytler; Thomas Williams;

Others present: Scott Steve, Chairman; Scott Schrader, County Administrator; Annette Barber; Elizabeth Larkin; Robert Howe; Richard VanDonsel; Dennis Whitt; Eric Mulvihill; Patrick Ruppe; Sarah Buynovsky; Carletta Edwards;

Absent:

Mrs. Breed called the meeting to order at 8:00 am.

Motion by Mr. Mckee, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present voting aye, the minutes of September 7, 2005 were approved as printed.

Resolutions:

1. Mrs. Breed said that agenda item number one would be acted on at the end of the meeting in executive session.

2. Extension of Agreements with Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. And Nationwide Trust Company for the Continuation of the Cortland County Deferred Compensation Plan. Moved by Mrs. Brown, seconded by Mr. Elston. Mr. Schrader said this is for the administration of the deferred compensation plan and he is recommending that it be extended for another year. All members voting in favor; none opposed; resolution adopted.

3. Abolish/ Create Positions MSD Classification Study. Moved by Mr. Elston, seconded by Mr. McKee. Mrs. Breed complimented Mrs. Barber and the staff of the Personnel Office for accomplishing this. Mrs. Barber explained this resolution would update all the positions to meet the classifications that were recommended by the MSD study. The job descriptions have all been changed. She said this would not actually take place until after the CSEA contract is approved because they go together and this will follow that vote. Mr. Schrader said this has been in the making since 2001 and thanked Mrs. Barber and her staff for all the hours of work performed to accomplish this. All members voting in favor; none opposed; resolution adopted.

1. Chairman Steve passed out a draft copy of Local Law # 6 for the Year 2005 – A Local Law Adopting a County Code of Ethics and Requiring Financial Disclosure by Certain County Officials and Employees; and Rescinding Local Law No. 5 of 1984. He said this was a start in the process to address the concerns regarding a Code of Ethics. He would like to Legislature to look at this and then put forward the version that they are comfortable with. The County has not been acting under a Code of Ethics for a decade. The draft copy he has put forth covers all elected and appointed positions within County Government. Mrs. Brown said she would like to have a copy of Local Law # 5 for 1984. Mrs. Breed said that this defines what conflicts are and are not and she had never been told what they actually were before. She said she does not know if this can actually be accomplished this year or not. Chairman Steve said he would like to see this passed before the end of the year for the good of the County. Mr. Elston asked where were Appendix A & B that are suppose to be attached? Mrs. Breed asked that the committee members be given a copy of Local Law No. 5 of 1984 and Appendix A & B. Mr. Elston suggested that this information should be distributed to the full Legislature. Mr. Williams asked if there should be a sub-committee set up to work on this issue? Chairman Steve agreed that a sub-committee may be the way to move this on because the Personnel Committee has enough to do already. Mr. Elston said he also thought a sub-committee should be established to work on this. Mrs. Breed asked for volunteers. Mr. Williams, Mr. McKee and Mrs. Brown will compose the sub-committee and report back to the Personnel Committee at the next meeting. Mrs. Breed asked that the sub-committee please notify the other Legislators when they will be meeting? Mr. Whitt said that the Legislature needs to take some sort of action on this to comply with Law and noted that setting up an Ethics Board is not necessary to comply with Law. Mr. Elston asked how long the County has been out of compliance? Mr. Whitt said for quite some time. Mr. Elston said he does not feel that this committee should feel pressured into pushing something through just because they have been out of compliance. He thinks it is more important to look at this and do it right so that in the future the concerns are taken care of by what is developed. The sub-committee will meet and report back to the Personnel Committee at the next meeting.

5. Authorize County Clerk to Appoint Special RMO Deputy. Moved by Mrs. Brown, seconded by Mrs. Tytler. Mrs. Larkin explained that over the years the positions of County Historian has evolved into Records Management Officer. Mrs. Larkin said the duties and job description of County Historian do not include what is needed for that position to actually be the Records Management Officer therefore the position needs to be appointed as a Deputy. Mr. Schrader said that Mrs. Larkin’s position on this is that the person performing these duties needs to be an employee of the County Clerk’s Office and he disagrees. He thinks the County Attorney needs to look at this because of confidentiality that is referred to within several laws that oversee Records Management. The County Historian position historically falls under the County Clerk however under the law the Historian Position falls under the Legislature. Mrs. Larkin said there are several records that must be kept and filed that cannot be seen except for the people involved which creates a problem in this area. Mr. Williams asked why this has not been looked at by the County Attorney. Mrs. Larkin said she has asked for an opinion from the County Attorney on this quite some time ago and has received nothing, therefore proceeded by bringing this to the committee. Mr. Elston said he does not feel they have all the information needed to make a decision on this and made the motion to table this until the next meeting requesting that an opinion from the County Attorney be gotten and brought back, seconded by Mrs. Tytler. All members voting in favor; none opposed; motion to table until the next meeting passes.

