NORWICH – The downtown parks project has become a case of: “Who said, she said, he said what?” and the official paperwork that could untangle the communications mess is being held up somewhere in the Chenango County attorney’s office.

“Our issue is trying to get it done. All we need it to finalize an agreement with the county, and we feel like we’ve done what needs to be done,” said Eric Larsen, president of Friends of the Parks, an all-volunteer organization that has raised $425,000 from supporters to upgrade and enhance East and West Parks in Norwich.

The estimated $1 million project has been ongoing since 2002, and received Chenango County’s official backing a year ago. It includes a turn-of-the-century style performance stage in East Park, upgrading the electrical systems, providing water access, building new sidewalks, replacing overgrown shrubs, providing new benches and replacing two Civil War cannons.

The final hoop to jump through, so Larsen thought, was to obtain the stamp of approval from the New York State Department of Labor. He and Norwich Business Improvement District Executive Director Pegi LoPresti traveled to Albany in late May to discuss prevailing wage issues, and were successful, they said, in obtaining the go-ahead.

Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker said in late June that he had a letter from the DOL stating that the parks project couldn’t be done without paying volunteer workers prevailing wages. While Decker said he had heard through the grapevine that Larsen and LoPresti had met with DOL representatives, and were told that the project was a non-issue, he said he had not received the documentation to prove it.

“All we said is that if that’s accurate, then the person they spoke to needs to put the approval in writing and copy it to us. We are OK with this, but if the labor department says that they have to pay prevailing wages and don’t do it, they could come down on us big time. We have to have it in writing, according to our mandates, we have to have another letter stating that it’s fine. Everything’s got to be in writing today,” said Decker.

According to Larsen and LoPresti, 3rd Assistant County Attorney Steven Natoli has had a letter for several weeks confirming that labor department had signed off on the project. They said their follow up calls over the past two weeks weren’t being returned. On Friday, a secretary for the assistant attorney said the matter was in Chenango County Attorney Richard Breslin’s hands.