CONEIDA, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A small city on the verge of possibly making a big change.
The City of Oneida held a forum Wednesday evening, Nov. 1, to discuss adding a city manager position.
“We need someone to give us some long-term strategic planning, lookout five, 10, 15 years,” said Matt Roberts, the vice chairman of the Madison County Board of Supervisors. “Every two years we have an election. That can be sort of an issue when you’re trying to do transformative change.”
The city manager would run day-to-day operations, work with department heads and work on growing the city — all to take some of the workload off the shoulders of the part-time mayor.
“The city manager form of government is growing by leaps and bounds because it is very efficient,” Roberts said.
Oneida city residents can flip their ballots over to vote on whether they want the city manager position to be created under Proposition 3.
“This is a big change for our city, so being informed and knowing exactly what this entails is going to be a big thing on November 7,” said Ward 3 Councilman Rick Rossi.
If the proposal passes, the Oneida Common Council will employ headhunters to find a qualified candidate.
There is no timetable yet on how long that could take.
