§ 239-BB — County-wide shared services panels

§ 239-bb. County-wide shared services panels. 1. Definitions. The\nfollowing terms shall have the following meanings for the purposes of\nthis article:\n a. "County" shall mean any county not wholly contained within a city.\n b. "County CEO" shall mean the county executive, county manager or\nother chief executive of the county, or, where none, the chair of the\ncounty legislative body.\n c. "Panel" shall mean a county-wide shared services panel established\npursuant to subdivision two of this section.\n d. "Plan" shall mean a county-wide shared services property tax\nsavings plan.\n 2. County-wide shared services panels. a. There may be a county-wide\nshared services panel in each county consisting of the county CEO, and\none representative from each city, town and village in the county. The\nchief executive officer of each town, city and village shall be the\nrepresentative to a panel and shall be the mayor, if a city or a\nvillage, or shall be the supervisor, if a town. The county CEO shall\nserve as chair.\n b. The county CEO may invite any school district, board of cooperative\neducational services, fire district, fire protection district, or\nspecial improvement district in the county to join a panel. Upon such\ninvitation, the governing body of such school district, board of\ncooperative educational services, fire district, fire protection\ndistrict, or other special district may accept such invitation by\nselecting a representative of such governing body, by majority vote, to\nserve as a member of the panel.\n 3. Each county CEO may convene the panel and develop a plan. Such\nplans shall contain new, recurring property tax savings resulting from\nactions such as, but not limited to, the elimination of duplicative\nservices; shared services arrangements including, joint purchasing,\nshared highway equipment, shared storage facilities, shared plowing\nservices and energy and insurance purchasing cooperatives; reducing back\noffice and administrative overhead; and better coordinating services.\nThe secretary of state may provide advice and/or recommendations on the\nform and structure of such plans.\n 4. While developing a plan, the county CEO shall regularly consult\nwith, and take recommendations from, the representatives: on the panel;\nof each collective bargaining unit of the county and the cities, towns,\nand villages; and of each collective bargaining unit of any\nparticipating school district, board of cooperative educational\nservices, fire district, fire protection district, or special\nimprovement district.\n 5. The county CEO, the county legislative body and a panel shall\naccept input from the public, civic, business, labor and community\nleaders on any proposed plan. The county CEO may cause to be conducted\npublic hearings prior to submission of a plan to a vote of a panel. All\nsuch public hearings shall be conducted within the county, and public\nnotice of all such hearings shall be provided at least one week prior in\nthe manner prescribed in subdivision one of section one hundred four of\nthe public officers law. Civic, business, labor, and community leaders,\nas well as members of the public, shall be permitted to provide public\ntestimony at any such hearings.\n 6. a. The county CEO shall submit each plan, accompanied by a\ncertification as to the accuracy of the savings contained therein, to\nthe county legislative body at least forty-five days prior to a vote by\nthe panel.\n b. The county legislative body shall review and consider each plan\nsubmitted in accordance with paragraph a of this subdivision. A majority\nof the members of such body may issue an advisory report on each plan,\nmaking recommendations as deemed necessary. The county CEO may modify a\nplan based on such recommendations, which shall include an updated\ncertification as to the accuracy of the savings contained therein.\n 7. a. A panel shall duly consider any plan properly submitted to the\npanel by the county CEO and may approve such plan by a majority vote of\nthe panel. Each member of a panel may, prior to the panel-wide vote,\ncause to be removed from a plan any proposed action affecting the unit\nof government represented by the respective member. Written notice of\nsuch removal shall be provided to the county CEO prior to a panel-wide\nvote on a plan.\n b. Plans approved by a panel shall be publicly disseminated to\nresidents of the county in a concise, clear, and coherent manner using\nwords with common and everyday meaning.\n c. The county CEO shall conduct a public presentation of any approved\nplan no later than thirty days from the date of approval by a panel.\nPublic notice of such presentation shall be provided at least one week\nprior in the manner prescribed in subdivision one of section one hundred\nfour of the public officers law.\n 8. The secretary of state may solicit, and the panels may provide at\nthe request of the secretary of state, advice and recommendations\nconcerning matters related to the operations of local governments and\nshared services initiatives, including, but not limited to, making\nrecommendations regarding grant proposals incorporating elements of\nshared services, government dissolutions, government and service\nconsolidations, or property taxes and such other grants where the\nsecretary deems the input of the panels to be in the best interest of\nthe public. The panel shall advance such advice or recommendations by a\nvote of the majority of the members present at such meeting.\n