Treasurer

Dan Crowell is the County Treasurer, of course, and you've probably read about his deployment and the confusion regarding his decision not to run for re-election.

Dan is a captain in the National Guard, and his unit was deployed for six months of training in North Carolina at the beginning of February. Russ Bachman, former fiscal manager of the Meadows (the county's nursing home before the Manor was built), has been filling in for him, full time, as interim Treasurer.

We all passed petitions for Dan's reelection as a Democrat in June/July, since he hadn't returned yet. For reasons I'm not clear on, Dan's decision not to run again (because of increased active-duty obligations) did not come until shortly after it was too late to withdraw from the ballot.

So Dan will be on the ballot this Election Day, regardless of what happens. However, the next Treasurer of Otsego County will be someone else, and how he is chosen still seems to be up in the air.

The Democrats in Otsego County are fully behind Russ Bachman, who is running a strong campaign. Many Republicans, including some on the Board of Representatives, also support him. Because Russ had no reason to run when the designating petitions (for a place on the Democratic/Republican tickets) were being signed, he cannot be on either of those ballot lines. We circulated more petitions during the independent petition drive (July/August). This is when most candidates work to get themselves on a second line on the ballot (my second line will be Sustainable Otsego). Russ will be on an independent line.

So far, so good. We have a very strong candidate, with whom most of the Board is comfortable. If this were all there were, our job would simply be to encourage voters to vote for Russ, and not for Dan.

However, the Otsego County Republican Committee had a different idea. They have lined up behind Cooperstown Village Treasurer Edward Keator Jr., and assisted him in a countywide petition drive to get him on an independent line, as well. Again, so far, so good: everyone should have a chance to run for office.

However, the Republicans have mounted an expensive blitzkreig on Russ's petition signatures, scrutinizing – for the first time in living memory – every signature in a county-wide race. Recently, the Board of Elections completed its judgement in this regard, and declared that Russ had enough valid signatures to run. But the Republicans have taken the issue to court, hiring lawyers to argue, it seems to me, that the will of the people – as articulated by a sufficient number of citizen signatures validated by a bi-partisan Board of Elections – is somehow unfair to the other candidate. To argue, it seems, that the only fair way to elect a Treasurer is for no one else to be allowed to run against Keator.

This massively expensive process has just started and it looks to be a long and unpleasant one. When it's done, there will be a two-man race (Dan Crowell vs. Keator) or a three-man race (adding Russ). If Dan is elected, and declines the position, the Board is able to appoint a interim Treasurer (as they did with Russ), in this case, until the next election. There's a good chance that the Board will use that vote to retain Russ, who we have worked well with since he started.

So here's the take-away: VOTE. Three of the four City Reps, including me, are unopposed, and that tends to stifle turnout in an off-year election. However, this year, it really is important to cast your ballot, because the race for Treasurer is a real race, and makes a difference. Russ Bachman knows how to do the job, and knows how to work with the Board, and it would be a shame if he weren't allowed to continue a job well-done.

Update on the Manor

Just a short update on what's going on at the Manor.

As you probably know, the Manor's administrator, Ed Marchi, resigned this summer to take on a similar job in a nursing home in Schenectady County. Larry Di Cesare, a licensed Nursing Home Adminstrator , was hired on a part-time basis soon after. State law requires that someone with that license supervise the facility, although it does not require a full-time administrator. Given the short time that Otsego County will be responsible for the Manor, a part-time administrator was a good option. In addition, and unrelated to Marchi's departure, the Manor Committee had been discussing the position of fiscal manager for the Manor, a position which had been vacant for some time and, given the increasing complexities of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, and other financial pressures, needed to be filled. Internal promotions of (very competent) long-term staff, including Maureen Imperato, named as full-time Supervising Acting Administrator in July, were accomplished in a relatively short time.

