Four months after its board and executive director resigned en masse, the Putnam County Industrial Development Agency has new leadership.
The county legislature voted in a special meeting April 25 to appoint four new members to the IDA board, which has remained empty since January.
It was then that IDA Chairman Richard Ruchala resigned. The rest of the board and its executive director followed suit. Ruchala cited differences between the board and county government, especially over funding, as his reason for resigning.
Those differences were sketched out in two years of documents posted on the Putnam IDA”™s website. In the IDA”™s 2015 annual report, Ruchala said that in August of that year the IDA had a total of $385 in its account and requested assistance from the county to hire a CEO and an attorney to fulfill state mandated accounting tasks. Unfunded mandates from the state had made it difficult for the IDA to sustain itself and the it needed emergency funds to keep up with compliance, he said.
Ruchala noted in the report that the IDA had started a corrective action plan to get in compliance with state mandates starting in January 2015, but did not have the necessary funding to hire a CEO to carry out that plan.
In August 2015, the IDA requested $40,000 in emergency funding. That request was denied by the county legislature, according to the IDA”™s annual report.
The legislature did offer the IDA a $75,000 loan in 2015, but that offer was described by Ruchala as having “strings attached,” and was denied by the IDA board.
Ruchala told the Business Journal that, while he was willing to provide the legislature with whatever documentation it requested, he felt the county lawmakers wanted too much control over the IDA.
“I only wish the new board well, I hope they put it together correctly and keep government out of the process,” said Ruchala, who was on the IDA board for 12 years. “Let the people in the IDA do their jobs. That”™s the best thing they can do.”
Putnam Legislature Chairwoman Ginny Nacerino told the Business Journal that she was “taken aback” by the IDA board”™s resignations and felt the legislature could have worked with them. She said the IDA was offered $75,000 in the 2016 county budget, contingent on providing the legislature a business plan.
“Had they not resigned they would still be sitting and we could work toward mutual goals to get that board up and running, but that never occurred,” Nacerino said.
With the board empty for the past four months, Nacerino said at the April 25 meeting that “time was of the essence to jumpstart the IDA.”
Each new member on the board was named to a term that runs through the end of the year. The main purpose of the board will be to gather the necessary documents for an audit and to comply with state reporting standards. The board could then expand after that, Nacerino said.
“We are optimistic that this board will evolve into a seven member board,” she said.
That same goal was expressed to the Business Journal by Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell.
Odell said the new board is a “starting point,” intended to get the needed documents from the previous board and make sure all projects are in compliance.
“I support my colleagues on the legislature on this because it”™s ultimately their decision,” Odell said. “I think what they recognize and we recognize together is that we have to have some form of functioning IDA immediately.”
The four-member IDA board includes:
- Stephen Baranowski, former Carmel Conservative Party chair and a former member of the Putnam Fiscal Vision and Accountability Committee;
- William Carlin, Putnam County”™s commissioner of finance;
- Erin Meagher, a Brewster village trustee and CEO of the Greater Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce; and
- Bill Nulk, president of the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce.
Nulk is the only former IDA board member to be reappointed. Odell said the county checked with the state comptroller”™s office to ensure it was acceptable to place a county employee, such as Carlin, on the IDA board.
Following the vote on the new members, Ruchala told the legislature that the IDA would need funds to put out a notice of its first meeting to elect a chairperson. He added that he believes the previous board did great work and was mistreated.
“I think with all the hard work that this board did, we”™d like to get an official apology from this legislative body for the poor treatment you have given us,” Ruchala said. “It was a horrible experience, there was no need for it.”
He asked the board to vote on whether to make an official apology. Nacerino denied that request.
“I”™ll remind you that you and the board members did resign on your own recognizance,” Nacerino said. “But we do appreciate the work that you have done, even though you do not feel that way.”
Following the meeting, Meagher said she is confident the new IDA board can make progress in the county.
“Getting the funding from the legislature is key. I think that the restrictions placed on the IDA from the state are very burdensome and we do need to work on compliance,” she said.
Meagher added that the long-term focus of the IDA should be attracting a diversity of new businesses.
“At Putnam County right now, our hospital is our biggest employer,” she said. “We really need to start moving forward with other sorts of companies coming in this area.”
