County attorney and review commission present proposed administrative-code revisions

County Attorney Emily Woodard and a presenter identified as Nate briefed the Public Facilities Committee on proposed changes to Chautauqua County’s administrative code on March 16.

Woodard explained the code-review process under the county charter and said the commission’s work is part of the decennial review cycle. "Every 10 years we have to go through this process under our common charter where we have a commission that looks at potential changes for the charter and for the administrative code," she said.

Nate summarized major categories of changes: updating the code to be consistent with the recently amended charter, removing references to an obsolete Office of Management and Budget in favor of the current budget director structure, making the executive’s cabinet discretionary instead of mandatory, and transferring detailed budget-filing procedures out of the admin code into a proposed local law.

The presentation was informational and the committee was asked to return any feedback before the full legislature meeting. Woodard said the procedural path is that the county executive files the amended administrative code with the legislature; if the legislature does not object within 30 days, the changes take effect unless members file objections.

No committee vote was required; the administration asked committees to review the redline draft and submit suggested edits to accommodate the 30-day legislative review timeline.