By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – The Erie County Legislature last week passed laws that will finally let them tackle the county charter and review multiple year budget projections. The question is how will lawmakers, with less than half their staff, get all that work done?
Democratic Majority Leader Lynn Marinelli was pushing for a full charter review long before its definitions and codes were needed to help settle the budget crisis. But this could be a case of be careful what you wish for. The massive document will finally get an overhaul. But there are now far fewer bodies at County Hall to accomplish that task. Budget cuts claimed all but 35 of the 90 legislative staffers. Marinelli admits it will be a challenge.
"Where we might have had staff to do research, get into things and communicate with people, I'm down to one aide," Marinelli said. "There's no one answering the phones when we're out doing a community meeting. So, you just make do. You find other ways to go about your business."
Business at County Hall is managed largely by Clerk Kevin Kelley. And he says there have already been major changes in how they manage to get everything done.
"Those who handle to purchase orders and invoicing are gone," Kelley said. "So now, it's a matter of training individuals to take on that work, over and above clerking committees and the responsibilities they already have."
So, Kelley says finding time to help lawmakers make sense out of the County Charter will not be easy.
"We'll have to go through it page by page," Kelley said. "The commission will be appointed, but there will be a lot of staff support that will have to be provided. But again, it has to be done. If it takes longer than some had hoped, then that's what has to happen."
And there may be some outside hands to help. Marinelli says she's been getting calls from citizens offering to lend their time and professional talents to ease the legislative load.