Ethics Committee Clears The Way For Gas Consultant
Published: December 8th, 2009
By: Melissa deCordova

NORWICH – No conflict of interest has been found with a Chenango County Board of Supervisors’ decision in September to hire an economic development consultant whose wife owns a natural gas well, an ethics committee has ruled.

The newly appointed ethics committee, made up of two Norwich businessmen and one town supervisor, met on Friday to address a contract dispute between lawyers for the consultant, Steven Palmatier of Preston, and the county’s chief counsel, Richard Breslin.

Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Richard B. Decker said he was not involved in the committee’s decision and did not know the outcome of Friday’s meeting. “I’m staying out of it,” he said Monday morning.

The committee will forward its recommendation to a meeting of the full board of supervisors for consideration on Dec. 14. Palmatier has been conducting economic development activities on behalf of Chenango County without pay despite being approved for the position at a salary of $10,800 through December and $38,000 for next year. The county hired him to help it capitalize on the abundance of natural gas within the Marcellus Shale and other formations beneath the subsurface.

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