On Monday, the Chenango County Board of Supervisors voted against a proposal to reduce staff and reform the Area Agency on Aging under the Department of Human Services. (Photo by Kelli Miller)

NORWICH — On Monday, the Chenango County Board of Supervisors voted against a proposal to reduce staff and reform the Area Agency on Aging under the Department of Human Services.

Following the public portion of the meeting the board met in executive session and voted to “terminate” the current Area Agency on Aging director, who had been placed on paid, then unpaid leave in recent weeks.

Chenango County Board Chair Jeffrey Blanchard said the proposal was made because the department had recently over invested in staff costs and now needed to be adjusted, he said the changes could eventually return hundreds of thousands of dollars to local senior programs.

Scores of local residents, including former agency staff came out to voice their concerns to the board over the proposed cuts.

The board voted against the proposal that would have eliminated nine positions and restructure the department. The supervisors voted 15 to 6 to defeat the resolution. The board intends to revisit the issue with a new proposal in the future.

When the resolution failed, protestors broke out in cheers, applauding the decision.

Blanchard said he wanted to be very clear, the agency programs will not change but there is a need to narrow the department as positions are over-layered and duplicated and said the need for restructure became apparent after learning of department issues, one being the amount of high level staff that had been hired.

He said a committee signed off on the department's hiring decisions and said the now terminated agency director, Heather Collier, was very convincing and advised the health and human services committee to fill positions.

“We will own it,” said Blanchard, “As we were convinced that was the case but it turned out, we found a lot of issues in the department where she was going beyond what was needed.”

“As of today, she has been terminated,” said Blanchard.

“We were meeting our mission two years ago before this happened, so we really 100% believe that we can go back to that structure,” Blanchard said, “If we don’t, we will think about adding another position or whatever, but we have to have a starting place.”

Other counties have put their agency on aging under an umbrella department and in doing so in Chenango County, Blanchard hopes to have better insight and control, making sure they are putting services out in a proper manner.

Blanchard pointed to the restructure saving about $300,000 a year with some from the state and some being local shares. He said some of the funds can be re-directed into more services for the seniors.

“This move will not decrease services but actually increase senior support,” he continued.”That’s why I wanted the resolution to move forward today.”

Blanchard said they were concerned the state would come in and say they weren’t using the funds appropriately.

He explained there was not a need for a public hearing for the resolution at the Monday meeting but the state does require a public hearing and it will take place in its due time. The resolution has to be approved within the board first and then they can go to the state for approval.

Blanchard said they may be able to get a tentative approval from the state and their intention is to make this happen as fast as they can, adding, “It’s just very disappointing to have our agency employees still wondering what will happen next.”

He said three committees were involved in the committee meetings, dealing with personnel issues and in executive sessions, explaining, “That was why it was kept as quiet as possible.” He said they could not publicly discuss those issues.

“It was clear to the employees, they were going to be terminated,” Blanchard said, adding, “The employees then spoke out on social media pages with misleading information and out right lies.”

“There was no need to get our seniors all riled up about this,” he said.

City of Norwich Wards 4,5,6 Supervisor Robert Jeffrey said the first time he heard of the resolution for change to the agency was when his wife told him on April 30, and then again when he read an article in the newspaper.

He said on Monday last week, he received the resolution but on Friday he received another revised resolution and said it appeared to him the plan is in continual flux.

On May 8, he said he received an email from the county attorney, in it stating he spoke with the New York State Office on Aging.

Jeffrey also gave an emotional recount of his brothers who were lost to wars and said his parents that worked their entire lives and never asked for anything- but when they did need help, the Area Agency was there for them.

“I’m forever grateful to the agency and make the motion to table this resolution until it receives final approval from the New York State Office on Aging,” said Jeffrey, requesting a role call vote and a supervisor to second the motion.

New Berlin Supervisor Wendy Rifanburg also gave a count of her personal experience with the agency and then seconded the motion to table the resolution.

Rifanburg said she was questioned by many of the town people and let them know she knew nothing of this but would do her best to figure it out. The two different resolutions showed her they aren’t prepared to move forward and said she would like numbers before she makes a decision.

“I feel this is moving too fast, too quickly, without research,” said Rifanburg. “We don’t have enough information to do this vote today.”

She believes properly vetted questions are needed and said it was irresponsible of the county board of supervisors without hearing input from the senior taxpayers in the county.

Before the board meeting, Chenango County Attorney Zachary Wentworth addressed the concerns of the protestors outside the county building.

Previous agency employees were amongst crowd of local senior residents sharing their pointed contentions and addressing their disbelief that downsizing the agency would be beneficial to their needs.

Additional comments suggested they had no right to move forward without a public hearing and one person said, “they are just gutting the department so it doesn’t work, so the board can move forward with their own agenda.”

Previous employees Jane Muserilli and Ellen Cleveland were amongst the crowd. Jane said they began posting concerns to social media last week, bringing attention to the quick department change up and said if it weren’t for their posts, the proposal would have remained undercover.

Wentworth said the organization would still be a separate agency and the state required it, but the county must get state support for the changes before a final approval. He said if action is taken in the future there would be a public hearing.

He explained changing the entire administration, the resolution would need to be passed at the board level before being sent to the state, then a public hearing would be called at least 30 days before they submit a final plan to the Office of Aging for a possible approval in late June.

If the agency moves under the new umbrella of human services, new positions will be created that include deputy commissioner of human services with an annual salary of $98,000 and Accounting Supervisor Grade B will increase to an annual salary of $65,000.

Also, a Principal Account Clerk assigned to CSEA Grade 16 and a Senior Caseworker assigned to CSEA Grade 22 will be added.

For more Chenango County board information, visit their website at www.chenangocountyny.gov