MAYVILLE - After public comment and discussion by lawmakers, the issues of most interest will wait another month for action by the Chautauqua County Legislature.
Both the resolution regarding the County Home and the motion addressing rifle hunting will return for discussion in December after being tabled during Wednesday's meeting..
In the case of the County Home, the proposal to support the selection of a marketing firm could likely be pushed off until January - when the winners of last week's election races will take office.
The vote to table the County Home proposal passed 13 to 11 and the vote to table the motion regarding rifle hunting passed 15 to 9. Legislator Vickeye James, D-Jamestown, was absent from the meeting.
Legislators were asked Wednesday to support the selection of Marcus & Millichap as the firm to market the County Home.
There was no question of the firm's capability to advertise the County Home for possible lease, sale or other privatization. Instead, legislators argued that a vote in support of the firm was also an indication of interest in selling the County Home.
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Assistant Minority Leader Lori Cornell, D-Jamestown, called it putting the cart before the horse.
Similarly, Maria Kindberg, D-Jamestown, said the legislature should be having a policy discussion.
"When you boil this right down tonight, what we're asked to vote on is whether or not we're in favor of selling the County Home," Kindberg said, "not whether or not we're in favor of the selection of the marketing firm because they are one and the same. Regardless of how I feel personally about selling the home, it does seem to me that we are, again, as we have so many times before - we have skipped over the critical and essential policy discussion."
During discussion of the issue, it was explained that County Executive Greg Edwards can enter into an agreement with Marcus & Millichap without a vote by the legislature. The proposal put to the legislature was a resolution of support of the selection of Marcus & Millichap, which led Kindberg to question whether the county can move forward without the body's support.
"It would be nice to have a majority of votes behind this," said Legislature Chairman Fred Croscut, R-Sherman.
After the meeting, Croscut added that the idea was put to the legislature because it takes a vote of at least 17 members in order to sell county properties.
Croscut also said he was surprised that the resolution didn't receive 13 votes and was instead tabled.
He concluded his comments to the press after Wednesday night's meeting by saying that the County Home issue is a business decision.
"We've got to address it," he said. "We've got to step up and we've got to do something. We've talked about this long enough."
Just as they did in September and October, supporters of the County Home and CSEA workers were in attendance at Wednesday's legislature meeting. A rally was held in the parking lot of the Gerace Office Building prior to the meeting and individuals addressed the body during its public comment portion at the start of the meeting.
