County Watch
by G. L. Penney

 On March 20, I asked the county attorney for a copy of a document that had been mentioned as Exhibit B in a letter sent to the state comptroller. Exhibit B turned out to be a "Subrecipient Agreement" between the county and the Local Development Corporation. The first line of this agreement contained the words "entered into this 16th day of march 2006."

 Since this was the first time I had seen this document, I looked to see who were the signatories. They were: Donald Burns for Tioga County and for the Tioga County Local Development Corporation, Douglas Barton, President. 
 "Could this be proper?" I wondered, "Mr. Barton is also the head of the county Department of Economic Development."

 In looking back over the document, I found the following statement: "The County through its Department of Economic Development and Planning will monitor the performance of the Subrecipient against goals and performance standards required herein.

 "At a subsequent "work session," the county attorney admitted this to be "an apparent conflict of interest."

 However, it seems that we are stuck with this agreement because it was initiated by a prior legislature, even though it wasn't signed until now, and without my direct knowledge.

 This is one of the reasons why I hope that the New York State comptroller will require us to adopt a "Corrective Action Plan" in response to their upcoming report on the Howland Bros.' dealings with the county. I shall then propose that all new legislators be informed of any such pending agreements.