Next year, Ulster County will elect its first county executive under a new charter of government that was passed by a referendum a year ago.
As one of two speakers featured in the Ulster Community College Foundation”™s Howard C. St. John Distinguished Lecture series, held at SUNY Ulster on December 5, Alfred DelBello offered words of wisdom on how the new county executive can be most effective.
DelBello”™s long and distinguished resume in municipal and state government includes executive of Westchester County, mayor of Yonkers, and Lieutenant Governor of New York. DelBello is a partner in the White Plains law firm DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise and Wiederkehr L.L.P.
DelBello lauded the county for its adoption of the charter, noting the time was ripe. “The idea of a charter government and elected county executive is extremely important in today”™s world,” he said. “Governments tend to flounder without this type of focus.” The first hint of candidates”™ fitness for the job is the campaign: it provides “a test of whether the person can perform once elected. It”™s tough, but fun.”
One of the most important duties of the county”™s first county executive is creating a culture of principles and values, which will set the tone for the county into the future. In Westchester County, a basic principle was passing the budget on time, as well as ensuring it was balanced. “If we”™d ever had a deficit, it would have seemed like the end of the world,” DelBello said. He attributed the county”™s triple A rating, among the highest in the state, to following “a series of principles we wouldn”™t allowed to be violated.”
DelBello said he had a couple of quibbles with Ulster County”™s charter. One is the submission of the annual budget by the executive in early October, which is before elections He said in Westchester County the budget was submitted Nov. 15, which gave the county legislature only 10 days in which to add increases but many weeks to propose reductions. Scheduling the budget before the election creates the temptation for the executive to make politically motivated commitments, leading to an imbalance in the fiscal process. “The county executive and the legislature should be free to make determinations free of politics but still with public input,” he said.
His other criticism with the charter is the requirement for the county executive to select the director of county planning from three nominees provided by the planning board. “The worse thing is to impose people on the county executive,” he said. “The county executive should have the opportunity to select the right people he or she can live with and be part of the team.” DelBello also noted that those appointed shouldn”™t assume they have a job for life. Staff members also should never be involved in any politically motivated decision; that”™s the executive”™s job.
DelBello referred to the county executive”™s position as a bully pulpit.
“The chair is imbued with certain powers,” he said. “The county executive will speak on behalf of 180,000 people. He or she will have an authority with the state government and with Washington.” The executive should always keep in mind, however, that the power is vested in the office, not his or her personal self.
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The county executive “has the ability to motivate people. You can put together programs you thought you could never do.”
One of DelBello”™s accomplishments as county executive was establishing Westchester County”™s first department of economic development. “It was back in the 1970s and something needed to be done to enhance economic development.” It was the era in which New York City teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and there was double-digit inflation and high interest rates. DelBello also created an industrial development agency to make incentives available for companies.
Fostering economic development is still a key part of the job. The county executive becomes the point person for businesses interested in locating to the area; providing more information and with whom businesses can talk with in strict confidence about their plans.
The county executive must also be able to work well with the legislature. Not “recognizing the legislature as a partner will lead to constant tension,” said DelBello. Legislators “need to be recognized for the policies they supported and criticized for those they didn”™t.”
“If you succeed, you get the credit. If it fails, you get punished. Even if the legislative body beats up on you politically for its pound of flesh, you as a county executive have to put up with that. You”™ll get the credit if it passes.”
In answering questions from the floor, DelBello said he advocates sharing the tax base for Stewart International Airport among all the counties in the region. “For major projects, you should take away the incentives for jurisdictions to compete,” he said. “Everyone will benefit.” He also spoke more about economic development, noting that it is more effective to focus on individual projects than adhere to grandiose “macro plans.”
He gave the example of a bottling corporation that wanted to build its headquarters on land in Westchester County it had acquired in the New York City watershed. The company was bringing in 500 jobs, but unfortunately it lacked frontage on the main road; this property was part of the watershed and owned by the city. As county executive, DelBello went to New York City Mayor Ed Koch to obtain a 250-foot easement along the road. His request was granted, but in exchange “Koch made me take over the water pumping station in Mount Kisco. That”™s the role of the county executive.”
The county executive has “the ability to pick up the phone for (New York City Mayor) Bloomberg or (Governor) Spitzer and say, ”˜I have an issue,”™” he said. “You”™re holding office and are going to get things done.”
Sharing the podium was Gerald Benjamin, a professor of political science and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at SUNY New Paltz. A former member of the Ulster County Legislature, he was chair of the Ulster County charter commission.
Benjamin noted that the proposal for the charter was prompted by the county”™s skyrocketing property taxes, huge cost overruns on the county jail and mediocre economic development efforts, which he described as “fragmented, internally competitive, and ineffectual.”
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The new county executive will not only provide accountability but also is expected to “embrace economic development to mobilize the vision and be energetic and effective in promoting it.”
Other reforms include a “modern legislative code” with new standards for bidding and purchasing, the creation of an independently elected comptroller, and a smaller legislature. This should enable voters to better identify who their representative is and help reduce the chance of “elections rigged to favor those in power.”
Benjamin said a lot had changed in the county since he arrived 40 years ago. Today there are 530 farms, compared to 761 in 1969; the dairy, egg and poultry industries have disappeared. Today there are 5,000 manufacturing jobs, compared with 55,000 in 1968. Some things have changed for the better: The county is far more racially and socially diverse, and the farm-to-market business has boomed, he said.
Now that the new framework is in place, the key challenge is finding the right people to lead, Benjamin said. “It”™s the turn of the citizens to confirm leaders who are capable of the charter”™s worth, by acting wisely in the voting booth.”
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