Orleans approves 2 percent raises for management in county government

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 December 2021 at 9:38 am

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has approved 2 percent raises for the management team in county government for 2022 and 2023.

One legislator, Don Allport, opposed the raises during a meeting last week, saying these are uncertain economic times and taxpayers are already getting hit with high inflation.

Other county officials said Orleans needs to be competitive to keep its department heads and other members of the management team. The raises are at the same rate as employees in the CSEA and other unions.

In other action, the Legislature:

• Approved spending $10,175 audiovisual equipment in the legislative chambers at the County Office Building. The county is adding cameras and equipment. The room opened in June 2019 as part of a new addition to the County Office Building. At that time, county officials didn’t foresee public meetings would go remote during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The county’s Computer Services Department will work with Audio-Video Corporation of Albany for the upgrade in the meeting room.

• Appointed the following to the County Planning Board: Daniel Strong (at-large central) of Kent, Darryl Sanford (at-large central alternate) of Albion, Christopher Kinter (Town of Albion) of Albion, Kevin Parker (Town of Albion alternate) of Albion, and David Knapp (Town of Murray) of Holley.

• Approved an agreement with Lynne Menz Designs of Kent to provide Tourism Coordinator Services to Orleans County in 2022 at a cost not to exceed $18,720. The Legislature also approved an agreement with Lynne Menz Designs to provide design services to Orleans County in 2022 at a cost not to exceed $22,000. This agreement includes costs associated with advertising design, publication design, social media, photography and video production to be paid on a project basis.

• Authorized a $2,500 stipend for Dawn Borchert, the county’s tourism director, to perform the functions of a Marine Park Manager.

• Approved an additional $20,000 for the County of Orleans Industrial Development Agency (COIDA) for economic development services for 2021. This is extra to the $190,000 the county allocated for the agency in the county budget. The $20,000 comes the federal American Rescue Plan and will be used to advance small businesses.