A new Legislator, support for seniors, an update on Micron programming at OCC and HELP for hiring: March 2023 at the Legislature

Let's take a look back at the month of March at the Onondaga County Legislature. It was another busy month with full committee agendas and a number of guest speakers.

But first, we welcomed a new Legislator in March: Richard McCarron. He was appointed in the 11th District to replace John McBride who stepped down. Rich will be a great asset to the Caucus and will run for election later this year.

March was also Women’s History Month, and there are currently six women serving including Legislators Colleen Gunnip, Debra Cody and Julie Abbott. They work hard for their constituents every day, and always look out for the best interests of their districts and the county as a whole.

The Commissioner of Onondaga County’s Department of Emergency Management, Dan Wears, spoke to members of the Public Safety committee where he shared some specifics about a brand-new mobile training trailer that his department recently took delivery on.

“The trailer will allow fire departments to do forcible entry, bailout window training, vertical ventilation, horizontal ventilation, for roofs and windows and doors, many different things” he said.

The resolution being considered at this time is for the creation of an inter-municipal agreement allowing emergency agencies in the county to use the trailer at no cost (except for any materials needed).

Legislator Rich McCarron is the new Vice Chair of the committee. He asked the Commissioner who is responsible for transporting the trailer, and Mr. Wears answered that his department will be.

Committee Chairman Mark Olson is also a volunteer firefighter. “Most of the things you can use this trailer for are annual things we have to do every year to get recertified” he said, bringing some personal knowledge to the table.

“We think there’s not a department in the county that won’t benefit in some way” said Commissioner Wears, who added that while the trailer could be loaned to agencies outside of Onondaga County, that’s not likely as they expect a high demand from agencies within the county. This resolution was advanced to the April Session.

Commissioner Wears also provided an update on the new Emergency Operations Center, being built at the site of an old Army Reserve building on Electronics Parkway in Liverpool. 

“Overall, things have been going really well” the Commissioner said. “The legal contracts are out and Law is working on them with the three different contractors: mechanical, electrical and general contracting. We’re hoping those are done any day and then we’re hoping work will start this spring and then move into early fall I would guess, I mean, that’s our hope is to wrap up by then if everything goes as scheduled.”

The Commissioner also shared that the timeline may need to be adjusted, as there are still significant delivery delays for HVAC and other building materials. Committee Chairman Olson and Committee Member Ken Bush Jr. joined Legislators Colleen Gunnip, Deb Cody, David Knapp and Cody Kelly for a tour of the site this past fall.

Members of the Health & Human Services Committee heard from a number of speakers, including JoAnne Spoto Decker, Commissioner of the County’s Department of Adult & Long Term Care Services.

“We are here today to request one million dollars” she said, adding the money will be used to provide grants to senior centers throughout Onondaga County. “The goal is to assist with the cost of modernizations and updates of senior focal points so that they may continue to provide essential and diverse services to our valued and growing senior population.”

The grants (which will be up to $100,000 at first) would be for physical improvements, not programming, and could be used for:

• Plumbing

• Painting

• Carpentry

• Heating

• Ventilation

• Air conditioning

• Electrical

• Internet

• Appliance and van purchases

The Commissioner said the senior centers will need to apply for the funding, and the grant application is being written at this time. Committee Chair Colleen Gunnip asked that a committee member be included during the review of all applications.

The committee advanced the request to the next Ways & Means Committee meeting, where it was approved and advanced to Session. Also going to Session is a resolution which allows the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences to donate surplus and old/unused equipment to the Syracuse University Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute for training.

The President of Onondaga Community College, Dr. Warren Hilton, spoke to Legislators at the County Facilities committee meeting this month. He was joined by Provost & Senior Vice President Anastasia Urtz. Together, they shared information about the college’s future, budget and programs of study with committee members including Committee Chair Deb Cody, Legislator Cody Kelly and Legislator Colleen Gunnip.

CLICK: watch Dr. Hilton talk about OCC’s partnership with the community.

Dr. Hilton says if the state budget is passed as is currently proposed, that will mean very good news for OCC. The college receives half of its operational budget from the state and the other half from the county. This year OCC is asking for a 4% increase. Dr. Hilton will present his proposed budget to the Legislature in May.

The President shared news about a retirement incentive OCC is offering in the wake of dwindling enrollment, saying they want to take the money saved through retirements and invest it back into their students.

