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Jason Molino accepts position of Tompkins County Administrator

By Billie Owens

Submitted photo and press release:

Jason Molino, currently City Manager of the City of Batavia, has accepted Tompkins County’s offer of employment to become that County’s next County Administrator.

Molino’s selection is subject to formal appointment by the Tompkins County Legislature—that action scheduled for the Legislature’s Dec. 19th meeting. The new administrator’s start date will be determined, once the appointment becomes official.

A credentialed local government management professional by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), with diversified experience in public administration, Molino has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Fiscal Officer of the City of Batavia (Genesee County) since 2006, leading a city workforce of 130 (departments of Police, Fire, Public Works, Community/Economic Development, and Youth Bureau) and administering an annual operating budget of $25 million and a $25 million capital plan. From 2004 to 2006, he served as Assistant to the Village Manager for the Village of Port Chester, New York, where he assisted in projects and issues related to operations, personnel, labor negotiations, and public engagement.

Molino is also a veteran, having served in the United States Coast Guard Reserve for seven years, achieving the rank of Petty Officer Second Class.

“We are very pleased to have Jason coming to join our team,” said Michael Lane, chair of the Tompkins County Legislature. “He brings with him a strong background in budgeting, labor relations, and management oversight; and has compiled a strong record of supervising a multi-department workforce, inter-municipal cooperation, and securing important grant funding for his community.

"Jason’s credentials are a great fit for county government and I know our residents and businesses will welcome him and work with him to keep our county moving forward on its course for success.”  

"I am truly honored to be given this opportunity to work for such a progressive community,” Molino said. “Tompkins County is recognized across the State of New York as a leader in government, and I’m looking forward to being part of this team. My family and I are eager to become members of the community and enjoy all that Tompkins County has to offer."

Molino holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy, University of Albany, State University of New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Norwich University, Northfield, Vt. Molino is married with four children (ages 3, 5, 7, and 18) and currently resides in Batavia.

Tompkins County began a national search for a new County Administrator in July 2017, after former administrator Joe Mareane announced his intent to retire. A diverse search committee comprised of county legislators, department heads, labor representatives, and community members narrowed a field of more than 20 applicants and conducted interviews. Three were recommended to the full County Legislature and were interviewed by all 14 members; new Legislators-elect observed and asked questions.

The County Administrator is the chief executive officer of Tompkins County. The Administrator serves at the pleasure of the Legislature and is responsible for conveying the will of the Legislature to departments and representing the concerns of departments to the Legislature.

The Administrator is routinely charged with highly complex projects and challenging responsibilities, among them  development of the annual recommended County budget, appointment and supervision of non-elected department heads, ensuring that policies of the Legislature are followed, managing special projects of the Legislature, and representing the County Legislature at the state and local level.

Deputy County Administrator Paula Younger has served as Interim County Administrator since mid-November.

Rich Richmond

It is no secret I’ve disagreed with Jason on some issues in the past, speaking out at City Council Meetings; Letters to the Editor; as well as comments in the Batavian. That being said, “Good luck with your new job, Jason. I wish you and your family well.”

Dec 18, 2017, 3:26pm Permalink
Pat McGinnis

Well this is what happens when you treat your employees poorly, they leave! He has been denied promised raises repeatedly. Now Batavia is going to left without a Manager or Assistant Manager to run the City. Are there any comments from Batavia's leadership on this or Jason himself? The article sounds like its pulled from Tompkins county.

Dec 18, 2017, 3:38pm Permalink
John Roach

Pat, actually, he was not given a raise only once since 2006, and that was this year. However, it was also thought that he would move up. This area can only offer so much and where he is going has a much larger population and economy.

Dec 18, 2017, 4:22pm Permalink
Mike Weaver

I am disappointed to hear that the city is losing Jason Molino. When I moved into this city about 15 yrs ago the previous City Manager had just skipped town and left Batavia with a substantial debt that was essentially hidden from us. In my opinion, Jason did a remarkable job of paving the way for the city to be debt free, and has been a true professional in a community that doesn't seem to appreciate it.,

Am I happy that my taxes have gone up along the way? Of course not. But I've never felt like the decisions made that affected my tax rate were made irresponsibly, or with poor logic.

