After serving Chenango County as its Treatment Court Coordinator for 15 years, Jim Everard is scheduled to retire later this week with Karen Caminiti filling the role. (Zachary Meseck photo)

NORWICH – After approximately 15 years of serving individuals in recovery throughout Chenango County, the county’s treatment court coordinator is officially retiring.

Chenango County’s Treatment Court Coordinator Jim Everard said he has been involved with treatment court since its creation on February 1, 2004.

“Since its creation, we’ve had exactly 400 people come through our program,” said Everard on Friday.

He said Chenango County’s Treatment Count program began under judge Howard Sullivan, and the county put together a team.

“We put a team together, a rather hodge-podge team, and shuffled off to Buffalo for a week long training session,” said Everard. “Then I came back to a desk, but that was about it.”

He said after sitting down with the team and creating a policy and procedure manual, they waited about two months until they received their first participant.

“Treatment courts were originally developed to stop the revolving door of criminal activity and treatment,” said Everard. “For years we would put people in treatment for short periods of time, four or five weeks at most, and then they would get out and the criminal activity wouldn’t stop.”