To hear Kessel, come early

Unlike the past few meetings at the Jefferson County Board of Legislators, there will be no overflow on the first floor or Department of Motor Vehicles. So members of the public who want to hear Richard M. Kessel, president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority, will need to come early.

The doors to the chamber will remain open to allow for some overflow.

“It will be a little bit different this time around,” County Administrator Robert F. Hagemann III said.

Mr. Kessel will talk to the legislators about NYPA’s Great Lakes Offshore Wind Project, which could lead to up to 500 megawatts of wind turbines being built in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

In December, NYPA asked developers to submit proposals for the project by June 1. NYPA will buy the power from the turbines through a power purchase agreement. Of 10 favorable sites in Lake Ontario, one site spreads from Galloo Island north to Grenadier Island and another stretches from Galloo Island south along the eastern shore in Oswego County.

Legislators in Jefferson and Oswego counties have formed the Joint Commission for the Preservation of Lake Ontario Communities to oppose the project. Both legislatures also have resolutions opposing the project up for a vote this week.

Mr. Kessel’s discussion with legislators will be at 7 p.m. tonight at the Jefferson County legislature’s chambers on the second floor of the Historic County Courthouse, 195 Arsenal St.

“There will be no presentation in the formal sense,” Mr. Hagemann said. “There will not be dialog back and forth between Mr. Kessel and the public.”