No Show At Public Hearing To Cut County Board Of Legislators

Utica, NY (WIBX) - The chambers of the Oneida County Board of Legislators stood empty this morning because no one showed up at the public hearing on the proposal to cut four members from the board. County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr.  who says he may veto the measure says the lack of attendance will not affect his decision. "It really doesn't to the greatest extent, obviously if you had a big ground swell you might look at it a little differently but if that was the only test on which to make a decision then nothing would be challenged," he said.

Picente says he's weighing several options, including the process that reached the compromise to cut four members instead of six, rising costs, the tax cap, and the size of government. Picente said, "I'm not 100 percent convinced at this point but then again I have to weigh whether or not four is a good compromise, and the danger in vetoing too is, whether or not it does get resurrected and four remains the number, or it goes lower than that, or we go through a prolonged process here."

Picente says people want smaller government and that has to reflect on the legislative side as well. However, he says the process on how it got done and the rejection of the Citizens Review Committee recommendations to the board about the size of it--which was rejected because of the compromise that was reached--is something he wants to review. He says he'll look at everything before making a judgement and will announce his decision on Wednesday. One resident speculated that the timing of the Public Hearing, which was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. today is a major factor why no one showed up.