Two new Common Council committees will begin meeting this year in the city of Oneonta focused on government negotiations and communications, Mayor Dan Buttermann announced Tuesday, Dec. 6.
The Negotiations Committee and Communications Committee will begin meeting in February, and the Community Wellness Committee was eliminated. Buttermann said Wednesday, Dec. 7 that the Budget Review Committee has been renamed the Budget and Strategic Plan Review Committee.
“The addition of the Negotiations and Communications committees was trying to find a solution in structure and process that would allow certain elements that the city is considering to be viewed publicly and easily, not just for council members to see and act upon but also for the public to see what we are working on very clearly,” Buttermann said.
Buttermann said the Negotiations Committee would allow for council participation in the “direction and the formation of contracts that are consequential to the city early in the process.” In the past, he added, contracts would be distributed for individual review by each council member and then they would convene at a full council meeting, sometimes with a number of concerns.
At the time, a full council meeting was the only venue to explore those concerns, aside from potentially addressing them individually with the mayor or city administrator, Buttermann said. The new committee will review some contracts, he added, ideally allowing time for council members to review and provide feedback, to establish a “good feedback loop” with city staff.
In early May, the Common Council voted down the sale of a city-owned property at 27 Market St. to Rehabilitation Support Services, Inc. During the meeting, several council members expressed concerns with the sale and said they had less than a week to read the contract. City Administrator Greg Mattice said at the time RSS had provided the contract to the city a year in advance.
Buttermann said Wednesday that the Negotiations Committee could help address situations like these, allowing the council to feel more confident about the contracts once they reach the full body.
Looking forward, he said real property, leasing and purchasing or selling of real property from the city would be eligible for committee review, in addition to collective bargaining agreements for civil service units, like fire and police.
Scott Harrington, R-Sixth Ward and the chair of the new Negotiations Committee, said the committee would hopefully “bring continuity between the council and our city staff.” He said sometimes during meetings there are conversations between city staff and council members that feel like “us versus them.”
“We should have a free flowing communication because we are all here to do the same job to make sure that the city runs as efficiently as possible,” Harrington said.
Harrington said that for instance, the Negotiations Committee could have helped to play a role in early negotiations related to the controversy about tree removal at properties surrounding the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport, with the Communications Committee establishing how to effectively communicate the project to airport neighbors.
It would not review every contract, Harrington said, but would focus on larger things like selling property and labor negotiations.
He added that come December, he hopes the committee would be able to lay solid groundwork for interactions between the council and city staff when it comes to certain project negotiations.
The Communications Committee, Butterman said, would provide a space for the council to participate in the development of certain strategies essential to city’s progress. Its main goal he added, would be to establish a communications strategy incorporating digital communication, signage and other communication means and social media.
Within its first year, the committee would look at the city’s social media presence, communicating council and committee meetings and the city’s website.
“My feeling is that the committee will probably find ways to enhance our digital communication in a way that really highlights all of the good qualities that Oneonta has,” Buttermann said.
Referencing the removal of the Community Wellness Committee — which discussed matters related to community health and well-being — Harrington said the Quality of Life and Infrastructure Committee goes hand-in-hand with community wellness issues. Buttermann said after discussion with council members about where to adjust committee structure, the consensus was that the Community Wellness Committee “did not necessarily have the same purpose now as it did when they initiated it. He said with limited scheduling, it made sense to remove it to make some room for the two new additions.
The Budget Review Committee additionally was enhanced, Buttermann said. Adding the strategic plan element to that committee, he said, would ideally address how the city can meet its goals when some of its goals go beyond a single budget year. This could allow the council to be more conscious of what it is budgeting for in the moment and how it applies to near and long term goals, he added.
“By putting those two together, we have a chance for that committee to be very impactful as far as the council goes, and making sure that we can move the city in a direction that will reach its goals,” Buttermann said.