NORWICH – A two-year perusal of the attendance at Chenango County’s board and standing committee meetings shows a few town supervisors who were routinely absent and a number of committee meetings canceled for either a lack of a quorum or an agenda.

Other than the late Town of Guilford Supervisor Alton B. Doyle, who spent the greater part of the past two years suffering from cancer, the supervisor with the highest number of missed board and committee meetings was David J. Messineo of Otselic, with 22. The next most absent supervisor, Jerry Kreiner of Plymouth, missed 12, only about half of Messineo’s amount.

Messineo is a member of the Planning & Economic Development, chaired by Supervisor Linda Natoli, R-City of Norwich. Perhaps not coincidentally, Natoli was forced to cancel her committee’s monthly gatherings more than any other chairperson. In 2008 alone, Planning was canceled six times out of 13 scheduled dates.

Planning has its own economic development pool of funds and has the power to make appropriations directly to the Chenango County Board of Supervisors for consideration. The Finance Committee, which can tap into the contingency funds when needed, is the only other standing committee with that authority.