Development agency considers changing meeting time

Ulster County Industrial Development Agency officials say they are willing to consider changing the 8 a.m. start time of their meetings, but acknowledge that time works best for them.

At a meeting Wednesday, Kingston Citizens spokeswoman Rebecca Martin said the early sessions keep people from attending.

“I think, any time after 5:30 p.m., when people get home from work and get their kids settled and come, I think that more citizens would ... be able to participate,” she said.

Board members, who are unpaid volunteers, said the 8 a.m. start time allows them to conduct agency business and still get to their jobs.

“I have a very busy schedule,” member James Malcom said. “I would always make time to try to fit in for the meetings. I think that public input is a big part of this thing. I don’t know how many more people you would get.”

Agency Chairman John Morrow, who is retired and also an Ulster Town Board member, said later start times have been tried in the past.

“When I first joined the board 10 or 11 years ago, we used to meet at 4 p.m. in legislative chambers ... and, then, they changed it to 8 a.m. because some of the members couldn’t make afternoon meetings,” he said.

“My personal preference is not to have evening meetings at 6 or 7 p.m. because it just interrupts the dinner hour, family time, and (agency) staff,” Morrow said. “With my personal life, I have three meetings a week already, so I don’t need another evening meeting.”

Meetings over the past two years have seldom been attended by members of the public. However, recently there has been interest in agency proceedings as proposed payment-in-lieu-of-taxes requests have drawn some public objections.

Board member Randall Leverette suggested trying a different time to determine if more people would attend.

“If they’re not participating and they’re not showing up, we move it back,” he said.

Board member Michael Bernholz said the regular meetings are intended to work as business meetings, rather than public sessions. He noted that public hearings on particular topics are generally scheduled for evenings and in municipalities where specific projects are proposed to be located.

“We’re not a paid committee and I think some type of consideration has to be made to the members ... as to what we choose for our time,” he said.

Officials said they plan to resume discussion of the issue when John Livermore and Robert Kinnin, who were absent, are able to participate.