The delay of two deals between Auburn and Cayuga County call for action, not fingerpointing.

The city and county are supposed to work together to establish a watershed inspector for Owasco Lake and to reconfigure the city's share of sales taxes taken in by the county in exchange for the city providing utilities to new businesses in Aurelius and elsewhere.

And while basic agreements for both were believed to be in place, the necessary follow-up work hasn't been accomplished.

Now lawmakers from both entities are pointing to the other to explain the lack of progress. Instead of placing blame, officials from various city and county departments need to recognize the fact that somebody needs to take responsibility for actually doing the necessary work to get things done.

Communication and cooperation are the keys.

Take the energy being wasted on the blame game and the useless “It's out of my hands” mentality and do something. Make some phone calls, schedule some meetings, ask how you can help. It's a poor example of good government when we have officials publicly lamenting the lack of progress while doing too little - or nothing at all - to make progress happen.

There seems to be some lingering distrust between lawmakers of the two bodies, but those feelings need to be put aside for the greater good: getting important work accomplished on behalf of the people of Auburn and Cayuga County.

The watershed inspector position and the sales-tax sharing agreement can both happen quickly if officials on both sides sit down and work out the details.

Sitting back and waiting for someone else to do the work has been tried before. It doesn't work.

More communication and better cooperation just might.