UTICA, N.Y. – Today, federal, state and local elected leaders convened a meeting at Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr.’s office to discuss U.S. Army proposals regarding the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) in Rome. U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Representative Richard Hanna issued the following statement after today’s meeting:
“Today we met with Oneida County stakeholders to assess the information currently on hand regarding an Army proposal that could affect DFAS Rome and coordinate our strategy moving forward. While there will not be a BRAC round planned or initiated this year, we constantly monitor potential threats to our facilities in Rome and take these matters very seriously. We will continue to engage the Army and DFAS to obtain all the facts and bring clarity to any proposals that could impact the great workforce that our government is fortunate to have at DFAS Rome.”
Those who participated in today’s meeting included: Rep. Hanna, representatives of Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, members of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s staff, state Senator Joseph A. Griffo, Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, County Executive Picente, Oneida County Legislature Chairman Gerald Fiorini, AFGE Local 201 President Ed Abounader, Mohawk Valley EDGE, and a representative of City of Rome Mayor Joseph Fusco.
Last week, Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Hanna in a letter to U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh underscored their unified support for maintaining and growing DFAS in Rome, and requested a thorough explanation of any proposals now in formulation that impact the facility. The letter is attached to this email.