Cayuga County Legislature adopts amended rules, creates personnel committee and calls executive session

The Cayuga County Legislature voted to adopt amended rules of order that establish a new personnel committee, change standing-committee composition and alter committee meeting procedures, and then moved into an executive session on personnel matters.

The legislature approved amendments that create a personnel committee "which shall be comprised of the chair of the legislature, his or her designee, the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, the Human Resource Administrator, and the Budget Director." The personnel committee is charged with reviewing department head requests for personnel changes and making recommendations to the appropriate oversight committee; department heads denied by the personnel committee may appeal to their oversight chair, who may bring the request to the full legislature.

The adopted changes also separate planning and economic development from public works, list a set of departments to be overseen by the new planning and economic development committee, and require each standing committee to have five members appointed by the chair. The amendments further state that the county rules of order will apply to all committee meetings, including Ways and Means.

After approving the procedural amendments, the legislature voted to go into executive session to discuss the financial and employment history of a particular person and matters leading to the appointment of a particular person, and invited Diane Farish to join that closed session. The chair stated there was no additional business following the executive session and the meeting would conclude afterward.

The action was taken at a special meeting where members debated the wording and scope of the personnel committee and the five-member committee requirement before the vote.