NORWICH – Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, chose three long-standing town supervisors, including a Democrat, to chair various standing committees in 2012.

Wilcox turned to nine-term Town of Lincklaen Supervisor Wayne Outwater to chair the powerful Chenango County Finance Committee. Outwater has been a member of Finance for three years and has chaired the Personnel Committee for more than a decade. He was first elected supervisor in 1996.

Outwater said he intended “to follow in Wilcox’s footsteps” and would aim to keep taxes low and “look at alternatives in order to do that.”

Democrat Dennis Brown, supervisor of the Town of Pharsalia since 1984, was selected to lead the county’s committee for public works services. Brown is one of a very few Democrats in the county’s historically Republican-dominated government to ever be appointed a committee chairman.

Seven-term Republican Supervisor Jerry Kreiner of Plymouth was given the nod to chair Personnel.

Wilcox made the following committee appointments for 2012:

Finance: Outwater (chairman); Brown; Jeffrey Blanchard, R-Pitcher; Richard Schlag, D-German; Jack Cook, R-Greene; Ross Iannello, unaffiliated of New Berlin.

Ag, Buildings & Grounds: Charles A. Mastro, R-Sherburne, (chairman); Peter Flanagan, D-Preston; Fred Heisler, R-Smithville; Robert Jeffrey, R-City of Norwich; John Lawrence, R-Afton; Evan Williams, R-Otselic.

Public Works: Brown (chairman); Flanagan; Arrington Canor, R-McDonough; Kreiner; Dolores Nabinger, R-Bainbridge; Thomas Grace, I-Columbus; George Westcott, R-Coventry; Williams.

Personnel: Kreiner (chairman); Outwater; George Seneck, R-Guilford; David Law, R-Norwich; James Bays, D-Smyrna, Westcott.

Health & Human Services: Blanchard (chairman); Schlag; Bays; James McNeil, D-City of Norwich; Jeffrey; Robert Wansor, R-N. Norwich.

Safety & Rules: Cook (chairman); Canor; Seneck; Mastro; Lawrence; Wansor.

Planning & Economic Development: Law (chairman); Iannello; McNeil; Nabinger; Grace; Heisler.