New York § 239-BB - 239-BBCounty-wide shared services panels

§ 239-BB. 239-BBCounty-wide shared services panels

§ 239-bb. County-wide shared services panels. 1. Definitions. The following terms shall have the following meanings for the purposes of this article: a. "County" shall mean any county not wholly contained within a city. b. "County CEO" shall mean the county executive, county manager or other chief executive of the county, or, where none, the chair of the county legislative body. c. "Panel" shall mean a county-wide shared services panel established pursuant to subdivision two of this section. d. "Plan" shall mean a county-wide shared services property tax savings plan. 2. County-wide shared services panels. a. There may be a county-wide shared services panel in each county consisting of the county CEO, and one representative from each city, town and village in the county. The chief executive officer of each town, city and village shall be the representative to a panel and shall be the mayor, if a city or a village, or shall be the supervisor, if a town. The county CEO shall serve as chair. b. The county CEO may invite any school district, board of cooperative educational services, fire district, fire protection district, or special improvement district in the county to join a panel. Upon such invitation, the governing body of such school district, board of cooperative educational services, fire district, fire protection district, or other special district may accept such invitation by selecting a representative of such governing body, by majority vote, to serve as a member of the panel. 3. Each county CEO may convene the panel and develop a plan. Such plans shall contain new, recurring property tax savings resulting from actions such as, but not limited to, the elimination of duplicative services; shared services arrangements including, joint purchasing, shared highway equipment, shared storage facilities, shared plowing services and energy and insurance purchasing cooperatives; reducing back office and administrative overhead; and better coordinating services. The secretary of state may provide advice and/or recommendations on the form and structure of such plans. 4. While developing a plan, the county CEO shall regularly consult with, and take recommendations from, the representatives: on the panel; of each collective bargaining unit of the county and the cities, towns, and villages; and of each collective bargaining unit of any participating school district, board of cooperative educational services, fire district, fire protection district, or special improvement district. 5. The county CEO, the county legislative body and a panel shall accept input from the public, civic, business, labor and community leaders on any proposed plan. The county CEO may cause to be conducted public hearings prior to submission of a plan to a vote of a panel. All such public hearings shall be conducted within the county, and public notice of all such hearings shall be provided at least one week prior in the manner prescribed in subdivision one of section one hundred four of the public officers law. Civic, business, labor, and community leaders, as well as members of the public, shall be permitted to provide public testimony at any such hearings. 6. a. The county CEO shall submit each plan, accompanied by a certification as to the accuracy of the savings contained therein, to the county legislative body at least forty-five days prior to a vote by the panel. b. The county legislative body shall review and consider each plan submitted in accordance with paragraph a of this subdivision. A majority of the members of such body may issue an advisory report on each plan, making recommendations as deemed necessary. The county CEO may modify a plan based on such recommendations, which shall include an updated certification as to the accuracy of the savings contained therein. 7. a. A panel shall duly consider any plan properly submitted to the panel by the county CEO and may approve such plan by a majority vote of the panel. Each member of a panel may, prior to the panel-wide vote, cause to be removed from a plan any proposed action affecting the unit of government represented by the respective member. Written notice of such removal shall be provided to the county CEO prior to a panel-wide vote on a plan. b. Plans approved by a panel shall be publicly disseminated to residents of the county in a concise, clear, and coherent manner using words with common and everyday meaning. c. The county CEO shall conduct a public presentation of any approved plan no later than thirty days from the date of approval by a panel. Public notice of such presentation shall be provided at least one week prior in the manner prescribed in subdivision one of section one hundred four of the public officers law. 8. The secretary of state may solicit, and the panels may provide at the request of the secretary of state, advice and recommendations concerning matters related to the operations of local governments and shared services initiatives, including, but not limited to, making recommendations regarding grant proposals incorporating elements of shared services, government dissolutions, government and service consolidations, or property taxes and such other grants where the secretary deems the input of the panels to be in the best interest of the public. The panel shall advance such advice or recommendations by a vote of the majority of the members present at such meeting.