When committee system works, board meetings are short

NORWICH – The committee system is alive in well within Chenango County. As a result of the sequential, and oftentimes lengthy, meetings of the legislature’s seven standing committees, it generally takes less than an hour for the full Board of Supervisors to complete its business each month.

Yesterday’s 22-minute meeting was only two minutes more than June’s record setting 20-minute gathering. Afterward, Town of McDonough Supervisor Homer D. Smith said, “It’s the way it should be. We get everything done within committee. And, if someone has a concern about something, this is where they have the chance to bring it up.”

The board approved 29 committee-endorsed resolutions. The topics ranged from designating a smoking area adjacent to the west entrance of the County Office Building, to creating a full-time senior account clerk in the Treasurer’s office, to authorizing $300 for the Norfolk and Norwich World Family Visit to Chenango County.