Quigley, Metzger face off in race for Ulster County executive
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Republican James Quigley and Democrat Jen Metzger will face off in the Nov. 8 election for Ulster County executive.
The two are vying for to fill the unexpired term of former County Executive Pat Ryan, who left office in September to become the U.S. congressman for the 19th Congressional District.
Quigley is a certified public accountant and former chief fiscal officer of Rothschild Realty Management LLC, in NYC and who ran unsuccessfully for county comptroller in 2008 and has been the town of Ulster supervisor since 2010. In addition to holding the GOP line, he will appear on the Conservative line on the November ballot.
Metzger is a former Rosendale town board member who served in the state Senate from 20192020. She is currently a member of the New York state Cannabis Control Board and of the Ulster County Land Bank. She will hold the Democratic and Working Families party lines on the ballot.
Both candidates said that addressing the need for affordable housing must be a priority.
Metzger said she would focus on increasing the county’s housing stock by using the land bank to help turn foreclosed properties into workforce and affordable housing and called for stricter regulations on short-term rentals, which she said, “need to be owned by private people.”
Quigley said the county needs to provide funds for the infrastructure, including water and sewer, to support housing development. He said that often new housing developments can become contentious within the community and said he would personally work to address those concerns.
Both candidates said that expanding broadband internet and cell service in the county must be a priority and they each said the county needs to do more to improve mental health services to county residents.
Quigley called for the
use of COVID-19 funds received by the county to bolster mental health services, including adding more clinicians to respond to emergency situations and said he would work with emergency service providers to improve and sustain irreplaceable emergency functions.
Metzger said the county needs to prioritize mental health services to the county’s youth and called interdepartmental coordination key to a holistic approach to meeting the complexities of individual needs. She said she would work to expand mental health resources throughout the county.
Metzger said she would focus the county’s economic development strategy on one that would promote equity, sustainability, open space protection, and localism, and would pursue a multi-pronged strategy to expand investments in clean public transportation and EV charging infrastructure, eliminate the landfilling of organic waste by 2030, and create a county office dedicated to helping residents and businesses access federal and state energy grants.
Quigley said he would use his skills as both an accountant and a town official to find efficiencies in government and reduce the burden on property taxpayers. He also said he would work with law enforcement to find ways to address locally what he called the “oversteer” of the recent bail reform laws and would find ways for business and government to work together to build a sustainable local economy and implement realistic options to advance our environmental goals without undermining the economy.
Quigley is a town of Ulster resident who is married and has three adult children, one of which is Republican Elections Commissioner John Quigley. The elder Quigley holds a bachelor’s degree from Siena College and a master’s degree from SUNY Albany.
Metzger is a town of Rosendale resident who is married and has three adult children. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and a doctorate in political science from Rutgers University.
The victor of the Nov. 8 election will serve a term that expires on Dec. 31, 2023.