With something less than the usual fanfare, the county executive announced two new hires in the economic development department. Leslie Wellington, at an annual salary of $101,801, will head the department. She will be joined by her assistant, Kathleen DeWitt, at $78,963.

With benefits and support staff, the county’s latest foray into what they call “ecodev” (everything is reduced to shorthand in government), the county will have invested something approaching $300,000 to create jobs.

This county, over the decades and through different forms of government and leaders, hasn’t been very good at economic development. If it were, we’d see new business sprouting up all over the place instead of affordable housing projects for workers who can’t afford to live anywhere else because there are so few good jobs available.

That the people who have occupied these positions have worked diligently at promoting economic development is not open to challenge. They attend trade shows and seminars and issue periodic press releases on what a great place Ulster is to raise a family.

And yet.

Without good-paying jobs with benefits outside the public sector, medicine and education, a community stagnates.

What’s needed is a clearly defined game plan, followed by accountability and responsibility.

Over the years, economic development has become something of an insiders’ game. On the rare occasion when anybody bothers to ask how’s it going, the answer invariably is, “we’ve made some really good contacts, but it’s too soon to talk about it.” Too soon stretches into years until a new team is put in place.

I’ve always wondered why nobody seems to notice that the county office of economic development is rarely mentioned when that rare ecodev project comes to fruition.

Here, I’m not talking about the county’s Industrial Development Agency, which, while it gives away a ton of taxpayer dollars to attract developers, has something to show for it at the end of the year.

All I know about the Wellington/Dewitt team is what I read in press releases. They seem excited about their new positions and eager to get on with the job. DeWitt comes with deep roots in the farming community, which should herald priority in that area. And why not? Agriculture, behind tourism, is the second leading producer of jobs in the county.

As this latest reboot falls under the direct aegis of the executive’s office, I would hope the exec intends to assign one of her talented and well-paid deputies to regular oversight.

Ever the optimist, I look forward to the department’s first (ever) progress report in about six months.

The Story That Keeps Giving

With county Republicans falling somewhere between dormant and dead, the only real news in politics these days is when Democrats get to fighting with each other. Fortunately, most have years of experience in interparty combat.

And so the saga of alleged “time theft” in the county’s public transit operation goes on. And on.

The latest installment has County Comptroller March Gallagher complaining that the information she requested from the county executive has not been forthcoming as quickly as she might have hoped. Noted in Gallagher’s “disappointment” at this alleged slow-walking is that she actually had to subpoena the executive back in August for what little information she had received.

Interesting. One county department has to legally demand information from another. And they’re all Democrats.

The Trades Turn Their Back on Sarahana

It was apparent from the get-go that Central Hudson’s union members look askance at Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha’s incessant attacks on the utility. After endorsing her in the ‘24 campaign, a coalition of trade unions, “in solidarity” with Central Hudson’s union members, has dropped this hot potato.

Shrestha, who seems to have a plausible response to any question, when and if she chooses to respond, has said that it’s not the rank and file at Central Hudson that she’s after, but its Canadian owners and the executives that run things. Being relatively new to the area, she may not appreciate that Central Hudson is a tightknit operation, from the suits in the corner suites to those hard hats atop the pole when power fails.

In any event, Shrestha, facing a little-known Republican opponent, Santos Lopez of Saugerties, doesn’t need anybody’s help.

Some might find it curious, though, that the labor coalition which endorsed state Sen. Michelle Hinchey for re-election in ’24, is sticking with her. Hinchey, not quite as vociferous as Shrestha, has been on the anti-Central Hudson bandwagon with her Assembly mate from the beginning. Both are sponsoring Hudson Valley Power Authority bills – the legislative effort to make Central Hudson a wholly owned-by-the state operation – in their respective houses. Neither has moved from committee.

The difference, I would think, with the union, is that Hinchey, a real player in her house, actually gets things done. With that kind of clout, a certain amount of aggravation is tolerable.