Tom Drumm
OSWEGO, NY – County Legislator Tom Drumm from the city of Oswego announced today (April 14) the formation of a Governmental Coalition to facilitate communication between city, county, state, and federal governments.
The coalition will hold a monthly meeting between city and county officials, and will welcome representatives of state and federal government on a bi-monthly basis.
“Far too often, the city and the county are not pulling in the same direction,” said Drumm.
Calling for an end to “turf wars,” he argued that if local governments are better aligned, it will yield better results when planning for overall development and seeking state and federal assistance.
“The meetings and discussions we’ve had have been productive and I believe it is long overdue that both the county and city come to the table to discuss ideas and finally we have leaders in both governments willing to do just that,” Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow told Oswego County Today.
The monthly coalition meeting, Drumm said, will keep lines of communication open between the city and county.
Drumm also emphasized the importance of including state and federal officials.
“The large challenges we face, both economic and social, are bigger than just Oswego County,” he said. “Getting all levels of government into one room on a regular basis will provide our partners with insight into what is actually happening on the ground, and will allow us to collaborate on ways the state and federal government can help make Oswego County more competitive.”
The idea of this governmental coalition has support from city and county stakeholders, said Drumm, who in the last few months has travelled around Central New York, meeting with the staffs of Senator Chuck Schumer and Governor Andrew Cuomo, among others.
The widespread support he has received gives him confidence that the coalition “will have some real teeth.”
Drumm’s vision for the coalition is to keep it focused on results.
“Tangible results are what the people in our community want and deserve,” he said. “This coalition will be a forum in which we can have real communication, do real collaboration, and produce real results for Oswego County.”
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I admire Legislator Drumm’s efforts to open up the communications between our various governmental entities. I just hope that elected officials from BOTH parties will participate with the best interests of all of our citizens in mind. These efforts often marked by partisan squabbling. It would be nice to see everyone work together!
I actually bumped into Mr. Drumm at a community event roughly a month ago and he discussed this idea. He expressed that he has interest from both Republican’s and Democrat’s regarding this collation. I think this idea is a breath of fresh air with exciting outcomes for the community members.