State of the Counties

You know you're in good hands when a politician notes, "You want your elected officials to take some risks and not make decisions simply to protect their own jobs". Queensbury Town Supervisor Dan Stec said exactly that as he kicked off the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce's first ever "State of the Counties" breakfast this morning at The Glen at Hiland Meadows. The room was packed with elected officials, area business owners and execs, media and concerned citizens.

Warren County Board of Supervisors Chair Dan Stec spoke first and addressed several key issues, including:
* Americade made an agreement with DEC to continue to use state facilities. Keeping this iconic festival in our community is a huge coup.
* Discussions are progressing nicely with Iowa Pacific Holdings to provide tourist train service. County Attorney/Administrator Paul Dusek expects the contract to be presented for approval in the coming days. The Public Works Committee is expected to vote on April 7th and the full Board of Supervisors at its regular meeting on April 15th.
* The Gaslight Village demolition project is moving forward nicely and ties in with the environmental goals for Lake George. There has also been positive discussion about utilizing the land for festivals in the future.
* The biggest issue right now is clearly the budget. A great website to gain more details and information is NYSAC, whose mission is to represent, educate and advocate for the 62 counties of New York State and the thousands of elected and appointed county officials who serve the public. There is a huge cause and effect with what the state budget looks like and the county's budget looks like.

Washington County Board of Supervisors Chair John Rymph spoke next, along with his respective County Administrator Kevin Hughes to share some of the initiatives, successes and challenges they are facing in 2011 and their vision for the future, including:
* There is a need for better infrastructure and government entities need to focus dollars on things like social services, police protection, infrastructure... thing the government is supposed to do... things businesses cannot accomplish on their own.
* One of our biggest concerns is what we're going to do about energy. John Rymph joked that Washington County has big plans for a nuclear facility, smartly clarifying the news media got that wrong when they suggested they were indeed considering such a facility.
* 76% of the County's budget = pure mandated items. The infrastructure of government has to change as there is a need for fewer layers of government. Kevin Hughes noted if that's what a Tax Cap does, then it's worth it... but if it's just death by a thousand cuts, it's not sustainable and therefore not worth it.


Pictured above, L-to-R are Washington County Board of Supervisors Chair John Rymph, Warren County Board of Supervisors Chair Dan Stec, Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Peter Aust, and Washington County Administrator Kevin Hughes. For more pics from the breakfast, please visit the ARCC Facebook Page.