Alderwoman takes issue with Ulster agency’s morning meetings

Ulster County Industrial Development Agency officials are defending the early morning start time of meetings that involve giving tax breaks to businesses.

Questions about 8 a.m. sessions on the second Wednesday of the month was raised during a public hearing Tuesday, when city Alderwoman Deborah Brown said the public is least likely to attend meetings that interfere with normal working hours.

“Most people at eight o’clock in the morning are working,” said Brown, RWard 3. “Some people have to leave to go to work at 7:30. After work is a lot better or even weekends. That way, you get a true public comment (from) people because there’s been so many projects that

just get passed through.”

Suzanne Holt, director of the county Office of Economic Development, responded the start time is “targeted for people who work.”

In addition to the board meetings, there are frequently agency committee meetings, also open to the public, that have traditionally started a half-hour before the regular session. Those meetings are generally attended by all board members, even though the committees consist of only three designated appointments.

Board Chairman John Morrow noted that public hearings are conducted in the evening in municipalities

where tax breaks are being considered.

“Many of us on the IDA have jobs just like everybody else,” he said.

Morrow, an Ulster Town Board councilman, added that the morning sessions are set because “everybody has night meetings all the time, and we just can’t be out every single night and have a life.”

Brown, who was speaking during a hearing on tax breaks for the former Woolworth’s building, said there has been concern because information about meetings and public hearings does not seem to be reaching residents in the city.

“I only happen to know about it because I’m an official,” she said. “I got the letter, but I don’t know if a lot of other people knew that unless I told them.”

Legal notices for the

hearing were published in the Almanac Weekly, which is distributed with the Kingston Times, and the Ellenville-based Shawangunk

Journal. Officials added that the notice was also placed on the Kingston City Hall bulletin board and was on the agency website.