5/22/07 - County forms space needs panel

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

A special county committee will have essentially the same makeup as the ad hoc committee that was charged with re-evaluating the county’s aborted south Main Street land deal, Legislature Chairman Marilyn Brown (D-8th Ward) said Monday.

The committee will be charged with evaluating the county’s current space needs, discussing available real estate options and providing recommendations to the Legislature for proposed property arrangements.
Legislator Carol Tytler (D-3rd Ward) will chair the committee, Brown said. Tytler will be joined by former ad hoc committee members John Daniels (D-Cortlandville), Dan Tagliente (D-7th Ward), John Steger (R-Preble and Scott), Mike McKee (R-Cincinnatus, Freetown, Taylor and Willet) and Larry Cornell (R-Marathon and Lapeer).
“I think they really did a thorough job gathering information when there were a lot of questions about the acquisition of land on south Main,” Brown said of the basically reformed ad hoc committee.
The only change from the ad hoc committee will be Legislator Tom Williams (R-Homer), who had been added to the ad hoc committee midway through the committee’s work to fill a void left by absent members. He will not be a part of the new committee.
“I think it will help to have one committee look at all of the information and bring specific proposals forward to be looked at by the rest of the Legislature,” Brown said.
Brown said she has received a number of proposals from real estate agents interested in either selling or leasing property to the county and that she would give all of that information to Tytler.
Brown’s expectation was that the committee would focus on the needs for new space for the county jail and for the county motor vehicles office.
The needs of the Mental Health Department, for which the properties on south Main Street had been intended, could be delayed until after a lawsuit regarding the county’s decision to opt out of the deal is resolved.
Tytler said she had not yet scheduled an initial meeting with the new committee, and was not sure what direction the committee would take.