Discussions/ Presentations:

2. Vacancy Report – Mrs. Barber said they have been advertising to fill the vacancies that show up on the report.

3. County Clerk’s Budget – Mrs. Larkin said they had 15 people apply for the part-time position. Mrs. Breed asked about the revenue projections and does Mrs. Larkin think they will remain. Mrs. Larkin said she feels very comfortable with the revenue figures she has used. Mrs. Breed questioned the new position that was requested in the budget. Mrs. Larkin explained this would be a revenue generating position that would handle transactions being done by a private contract person for automobile dealers that would be mailing them to Cortland County Motor Vehicle Department to process. Mrs. Tytler asked about the notary renewals. Mrs. Larkin said this is the year for those renewals to be done.

Mr. Williams asked if anyone here presenting a budget would have a problem with a standard budget form, perhaps a spreadsheet type form? Mrs. Brown said Mr. Schrader has been working on this and when time allows it will be done. Mr. VanDonsel said that however they are requested to submit the budget would not be a problem. Mrs. Tytler said that when they are given the information for committee she would like to see the 2004 and 2005 figures as well as the requested current amounts. Mrs. Brown said she thinks the final figures need to be done before the committees review the departmental budgets. Mr. Schrader said that committee reviews before the final tentative budget being prepared can by very helpful in the development of that budget if the committees have suggestions for him. Mrs. Breed thinks it is a good idea for committees to do a general overview of the budgets of departments.

4. Elections Budget – Mr. Howe and Mr. VanDonsel – Mr. VanDonsel said that lines have increased because of the HAVA regulations that have to be implemented. He also stated the Personnel lines within the budget were not correct in the past according to State Law – that both clerks serving within the office should be receiving the same salary and that is what they have requested for this year. He said the State has decided that the County share for new machines will be 5%. Type of new machines has not been decided upon yet. Mrs. Brown asked was there any grant money available to help out. Mr. VanDonsel said that the $400,000. the County will be receiving is essentially grant money. Mr. VanDonsel would like to see a line added for independent Council to give opinions when needed. Mrs. Tytler asked if the state would allow Cortland to purchase enough machines? Mr. Howe said the back up machines would not be HAVA compliant. Mrs. Tytler asked if any election districts could be combined? Mr. VanDonsel said not that he could see at this time. Mr. Williams asked Mr. VanDonsel if their office had purchased the new time date machine that had been talked about? Mr. VanDonsel said he does not feel there is any problem with the machine they currently have to stamp in material received. Mr. Elston questioned the accuracy of the current machine. Mr. VanDonsel said it is accurate plus material coming in is initialed and the person delivering receives a copy so there is not way to alter the time. Mr. Howe passed out a proposal for scanning voter registration records.

Motion by Mrs. Brown to go into executive session at 9:27 am, to discuss and vote on Agenda No. 1 – Approve Agreement Between the County of Cortland and the Civil Service Employee’s Association, Inc. – County of Cortland Local 812 – Unit 6650 Effective January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009, seconded by Mrs. Tytler and adopted by all members present voting aye.

1. Approve Agreement Between the County of Cortland and the Civil Service Employee’s Association, Inc. – County of Cortland Local 812 – Unit 6650 Effective January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009. On motion of Mr. Elston, seconded by Mrs. Tytler. Mrs. Breed stated the MSD study has been completed and will has been incorporated into the implementation of the contract. Mrs. Brown is very pleased with the outcome of the negotiations. Mr. Schrader said the negotiations started on October 5, 2004 and there have been many meetings. Mrs. Breed said she is also very pleased with the outcome of the negotiations. Mrs. Barber said there will be a detailed list of all the changes made to the existing CSEA contract handed out on the floor on session night and she will be there to explain in detail what the affects are. Mr. Schrader and Mrs. Barber reviewed all the changes and highlighted the areas that are very beneficial to the County. Mr. Schrader said this contract will help to change the salary plan to retain employees after they are trained which will save the County a great deal of money in the future. He also stated there were improvements made within the Health payments that would be beneficial financially at the start and continue into the future. He said there is always room for improvement but feels this contract goes a long way with improvements for both sides. The raises associated with this are basically 2% in 2006, 2% in 2007, 2.25% in 2008 and 2.5% in 2009. Mr. Schrader thanked all the members of the negotiating team for their time and effort in this process and the successes that he feels were made. All members voting in favor; none opposed; resolution adopted.

Motion by Mrs. Brown, seconded by Mr. McKee to go out of executive session at 10:10.

Mrs. Breed said the sub-committee would report back to the next Personnel Committee on the Ethics Local Law.