Shared services, licensing and Scouting

February’s monthly’s legislative meeting was a long one. Public comment exceeded an hour as electrical contractors pleaded with the Legislature not to repeal an electrical licensing law that passed in 2008 but had yet to be implemented due to issues that a citizen’s committee charged with implementing the law said were “unworkable.†One after another members of the public asked the Legislature to improve upon the ill-fated law, which they said would promote public safety by limiting shoddy work by “fly-by-night†electricians. In the end the Legislature voted 17-7 to repeal the law.

Arguments against the licensing law were that government should respect the autonomy of its citizens to do their own due diligence in researching contractors, and that the law as written created an oligopoly and costly government bureaucracy. I voted to repeal as I was not convinced the licensing process as embodied in the law actually redressed the problem of poor workmanship nor led to the protection of consumers.

Another contentious issue involved whether or not to continue an appeal to a lawsuit already set in motion. The initial lawsuit was filed following the Legislature’s 2008 appointments to the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) after County Executive William Steinhaus vetoed the appointments despite the absence of language in the statute for the possibility of executive veto. Following an expensive trial the court held that the veto did not interfere with the Legislature’s appointment power.

 In November, the outgoing legislative chairman authorized an appeal to this decision without consultation of the Legislature. Forty-thousand dollars in attorney fees later, the new Legislature was faced with ratifying the decision of the previous chairman to move forward with the appeal or to let the lower court’s decision stand.

My opinion — as the only attorney serving on the Legislature — was to withdraw the appeal. I prefer that the issue of whether the county executive has veto power of IDA appointments be resolved through the state legislative process as Chautauqua County did in recent years, rather than spending county money merely to prove a point. The Legislature voted to terminate the appeal.

Also on the agenda was a resolution to join the various towns and villages of Dutchess County to apply for a grant to greater study regional collaboration and shared services with the intent to achieve cost savings.

This initiative has been advanced by the county’s Supervisors and Mayor’s Association. While this will ask each municipality and the county to spend money, it has received widespread support on the notion that sometimes you have to spend money to save money. This passed the Legislature unanimously.

The meeting opened with a commendation that I prepared to recognize the Boy Scouts of America upon the 100 year anniversary of their founding. Scouts from Amenia’s Troop 29 led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and a Scout from Fishkill’s Troop 95 gave the invocation.  As someone who learned leadership, citizenship and the value of community service as a teenager in the Scouts, it was my privilege to recognize the cultural impacts of scouting in our community upon this significant milestone.

Michael Kelsey represents the towns of Amenia, Washington, Stanford, Pleasant Valley and the village of Millbrook in the Dutchess County Legislature. Write him at KelseyESQ@yahoo.com.