Otsego board considering longer terms

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August 2, 2012

Otsego board considering longer terms

JOE MAHONEY STAFF WRITER The Cooperstown Crier Thu Aug 02, 2012, 10:19 AM EDT

The term of office for members of the Otsego County Board of Representatives would be doubled to four years under a proposal county lawmakers are expected to act on this week.

A resolution awaiting board action would authorize a public referendum that asks voters to lengthen the term of office for representatives from two to four years, said Rep. Rich Murphy, D-Town of Oneonta, the architect of the proposal.

A public hearing would be held on the question before it would be put to voters in the general election in November, when the electorate will also decide contests from president to Congress to the state Legislature.

“Two years is too short,” Murphy said. He said new members of the county board are in office for barely a year before they are pressed to decide whether they are running for re-election. Having to gear up an election campaign in such a short time is a distraction from working on county business, the purpose for which the public put them in office in the first place, he said.

“Four years is preferable because it gives the elected official time to learn the position,” said Murphy, who had previously been a member of the Oneonta town board, whose members have four-year terms.

If the measure passes by way of a referendum, Otsego representatives elected in the 2013 elections would get four-year terms.

Murphy said he is hoping his measure will win bipartisan support from the 14-member county board, which has seven Republicans and seven Democrats.

Republicans, when they are united, control the board because they hold more weighted votes, which are based on census statistics for the various districts served by the representatives.

Rep. Donald Lindberg, R-Worcester, said getting a four-year term as opposed to a two-year term would have little impact on his life.

“To me, it doesn’t matter either way,” he said. “I can run one way or the other.”

Lindberg said one significant advantage to sticking with the two-year term is that it gives voters a chance to replace a disappointing officeholder sooner.

He also said some would-be office seekers might be dissuaded from running for the board if the term was stretched to four years.

However, Lindberg said he has not made up his mind yet on how he will vote on the resolution.

Murphy, now in his third term as a county representative, said he was optimistic the proposal will muster enough support to pass at Wednesday’s board meeting, although he cautioned: “It’s not going to be a slam dunk.”