County Executive Jen Metzger, along with the entire Ulster County Legislature’s leadership cadre, said Thursday that County Comptroller March Gallagher set up a surveillance camera pointing at the county’s UCAT garage. Gallagher said that’s true, and by divulging the camera’s existence, Metzger and company ruined an investigation into allegations of “time and attendance” misdeeds on the part of unnamed UCAT employees.

This is not the first time Metzger and Gallagher, both Rosendaliens, have found themselves at cross purposes since Metzger beat Gallagher for the Democratic county exec nomination to replace Pat Ryan when he left the office to run for Congress in 2022. Just a year later, the two came into conflict when Metzger withheld documents pertaining to the former disgraced county finance commissioner Burt Gulnick Jr. that Gallagher wanted. (A court later ruled in Gallagher’s favor.) More recently, the two have clashed over a proposition to put more county offices subject to the approval of the legislature and the Ulster County For Fair Taxes proposal.

This latest eruption began on Thursday with the arrival from the county executive’s office of one of the more curious press releases this reporter has seen in his nearly 40 years of journalism.

“On Tuesday, Aug. 25, the Ulster County Sheriff's Office was notified by UCAT leadership that a camera pointed at the front entrance to the UCAT building was found hidden in the bushes,” the release stated. “It appears this hidden device was recording without the knowledge and consent of UCAT employees. The camera was subsequently confirmed to be the personal property of Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher. No county officials were informed by the comptroller about this surveillance prior to the discovery of the camera.”

The next paragraph decries the act and details everyone the county exec’s office notified after the camera’s discovery. “Employees have a right to do their jobs without being secretly recorded, and any surveillance conducted without their knowledge or consent is unacceptable. The county comptroller has been informed of our concerns, and the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, Personnel Department, county attorney, and CSEA union leadership have been briefed on the matter. We want UCAT employees and the public to know that we take this seriously, and the matter is currently under review by the County Attorney’s Office.”

Gallagher’s response came a few hours later, also in the form of a curious press release. In it, she said there was a very good reason no one was told about the camera.

“The Ulster County Comptroller’s Office has received multiple credible allegations of the falsification of time records by management at the Ulster County Area Transit Department,” Gallagher stated. “The actions taken by the comptroller were within the scope of our independent investigative and audit authority. The county already operates 10 cameras at the UCAT building on a 24-hour basis. It’s unfortunate that this ongoing investigation has now been disclosed publicly. We urge any members of the community with additional information to contact the Comptroller’s Office.”

Both the offices of the county executive and county comptroller were created by the charter reform which came in the wake of the tremendous (and suspicious) cost overruns of the county Law Enforcement Center construction project nearly two decades ago. But Metzger and Gallagher’s contretempses were preceded by arguably even more rancorous and bizarre battling between former county exec Mike Hein and former comptroller Elliott Auerbach. The most prominent flashpoint between the two was in 2018, when a Hein deputy alleged Auerbach improperly accessed files on the county server. Auerbach’s secret recordings of conversations with county officials – perfectly legal under state law – also got in the mix.

It’s far too soon to say where this latest dispute will end up. Check back for further updates.