Still with me? It got more complicated at the end of July, when Mr. Di Cesare had to take a leave – six months, unpaid – for a truly serious family medical emergency. This happened only a few days after Mr. Di Cesare started as part-time administrator. Subsequently, the Manor Committee appointed Kurt Apthorpe to serve as Interim Administrator-of-Record, the position Mr. Di Cesare had been hired for. So far, that is how it stands at the Manor.

Response to the Manor sale RFP (request for proposals) has been encouraging; so far, the LDC has received nine letters of intent from interested parties. This kind of letter is kind of a place holder; it does not obligate the organization to actually submit a bid for the facility. But it is good news that so many nursing home operators – including the Bassett organization – have expressed interest.

A Long, Interesting Summer

It's been quite a while between posts, I see.  I've had a long, interesting and very busy summer.  Sorry to be out of touch, at least through the medium of this blog.  I'm working on a number of posts and will have them up in the next week or so.

As Promised, More on Newman

I make no claim to understand the details of tax policy, PILOTs, or economic development in a rural region. However, the PILOT negotiated for the Newman Hillside Commons up above Blodgett Drive still doesn't make sense to me.

I understand that industries choose sites for facilities wherever the environment is most conducive to profit, and tax breaks go a long way to create that environment. And I understand that the IDA is legally empowered to negotiate tax breaks. So far, so good.

Here are the things I don't understand:

• Why Newman needed a massive PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes, or a tax break) to site a very specialized facility next to the already-specialized facility (SUNY Oneonta) it was specifically designed to serve. Sure, without a big enough tax break, they could go to Delhi instead, but – please. Delhi is much smaller, and, really – they could do both. Would they really give up on SUNY Oneonta forever if the PILOT was smaller?
• Why was the PILOT so big? A PILOT is a gift, tribute provided to a large corporation which is going generate profits by building a facility in your town. The Newman project will be particularly profitable. Again, were they going to walk away from all that because the PILOT was too small?
• According to the Newman representative, the project will create six (6) permanent jobs. Are six jobs (three which may not be local) worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks?
• Does anyone else get their back up when they hear the phrase, “Well, that's the way it's always done”?
• Why did the IDA give the City the authority to negotiate the whole deal? The answer provided by our Economic Development Department is that the IDA generally gives the negotiating authority to the municipality which is affected by the construction and the resulting facility. So far so good, except for one effect: taxes. As a result of the negotiation, done only by the City, the school district and the County lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes; their share of the PILOT was 68%. That's a pretty big effect. As a County Representative, I'm a little unhappy – OK, a lot unhappy – that I knew nothing about this until it was a done deal.
• Why did the IDA vote unanimously to approve the deal after a two-hour-plus public hearing during which they heard almost unanimous opposition to the PILOT and to the project itself? Why didn't they consider renegotiating the deal? What in the world was the public hearing for?
• Why wasn't there an economic impact statement? Hundreds of students will live in the project when it's done – where will they come from? Unless it's filled with the overflow from an growing student body (which noone was able to show was the case, least of all the SUNY Oneonta administration), it will come from the student rentals in the City. Given the lack of an effective plan to encourage transition of center city houses to single-family occupancy, it's hard to think of a way that this can't have a negative impact on the neighborhoods I represent.

When I first saw those yellow yard signs protesting the development, I rolled my eyes and said, “Oh, please.” I've come to understand the problems, however, and I haven't heard the solutions. I agree with Celeste Brown Thomas of Hudson Street, who, after showing how this project could – but doesn't – reverse the school district's continued staff cuts, said: “Negotiate a better deal.”

Too late.

Even More MOSA

As MOSA begins its long slide into oblivion, after Montgomery County's decision to remove itself from the Authority at the end of the agreement next year, the County Board continues to look at possibilities for a post-MOSA landscape in Otsego County. To sum up:

• The end of MOSA should result in the distribution of assets among the three counties.
• The Northern (Cooperstown) and Southern (Oneonta) transfer stations should revert to Otsego County ownership.
• Nothing in the law requires Otsego County to be in the solid waste business in any way.
• There are no landfills in Otsego County (or, really, even very close to Otsego County).

