Ulster County executive Jen Metzger announced a series of new county initiatives this week in her first state-of-the-county address, delivered at the Ellenville High School on Wednesday, February 15. Her speech provided a look at her priorities, a hint of what will be important to her during her four-year term.
“We live in a big, beautiful county,” said Metzger, “covering over 1100 square miles, with 23 unique towns and villages outside the City of Kingston, and it is important to me that our county services and programs reach them all, including here in Ellenville, in the Town of Wawarsing, nearly 30 miles west and south of the county seat.”
She was pleased to report that the county was in a very strong fiscal position, “which allows us to put funds away for a rainy day and still have significant resources to invest in what our county needs now,” Metzger said.
Taking pages out of Kingston mayor Steve Noble’s playbook , the county executive announced the creation of a centralized grants office as well as a housing trust and land bank.
Metzger advocated for the investment of $15 million of seed money in the housing trust and land bank, to be used to catalyze the development of affordable housing. “One in three renters in Ulster County are spending more than half of their income to keep a roof over their heads,” said Metzger, “leaving them with too little to pay for food transportation and all the other necessities of life.”
The grants office will pursue state and federal resources.
At iPark87, Metzger plans a county workforce innovation center aimed squarely at equipping local workers with the skills they will require to land careers in the Green Economy, such as jobs in clean energy.
“Ulster County could see tens of thousands of new jobs in manufacturing, buildings, transportation, renewable energy, and other Green-Economy sectors,” said Metzger.
“The 500 jobs that Zinc8, a cutting-edge battery storage company, will create at the former IBM site in the Town of Ulster is just the beginning. We must seize the opportunity and realize all these benefits for our residents and businesses.”
In an attempt to combat recidivism rates in those who’ve found themselves on the wrong side of the law, the Carpenters Union Local 279 is partnering with the county to offer another path forward for those on probation and for jailbirds, referred to by Metzger as “criminal-justice-involved individuals.”
A second round of nearly $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant funding has been made available as part of the “Boost for Main Streets” program for capital improvements to commercial, mixed-use and business-districts buildings, especially in economically disadvantaged areas.
“We have to make sure that everyone shares in the benefits of economic development,” said Metzger, “and not just those who are already well off and can afford to live here. There is a lot we can do to support new and existing small local businesses, and to expand opportunities for those who haven’t necessarily had those opportunities in the past.”
Listening in the auditorium was the usual tribe of elected and county government officials, businesspersons, nonprofit and labor leaders, and members of the public.
The audience heard a performance by the young members of the Center for Creative Education’s Energy Dance Company, songs by the Ellenville High School Chamber Singers, and a ceremonial posting of the colors by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office honor guard.
Metzger’s speech was offered in real-time Spanish language translation and with American Sign Language interpretation a first for the state-of-the-county speech in Ulster County.
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