Missing resolutions: Chemung County Executive, legislature at odds over competing systems

Several committees of the Chemung County Legislature met Monday night but took no action.

There was nothing done because there were no resolutions on any of the agendas, and legislative leaders and the county executive are now pointing figures at each other.

For the past 20 years, the executive branch has used a system set up by the legislature known as Novus Agenda to process requests for legislative resolutions called "route slips," according to legislature Chairman Mark Margeson.

As of the start of 2024, the executive branch started using a new system called Granicus PEAK without any involvement by the legislature or discussion with lawmakers, Margeson said.

"One issue is the (legislative) clerk is not the administrator of the program and custodian of the records, but needs to be," Margeson wrote in a letter to County Executive Christopher Moss. "Other issues involve the functionality of the program as it concerns records and minutes of proceedings."

Margeson noted clerk Cynthia Kalweit did obtain some administrative privileges after a recent phone call with Granicus.

The legislature has attempted for weeks to communicate with the PEAK system vendor to learn more and see if it could be set up for the legislature's needs, but was advised Moss instructed them not to discuss the system with lawmakers, according to Margeson.

Moss, meanwhile, said the executive branch has been planning the migration of route slip requests to the new software for more than two years and that information has been discussed with legislators on multiple occasions.

Moss also believes the executive branch is within its rights to control how resolution requests are gathered and forwarded to the legislature for consideration.

"While I agree with the majority of the guidelines outlined pertaining to the legislature’s right to control the agenda, my office does not agree with the legislature having the authority to set policy pertaining to how the executive branch sends requests, as long as they have all of the information required by the legislature," Moss wrote in a letter to 10th District legislator Martin Chalk.

The new system has several advantages, Moss said.

It streamlines the approval process, it will make it easier for the public to navigate the process, and it will standardize the flow of data so that no resolutions will be created and acted upon without awareness by both the executive and legislative branches, he said.

The county has also learned the Novus software will be discontinued in the near future, Moss said.

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Moss added the county's technology department is ready to assist legislative clerks with the transition.

"I think it's more the clerks don't like the new style. I don't think it's that big a deal," Moss said.

Margeson believes it's more a case of Moss wanting more control.

Moss has an upcoming meeting with legislature Vice Chairman Thomas Sweet and Majority Leader John Burin, and Margeson said if the two sides can't find common ground, there may be more blank agendas in the future.

"I want to work with him. I'm willing to get things back in place," he said. "He doesn't want his staff to input into NOVUS. He wants us to accommodate him."

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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Chemung County leaders at odds over systems to introduce resolutions