New Berlin supervisor questions new food vendor approved for jail

NORWICH – Only one of 32 resolutions presented before the Chenango County Board of Supervisors on Monday was pulled for further discussion by a town supervisor.

Town of New Berlin Supervisor Ross Iannello asked Chenango County Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren whether a new agreement to purchase meals for inmates would affect meal preparation at the jail’s kitchen for seniors. He also asked whether the move would result in less staff.

The Chenango County Public Safety Facility’s kitchen is used to prepare meals for both staff and inmates and for seniors participating in the Area Agency on Aging’s Meals on Wheels program. After visiting a state-operated meal production center in Oneida, Loughren recommended the service for Chenango County, saying it would be a way to cut food costs in half.

“This is simply another vendor for the same products we are already getting,” he told Iannello, “just at less cost.”