County Will Go It Alone

•By JIM KEVLIN• Hometown Oneonta/The Freeman’s Journal

For the time being, anyhow, the County of Otsego doesn’t intend to participate in the “single point of contact” economic-development strategy.

The county Planning Department has been renamed the Planning & Economic Development Department, and will continue handling the small-business programs that the former county Economic Development Office did under Carolyn Lewis, who resigned last August.

The county IDA (Industrial Development Agency) “is doing the big grants,” said county Rep. Kay Stuligross, D-Oneonta, who had been interim chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, which oversees ec-dev initiatives. “The county has reserved to itself the smaller items.”

Stuligross was interviewed as she passed the chairmanship back to county Rep. Betty Anne Schwerd, R-Edmeston, who had been absent from county board deliberations since July. Schwerd attended the Friday, Sept. 12, IGA meeting and resumed the chair.

The county representative attended the second Seward Summit on economic development last November at Foothills and heard Dick Sheehy, one of the nation’s foremost industrial recruiters, say all successful ec-dev efforts have a “single point of contact” for businesses seeking to relocate.

However, Stuligross said, given modern communications, a website and telephone number can serve that purpose, and any calls received by the county office will be forwarded if they concern matters that under the IDA purview. The IDA is working with Paper Kite Creative, Hartwick, to develop a new brand and relaunch its web site in mid-January.

In the spring, the IDA had been negotiating to absorb the county’s ec-dev responsibilities, but talks broke down over how much the county had been spending on its Economic Development Office, and how much should be contributed to the IDA. Stuligross said two new IGA committee members, county Reps. Rick Hulse, R-Otsego, and Craig Gelbsman, R-Oneonta, elected last November, were going through a “learning period” and were reluctant to offload the ec-dev responsibilities immediately.

At IDA meetings since, authority President Sandy Mathes has expressed disappointment at the turn of events, but said that efforts will instead be focused on numerous other initiatives being pursued, including two commerce park projects, the revival of Oneonta’s D&H yards and an agricultural hub to market local farm products in the New York metropolitan area. The next round of state economic-development grants, to be announced in mid-October, will determine what goes first.

Over the summer, the IGA committee contracted with a consulting firm, Thoma Associates, to explore delinquent loans dating back to 2011 received through the Economic Development Office. Since, Stuligross said, county Treasurer Dan Crowell had assumed responsibility for collecting the loans and she is confident the process is moving forward.

Now, she said, the IGA committee plans to issue an RFP, a request for proposals, to find a consultant to administer the county programs – microenterprise grants, revolving loans and Main Street initiatives – next year.

“The optimum outcome in terms of the business committee is easy access, assistance in applications, and efficient administration of the loans,” said Stuligross, and she expressed confidence the new P&ED office can.

“In a sense, this isn’t a bad thing to happen,” said the county rep. “We’ve learned a lot. We’re not finished.”