So the easiest and cheapest (for the County's budget) solution, post-MOSA, would be to sell the transfer stations to a private hauler and wash our hands of the whole situation. A reasonable scenario would be that the largest (by far) hauler in the area, Casella Waste Systems, Inc., would buy the transfer stations and use their economy-of-scale advantage to consolidate trash at the stations and make regular trips with large trucks to distant landfills. Casella owns 13 landfills in the northeast; the nearest one is just outside Ithaca.

Being a private corporation, whose one and only purpose is to maximize profits, Casella would be strongly motivated to put smaller haulers out of business, either by restricting access to the transfer stations, or by setting a fee structure for use of the stations which would be unsustainable for a smaller company.

Russ Smith, of Smith Disposal, came to the Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns (SWEC) Committee last week, and painted pretty much the same picture. Smith is one of the biggest haulers in Otsego County, but not close to being in the same league as Casella. Smith argued for a new contract with MOSA, because the result of an unrestricted market would be the demise of operations like his, and the loss of local jobs.

I'm going to be contacting some other local haulers this summer and asking them how they look at the post-MOSA picture. I'll let you know. Until then, I'll continue to attend the SWEC meetings, and enjoy the coffee and donuts they always seem to have – courtesy of the Casella Waste Systems representative, who attends every meeting.

Economic Development in Oneonta?

The Newman Hillside Commons project is in our district, so I've tried to keep track of events. The Commons will be a high-rent, privately owned dorm complex adjacent to the SUNY Oneonta campus, up near the top of Blodgett Road.

I have a lot of concerns about this project. I began thinking that I didn't know enough about the underlying systems to weigh in, but as I've learned – or not learned, in some cases – I'm increasingly unhappy about it.

First and foremost on the minds of District residents, I'm sure, is the question of our single-family houses which have been converted to student rentals. Most of us live within a block or so of one or more of these houses. I have one next to me and one across the street; they have always been good neighbors, probably because the owners invest time and money in the facilities and make it clear what kind of neighbors their renters need to be. Others haven't had good experiences, but worst than that, of course, is the effect of a vacant house on a neighborhood.

There are some important data missing in this particular conversation: is there, or is there not, a shortage of student housing either on or off campus in Oneonta? Neither side has presented any compelling evidence. There are, apparently, empty dorm rooms on campus; there are clearly empty rental houses in town. So where will the hundreds of Hillside Commons tenants come from? City landlords say they'll come from their rental houses, which will then join the ranks of the vacant. Proponents of the project point to SUNY Oneonta's growth over the last few years, and seem to leave it to that (even though SUNY Oneonta has no plans to expand). At the end of the day, the question of where the tenants will come from remains unanswered.

We've all seen projects like this: big money comes to small town, meets a market need, completely disrupts the current market, and sends the revenue out of town. We might call it the Wal-Mart effect. Not only is there no concern for, or acknowledgment of, the impact on existing businesses, services and quality of life, there is an entire language developed to divert the conversation from those disturbing topics which could delay the project if they had to be answered.

So the question remains unanswered. A related question, raised during the public hearing regarding Hillside Commons, also remains unanswered: Why wasn't there an economic impact study? Given that it will create few permanent jobs (six, according to the Newman representative, and perhaps only three of them local), why should we jump right into this without knowing if it will do more harm than good?

The answer that Mayor Miller and all but one of the Common Council will give us is that it will substantially increase tax revenues for the city, school district and county. More on this issue, which is also more complex than it seems, in a future post; this one has gone on too long already.

Election Season Already

It's been a while since the last post, I know. Some things are brewing, others are history. MOSA and economic development are the hot topics at the moment, and there is much to come on both fronts. I hope to have more to say about both soon.

Right now, a lot of effort is being directed at the November election. Campaigns are being planned, parties are maneuvering for position, candidates are hitting the bricks. All 14 County Representatives are up for election, as they are every two years. As far as I know, I will have no Republican opponent; someone may choose to run on a third party line.