Dr. Hilton also spoke about the Micron cleanroom they are creating at OCC to train workers for what will be the largest semiconductor factory in the United States, once built in the Town of Clay. Provost Urtz shared specifics about the new and existing certificate degree programs that OCC is offering specifically designed or modified to train people to work at Micron. Click here to learn more.

The Provost also spoke about OCC’s increasing program offerings related to healthcare, training people for jobs in acute care, long-term care and home healthcare. She says money already approved by the Legislature is helping them create a new, modern spaces in which to train students.

“The idea behind it is to pull together the healthcare disciplines so they are working in teams, which is simulating what a true health care environment operates like today” Provost Urtz said. “Our existing infrastructure, some of you have toured it and so you have seen, it’s more discipline specific so there will be a lot less of ‘this is mine’ and ‘this is yours’.”

Visit Onondaga Community College’s website to learn more about all of this.

At the Planning & Economic Development Committee, members discussed future members of the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (IDA). There are two open seats and both Legislature Chairman James Rowley and Leader Ryan submitted names for consideration.  

“All 4 individuals are exceptional and I appreciate their interest in serving” Chairman Rowley said at the meeting. “But the task before the Legislature is to determine who is in the best position to serve and I believe this has to be decided within the context of the Micron project.”

Republicans nominated Cyd Johnson who plays a key role with SU’s programming with Micron and has a focus on diversity and workforce development within the veteran’s community. Also nominated was Elizabeth Dreyfuss who would bring her strong real estate background to the board (which no current member has) and with the anticipated housing developments coming with Micron, the Chairman believes it would be great to have someone on the board who could address housing concerns realistically.

All four names will go to the full Session in April. 

The Ways & Means Committee this month was more partisan then usual. Legislators from the other side of the aisle presented several items, including a resolution to require the use of cash capital, rather than bonds, to pay for capital projects valued at or under $1,000,000, in the event that fund balance exceeds twenty percent of General Fund revenues. 

CLICK: watch Committee Chairman Brian May share his thoughts on this.

Another hotly debated issue was a resolution, again from the other side, that would reduce health care benefit contributions for a number of county retirees. It would be a change to Resolution No. 49-2020 in which the county increased the annual premium equivalent rate to the 22%. All twelve Legislators currently serving (from both parties) who were also serving in 2020 voted in favor of the original resolution. Under the current proposal, the contribution rate for all retirees would drop to 17% from 22% unless other terms were agreed to previously in collective bargaining agreements or incentive packages.

Legislator David Knapp sponsored the 2020 resolution and feels it should remain as is. “We made a deal with those folks, the early retirees, and one of the big pieces of that was saying that your healthcare is going to go to 22% unless you retire early" Legislator Knapp said in the meeting. "So a lot of them said, ‘geez, that’s a nice incentive’ and took it and now we’re going to go back on that?"

Legislator Timothy Burtis added, "When we made that decision back in 2020, there were other incentives involved, there were other reasons why the health insurance was set where its at. Of course, our retirees are due what they work for and what we promised. I understand inflation for sure and the situation we find ourselves in but this is difficult and not something I think I can support without a lot more work."

Committee Chairman May agreed, saying “That goes back to the significance of the decision we made. That’s a real challenge presented by this.” The resolution was defeated.

It should come as no surprise that the county is facing an employee shortfall, just like many other companies, following the COVID-19 pandemic. A proposed program from New York State aims to help fill some positions within county government by temporarily eliminating the requirement of a civil service test.

Onondaga County’s Commissioner of Personnel Carlton Hummel spoke about the proposed program at the Public Safety, Health & Human Services, and Ways & Means committees.

The program is called the Hiring Emergency Limited Placement Program (HELP Program) and is a temporary program to help local government employers address the current staffing issues for critical health and safety titles. 

The resolution before the Legislature calls for the creation of temporary job titles to help identify them as falling under the HELP program. It reads in part, “Titles appropriate for hiring under the local HELP Program will be limited to positions that provide critical services, which if left unfilled, would result in the basic health, safety, and daily needs of New Yorkers being unmet.”

Below is a list of those titles in Onondaga County.

At the Ways & Means meeting, Legislator Julie Abbott asked the Commissioner "Does this potentially impact somebody who right now is waiting to take the test? Would they be lumped in?" He responded that yes, employees in certain job titles already working provisionally (meaning employed but waiting to take a test) would be moved into this program.

If approved by the Legislature at the April Session, the Department of Personnel will begin the process of implementing it. Watch their website for more information in the coming months.