MONTICELLO, NY — Sullivan County Legislator Catherine Owens has periodically raised the issue of a New York State constitutional convention, which voters will be asked to weigh in on in November 2017. She did so again at a meeting of the Government Services Committee.

If the voters say “yes” to a convention, they will then elect delegates to the convention in November 2018. The current state constitution requires that three delegates be selected from each of the state’s 63 senate districts, and 15 be selected as at-large delegates representing the entire state.

The legislature would have the choice to further define the process. For instance, print-outs Owens distributed brought up the question of whether delegates to the convention should be partisan or nonpartisan.

The print out said, “The argument for the use of partisan candidates is two-fold: they have campaign coffers and name recognition to draw upon; and party influence would be out in the open, not concealed. The argument for the use of nonpartisan candidates is that it gives those from outside government the chance to change what they view as wrong.”

There has not been a constitutional convention in New York State since 1967. If voters say they want one, the legislature will make the decision about whether members of the legislature are also allowed to be delegates to the convention, which would begin in April 2019. The convention would conclude in time for voters to accept or reject any proposed amendments by an election in November 2019.

In other business, the committee is considering a law mandating that all solid waste in the county be processed at county-owned facilities.