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Michael Hein, Ulster County”™s first county executive, arrives on the job with a 3-year-old map and the will to use it.
Hein spoke to a group of 150 business owners and civic leaders at the New Paltz Chamber of Commerce luncheon held at The Ship Lantern Inn in Milton on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Hein spoke about the future of the county, the economy and what needs to be done to survive during the worst financial times most ”“ if not all ”“ of his listeners have ever lived through.
The former Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) branch manger was chief budget officer in the county administration before getting elected and taking office last month.
One of the first things Hein implemented was getting “Ulster Tomorrow” ”“ a comprehensive plan that mapped out strategy to build the county”™s economy, protect its natural beauty and create a transportation system ”“ dusted off and incorporated into the county”™s comprehensive plan.
“After it was thoughtfully and strategically put together almost three years ago, it was lost when the economy started bottoming out,” said Hein. “A lot of thought, planning for now and the county”™s future went into it. It is a well-planned map to help Ulster move forward, and we”™re utilizing it.”
Hein and the Legislature secured a $265,000 grant from the state to study shared municipal services, “and all of us here in this county need to remember we are working for the taxpayers. The most money we can save them during this terrible economic meltdown is by working together, not fighting over whose turf is whose.
“Businesses and residents,” Hein said, “are genuinely scared about what the future will bring. It”™s time for us to get serious. We have skyrocketing unemployment and people who are afraid to shop.
“When sales tax receipts go down 1 percent, it is an $851,000 loss of revenue for the county,” he said.
One way to get the economy moving again, said Hein, is for “every business and every resident to shop local, eat local, buy local and support each other. Keep the money in our community and keep it circulating.”
Another way Ulster will help small business is by creating a means to access capital. “We have tremendous local banks in this area who didn”™t get enmeshed in the subprime market. We are bringing them together to create a consortium of lending so that one bank will not have to take a risk alone. Many people may not look good ”˜on paper”™ but they are solid. Our local banks are the backbone of this community and have made and continue to make a difference. This will help free up some money to help our business owners.”
Hein introduced March Gallagher, deputy director for economic development for the new county executive, and said she is “instrumental in working to bring new business into the county and working to retain ones already established.” Gallagher told HVBiz that Alan Ginsberg, owner of the former IBM space Tech City is working with the county to have a draft environmental impact statement prepared so the county can move ahead and utilize some of the more than 2.5 million feet of office space.
“This is a private owner willing to work with us and who is willing to pay for the consultants to do the DEIS,” said Gallagher. “We have a shovel-ready site in the town of Lloyd. Ulster has bonding authority to bring water and sewer to the Kings Highway project in Saugerties, which will be our next shovel-ready site. We are serious when it comes to the business of bringing business to Ulster.”
Hein watched his grandparents, who lived in Esopus, work their farm during the Great Depression, and keep their family going, overcoming more hardships than “most of us ever experienced in our lifetime, but we are experiencing them now. I learned more from my grandfather, who had a sixth-grade education, about how to do business: honestly, fairly and with integrity. That”™s how Ulster County will be run. We are in for some tough times ahead and we have our work cut out for us. We have to work together, even if it means some will have to give up their egos to get it done.”
Jane Garrity, former Fleet Banker who worked with the new county executive when he first came to her Woodstock branch for training, said Hein has the ability to cross party lines and get people to work together. “He”™s a gracious and intelligent person ”“ but more importantly, he is a former banker who understands the dynamics of finance. We need a business person to run this county, and I think he”™s the person to do it.”
Ulster Savings Bank, one of the banks that will participate in the consortium Hein is putting together to free up money for small business, sponsored the chamber”™s luncheon.
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