NORWICH – A contract from Chenango County outlining stipulations for proceeding with the downtown parks renovation project finally landed in the Norwich Business Improvement District’s office last week.

It had been sitting, unfinished, on the county’s attorney’s desk for more than a year.

The city’s attorney is currently reviewing the proposed agreement. Eric Larsen, president of Friends of the Parks, which is the all-volunteer organization working in conjunction with BID, said he hoped the county’s terms could be met. Some involved insurance and weren’t previously envisioned, he said.

“They want us to maintain coverage for three years after the project’s finished to see if there’s any defects in what we’ve donated,” he said. “We have to find out what that’s going to cost us.”

The sticking point has involved whether Friends of the Parks would have to pay prevailing wages to volunteers who were otherwise employed by contractors making the improvements. Whether the county’s attorney or the Friends’ organization initiated an investigation of state law on the matter in the first place depends on who you talk to. But speaking for the county’s Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee, City of Norwich Supervisor Linda E. Natoli said Tuesday that the county received written confirmation from the New York State Labor Department confirming that the prevailing wage issue had been put to bed.