Chenango County Human Resources is weighing the creation of a policy that would limit nepotism across all governmental agencies.

NORWICH – Citing a growing number of family ties in local government, Chenango County Human Resources is pondering the creation of a policy to curb nepotism across all county governmental agencies.

According to County Personnel Officer Matthew Caldwell, the measure is an attempt to minimize supervisory conflicts, chiefly among married couples who work in the same department.

“This has been a little bit of a concern,” Caldwell told the county’s Personnel Committee during a July meeting. “We’re trying to be very careful to prevent those things from happening as much as we can, especially in a direct reporting situation. Those things are more present nowadays than they ever have in my experience here.”

Caldwell said he’s now looking at a draft policy that has been adopted by local town boards that does not prohibit nepotism, but does require that the board be made aware of such situations and gives officials the authority to deny hiring or promoting of an individual based on concerns of bias or favoritism.

“It gives the board some control and at least a little bit of insight into what’s happening before things get out of control,” said Caldwell, adding that instances of nepotism would likely be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. “It’s tougher in some departments than others.”

Unlike a local law, a nepotism policy, if it were enacted, would not require a public hearing before going into effect.