I've been out on the bricks myself, collecting signatures on the petition which will allow me to run on the Democratic ticket. As in the past, I have enjoyed chatting with those of you whose doors I have knocked on, and I really appreciate your interest in the process of democratic governing, and in the issues facing Otsego County specifically.

I needed 34 signatures on my petition for inclusion on the Democratic ticket; I got over 50, partly because it's always nice to have more than you need in case you make a mistake, and partly because I enjoyed getting out and meeting you again. I'll be out collecting signatures again this month, as I have been endorsed by Sustainable Otsego, and will be running on their ticket as well as the Democratic ticket.

Sustainable Otsego (SO) isn't a political party; it's a grassroots organization dedicated to sustainable practices in all areas of life. It's been a leader in the anti-fracking movement in this region. In 2011, SO became certified to endorse candidates for office, and currently it is endorsing five County Representative candidates, including myself.

I certainly agree with most of what SO stands for; I believe that sustainability is the right choice not only for the environment, but for many other facets of our lives: economics, food, healthcare, transportation, energy policy, etc. In addition, a sustainable approach may be absolutely necessary in the longer term, as climate change and diminishing hydrocarbon reserves force us into difficult choices.

Speaking of the long term, one of the things I especially appreciate about SO is that they – actually, we – have developed a platform for Otsego County candidates to run on. This puts them out ahead of the Republicans, who have no platform, and the Democrats, who are working on one. Here it is:

A TEN POINT PLAN FOR OTSEGO COUNTY   

• Support Home Rule to protect our communities and the rural lifestyle of Otsego County.
• Promote farm-to-market agriculture.
• Preserve Otsego County's pure water, our most important asset, for residents, businesses, and agriculture.
• Find low-interest credit for local businesses and homeowners.
• Aim at net zero-energy practices and renewables to save money and reduce greenhouse gases.
• Explore joining scores of other NYS communities who have municipalized their electric grids to lower costs for homeowners and businesses. 
• Bring a state-of-the-art broadband internet system to everyone in Otsego County. 
• Establish a county-wide sustainable comprehensive plan. 
• Ensure that local tax policies do not increase income inequality. 
• Support a sustainable Town of Oneonta Southside Municipal Water Project to increase business and tax revenues.

You can read a lot more about SO and sustainability in general at their website: sustainableotsego.org

What Will Work?

As you are no doubt aware, economic development consultant Sandy Mathes spoke with the Board of Reps last Wednesday about economic development in general, and developing Otsego County in particular. He repeated his message to business leaders in Oneonta a few days later, and the Daily Star summarized it here.

I found some of his thoughts compelling – actually, most of them – and any concerns about his message that I had were the result of my reluctance to government jumping into an alliance with business, to the benefit of the latter. I don't believe that government exists to serve business (“The business of America is business”), but to serve the people. Sometimes serving business achieves this goal, and sometimes it leads us further from it. Also – I'm a little concerned about this, but I'm not exactly sure why.

Overall, Mr. Mathes told us that we need to market ourselves wisely, consistently and aggressively. Can't argue with that. He also, when asked, emphasized that long-term planning and prioritization was crucial. First the towns, villages and city: then the County should assess those plans, see what commonalities they have, see who wants to opt into aggressive economic marketing and who doesn't, and then create a county plan designed to take everyone into consideration.

A comprehensive plan like this – a long-term, time- and energy-intensive process, involving everyone with a stake in our county's future – has long been a goal of mine. I think it's essential for any organization to know what its priorities are, and what goals it's pursuing. When that organization represents citizens, it's doubly important. There's not going to be any substitute for aggressive marketing if we really want to address economic development, but if we don't have general agreement about what that means, and where we want to go with it, we'll be tripping over each other from the very beginning, and we won't get anywhere.