I've often wondered how long Jason would stay given the outspoken criticism by some members of the council. I guess we now know.

Dec 18, 2017, 6:16pm Permalink
John Roach

Mike, just for the record, the last Manager did not "skip town", he got a better job, just like Jason is getting now. And the last Manager did warn about the debt we were going into, but the Council at that time did not care and spent us into debt.

Jason with the direction and backing of a new Council got us out of that debt.

Dec 18, 2017, 6:26pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

WOW!, Howard. Just within the last couple days, you deleted someone's comment because they had called another commenter "delusional" (which http://www.dictionary.com defines as "1. having false or unrealistic beliefs or opinions"). OMG! How dare someone even think somebody has false or unrealistic beliefs? Had that commenter written that the person they were responding to "had false or unrealistic beliefs or opinions", would his comment have been deleted?

Yet, today, you apparently didn't have a problem stating that, "It's very reasonable to assume the narrowmindedness of certain council members...", and, "...right after five very short-sighted members of the City Council...". And then listed, by name, what I'm assuming is the five narrowminded, short-sighted council members you were speaking of (Rose Mary Christian, Kathleen Briggs, Al McGinnis, Paul Viele and Robert Bialkowski). I guess they can just be thankful they weren't called delusional.

I guess one of the benefits of being the OWNER of an online news site is, nobody's going to delete YOUR characterization of people.

As Mel Brooks' character said in the movie History of the World, Part I, "It's good to be the king!".

Dec 18, 2017, 9:40pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Sad news for the city. We're losing a top-notch CEO.

I don't think there's any coincidence that this job came open right after a very short-sighted decision by five members of the City Council, breaking a promise to provide a raise. That was grossly unfair to Jason and unfair to the citizens of Batavia who have benefitted from his leadership.

There's no doubt that he would have moved up eventually but no reason to believe it would have come now. It's very reasonable to assume the narrow-minded decision of certain council members hastened his departure. That's especially true when you consider that much of what Jason has done to move the city forward is now coming to fruition but is still not yet complete.

But even if his departure, even now, was inevitable, the optics of the council's hamfisted actions could make it that much harder to attract another top-notch city manager.

This is definitely a loss for the city. Let's hope it doesn't have long-term negative consequences. These are critical times with a lot going on that has us moving in a positive direction. It's not a good time to lose the leader who made it possible. We know which council members to thank. Rose Mary Christian, Kathleen Briggs, Al McGinnis, Paul Viele and Robert Bialkowski.

Dec 18, 2017, 11:09pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Ed, as you can see now, I changed the language from characterizing individuals to applying the adjectives to their actions.

Yes, the comment is still critical of individuals, but for their actions, and, it should be noted, they are elected officials. A certain level of criticism goes with the job, but, you're right, it should not be with the language of characterization of who they are as people, merely for their actions. All people deserve more respect than that and I should have chosen my words more carefully.

Dec 18, 2017, 11:12pm Permalink
Brian Graz

Ed #7, you're right on. Before long we will have to use a different language, because so many words in the English will be banned. Pretty bad when the FCC allows language on public airwaves that we can't say here...

Dec 19, 2017, 12:24pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

There's no discussion here of any banned words (though we don't allow profanity, that isn't the issue here).

The issue was a use of words that were derogatory characterizations of individuals (comments to the person, not to the subject or the person's actions), such as calling someone delusional (as another commenter did the other day) or narrow-minded (as I did above). To help avoid personal fights in comments (which are irritating and boring to every reader not involved), we don't allow personal attacks. It's also not fair to the people not directly participating in comments.

I'm sorry that point was lost on you, Brian. Perhaps this clarification helps.

Dec 19, 2017, 12:53pm Permalink

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