LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Frazier: Administrator Job

Too Much For One Person

Editor’s Note: This Letter to the Editor is published on www.AllOTSEGO.com, as the Wednesday, Dec. 4, vote on creating the position of Otsego county manager will occur before this week’s editions of Hometown Oneonta and The Freeman’s Journal to to press.  Any responses may be sent to jimk@allotsego.com, and will likewise be published as soon as they are received.

To the Editor:

At the recent public hearings regarding a County Administrator hosted by the county there were several interesting statements made by those advocating for the position.  Several were in direct conflict with each other.

One such example was the topic of the “day to day” operations of the county. Hiring an administrator, they contend, would give the board reps “more free time” and they could then focus on the long-term goals and planning.

First, I did not run for this office to be awarded “more free time.”  Secondly, the Administrator’s job description calls for him/her to “act as day-to-day primary operations director” and to “execute long- and short-term planning.”

 If the argument is that 14 of us can’t perform both the day-to-day operations and develop long-term planning, how can one person do it?

The Administrator is supposed to be responsible for day-to-day operations, act as public information officer, purchasing liaison, handle fleet management, fill vacant funded positions, budget transfers, negotiate with the unions, perform DH evaluations, execute contracts, attend all committee, board and DH meetings, help prepare and execute long and short term planning and act as the Budget Officer. At the close of one of the public hearings Representative Marietta made this statement, “We must be realistic about what this person can do.”  I couldn’t agree more.

My final objection, the cost.  Greene County has a county administrator. The job description is very similar and the duties are almost identical. (It’s on their website, look it up if you’d like.)  After realizing that one person couldn’t fulfill all of the requirements of the position, they hired a deputy. Their  annual spending for the office is now in excess of $350K. That is where Otsego County is headed, too.  We have a lot of other line items in the budget that we could spend $350K on.

Please contact your county representatives and tell them to vote this proposal down on Dec 4.

Edwin J. Frazier, Jr.

District 1, Unadilla

Otsego County Board of Representatives