A Cayuga County Legislature committee Tuesday approved a resolution to create a unified Department of Public Works to manage all the county’s facilities.
The Legislature’s Ways and Means committee approved the resolution to combine the county’s Highway Department, Buildings and Grounds Department, Parks and Trails, and the county sealer of the Weights and Measures into one department. The resolution will now advance to the full Legislature.
A public hearing on a proposed local law to create the department is scheduled for Oct. 23 prior to the full Legislature meeting at 10 a.m. In April, the Legislature voted to direct County Administrator J. Justin Woods and county staff to draft such a law.
Woods on Tuesday explained that much of the reasoning came from the CGR consultant’s report, which pointed to both operational advantages and long term fiscal planning benefits of creating a unified department.
To form part of the base of its recommendation, the report compared Cayuga County to 10 peer counties with higher or lower populations. All but two counties had at least some form of integration between departments.
The Auburn Citizen:
Read More
