Ogdensburg’s interim city manager wants ‘different tone’ with county

OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) - Relations between Ogdensburg and St. Lawrence County are pretty sour right now and the new interim city manager hopes to change that.

Andrea Smith will lead the city for the next 4 months and wants the next city manager to have a better working relationship with the county. Relations are frail because of recent moves under former city manager Stephen Jellie after Ogdensburg stopped collecting property taxes for the county.

The city stopped some dispatching of its police department, passing that on to the county.

“I think it would be fair to say we are not on the best of terms now. Over the past several years, there have been a lot of debates both publicly and, I can only imagine, behind closed doors, the things that have been said back and forth. I think it is critical to start to have a different tone with the county,” said Smith.

Smith already has had conversations with county leaders to set the stage for that different tone.

See more of our interview with Smith here.