Tax-Free NY

I just returned from a presentation by Robert Megna, Director of the New York State Division of Budget, at SUCO's Morris Hall. He was here to present the Governor's Tax-Free NY initiative, an attempt to create new jobs by carving out tax-free zones within or adjacent to SUNY facilities statewide (this includes community colleges). The idea is that any business that was new, or expanding, or diversifying, and was thereby creating new jobs, could locate on or near a SUNY facility and enjoy ten tax-free years. In the words of the Governor's press release: 

Tax-Free NY will entice companies to bring their ventures to Upstate New York by offering new businesses the opportunity to operate completely tax-free – including no income tax for employees, no sales, property or business tax – while also partnering with the world-class higher education institutions in the SUNY system. 

That's a pretty good deal. The idea behind it is that companies can take advantage of the proximity to a SUNY campus. This, the thinking goes, would be beneficial in a number of different ways, but especially in that there would be easy access to a well-educated workforce. Each campus would establish their own plan to implement this program, and would choose companies to participate based on this plan. Retail and financial product companies, according to Mr. Megna, were probably not ideal for this plan.

There is much more to come on this. There are lots of questions, of course. Companies can locate on campus or 'adjacent land,' this phrase does not, apparently, mean what you think it means: 'adjacent' can mean one or two miles away (for instance, downtown Oneonta). 'Adjacent' land that these companies occupy becomes state land, and is taken off local (for instance, city and county) tax rolls.

Initially, this sounds like a kind of inverse unfunded mandate for city and county:  instead of requiring us to spend more, it requires us to raise less revenue. When I asked Mr. Megna how the affected localities would join in the process and have a say regarding their lost revenue, he didn't, frankly, think that this was a very important issue. Of course, if the program is wildly successful, and incubates great economic growth, it won't matter. 

Mr. Megna used the old Empire Zone process as an example of an economic stimuls plan that didn't work (it was too easy to game the system: companies could benefit from the tax break but not create any economic benefit), and, on a number of occasions, noted that the Tax-Free NY planners had learned from the Empire Zones's mistakes.

Let's hope we're not listening to another presentation, in another ten years, about a new plan that has learned from the mistakes of Tax-Free NY.

It's A Different World

I've been thinking about economic development lately, since Carolyn Lewis, our Economic Development department head, gave her notice last month. There's general agreement that, as we look for a replacement for Carolyn, that we need to take a much more aggressive and collaborative – and expensive – approach to economic development in Otsego County. Carolyn agrees, and has made some suggestions for the Board to consider, going forward.

I'll have more to say on this soon, probably in posts about Sandy Mathes's presentation on Wednesday, and the Governor's 'Tax-Free NY' proposal, which eliminates many taxes for new jobs created on or 'adjacent to' SUNY facilities. 

But all this (as well as graduation season) got me thinking about my older son, who has almost finished a bachelor's degree at a good private school in NY. One semester before graduation (he was scheduled to graduate this December) with a degree in Computer Science, he left school and took a job in San Francisco, as the first employee of a well-funded internet startup. He's making about what I made when I was first promoted to district-wide adminstrator. 

He's got a list of idols – role models – in his field, as most of us have had at one time or another. What's interesting about this list is most of the names on it – starting with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs – never finished college. The guy he's working for – the guy who founded the company and secured the funding – is 20 years old and did not finish college. The same is true about the many successful, busy, happy geeks he has run into in the month since he's been there.

So we have a huge, successful, vibrant, creative, entrepreneurial subculture creating great wealth and changing the culture of the world with tecnology, and many (most?) of them did not do what, for generations, we have assumed you had to do to create world-changing technology.

How does that inform us when we start to ask about economic development in Otsego County? The Governor has connected job growth in New York to the SUNY system, and he may be right (more on that soon). But are we making any purposeful forays into the (admittedly unfamiliar) world of 21^st century technology, where the rules we've used for centuries have been left behind? The world has changed, friends. We need to change with it or be left behind. Dylan was right: “He who isn't busy being born is busy dyin'.”