While the Otsego County Board of Representatives' toil for the new year has barely begun, we are heartened by what Republican Floyd "Sam" Dubben has said so far.
Dubben, 65, was elected chairman of the 14-member board a week ago, succeeding Rep. James Powers, R-Butternuts.
"My decision to put my name out there for chairman wasn't a reflection on the job Jim was doing (as chairman)," said Dubben, who represents District 7, which encompasses Cherry Valley, Middlefield and Roseboom.
"... I just thought I'd like to try it, too."
We're glad he did.
Powers is a good man, hard-working and plain-spoken. But his mind was made up in what we feel was the wrong way on the seminal issue facing the board, which is whether to hire a county manager.
"It won't happen," Powers said often, "as long as I am chairman."
For his part, Dubben appears to be at least open to the concept of a county manager.
"Could I work with a manager? Yes, I could," said Dubben. "But the time to set this up may not be this year. First of all, it's not in the budget. Then, we have new people in key positions, and they need to get comfortable with what they're doing."
As fervently as this newspaper has opined about the urgent need for a manager, Dubben is probably wise to take his foot off the gas for a while.
For one thing, we have great confidence in the newly elected treasurer, Daniel Crowell. We think that not only will the office will be run more professionally, but Crowell's depth of knowledge about financial matters needs to be accessed.
New county Attorney Ellen Coccoma will need time to get familiar with her duties, as will Dubben, even though he's in his ninth year on the board.
"I'm new, too," he said.
We see 2010 as a year to gain experience, and as long as Dubben keeps an open mind about a county manager, it will be a time well-spent.
At this level of government, it really shouldn't matter who's a Republican and who's a Democrat. Yet, we've seen many matters determined on party-line votes.
We like what we have heard from Dubben about toning down what has been a much-too-partisan board in recent years.
"I want to hear from everyone and consider what they have to say, regardless of party," Dubben said. "We may not always agree, but we can agree to listen to each other."
Financial concerns, natural gas drilling and MOSA _ just to name three issues _ aren't going away. It will take cooperation and savvy to deal with them properly.
So far, Sam Dubben is off to a good start.
