NORWICH – The prospect of accomplishing anything at a public meeting may be going by the wayside.
That was the sentiment of at least two of Chenango County’s most prominent leaders following an economic development discussion Thursday that turned into a protest of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.
Job creating and investment strategies for the Southern Tier - and competition for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s promise of millions of dollars in incentives - were to take center stage, but the still subterranean Marcellus Shale kept spewing its natural gas.
Referring to last Thursday night’s gathering and government board meetings held throughout the county over the past two years, Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker, R-N. Norwich, had this to say:
“There used to be a time when you could get together for a public program and get things done, work together. Unfortunately, we get interrupted, so we don’t deal with real problems like mandates and taxes.”
Decker was one of about 40 government and business leaders who attended an Empire State Development Office “Open for Business” presentation at Commerce Chenango. The public session in Norwich was designed to harness local expertise and ideas for the Governor’s regional, five-year economic development strategy. It was one of five planned throughout the seven counties within the newly created Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council.
As one of 10 regions, the STREDC has the opportunity to compete for $120 million in capital and $80 million in New York State Excelsior tax credits, said the session’s moderator, ESD Regional Director and Southern Tier Council Executive Director Kevin McLoughlin.
“The $1 billion will be divided over 10 regions, but the top four plans will get the most. Everybody will get some,” he said.
McLoughlin stressed that Gov. Cuomo had expedited the timetable for completing the grant process as well as the final distribution of funds, with the latter scheduled to be announced in December.
But before the facilitator could break down the audience into previously determined work groups, he fielded a barage of questions about the environmental safety of hydraulic fracturing and the state’s renewable energy efforts.
Peter A. Hudiburg, a candidate for Plymouth Town Council, said any state plan for economic development should focus on “the humongous potential” of renewable energy sources, like solar, wind and biomass instead of natural gas. He objected to the ESD plan that listed natural gas in the same category as renewable energy opportunities.
Guilford’s Ken Fogarty, president of Chenango Alternatives for Renewable Energy, said economic development that comes from drilling natural gas reserves should be balanced by sustaining the serene beauty, tourism and natural resources offered in the Southern Tier.
Others warned that developing natural gas should be seen as a barrier to progress, and that clean water should be listed as the number one asset.
The familiar group of local activists were joined by natural gas drilling opposition from outside the area, and one unidentified ndividual’s refusal to stop over-talking the moderator lead to Mayor Joseph Maiurano summoning Norwich Police for security purposes.
McLoughlin did not address the potential of the Marcellus Shale should the state proceed with permitting companies to drill. He said the barriers, assets and inter-regional or statewide issues of significance to be addressed within defined work groups were based upon responses from surveys.
“Besides, this is not a forum to discuss hydrofracking; this is a discussion of economic development,” he said.
Commerce Chenango Economic Development Director Jennifer Tavares supported McLoughlin’s effort to control the meeting.
“He is here to hear all perspectives. This is not about natural gas. You can not take over this meeting to talk about natural gas,” she said.
Norwich businessman Richard Snyder (publisher of The Evening Sun) suggested that those in the audience “who actually employ people” should be allowed to speak.
“There’s very little mention here of economic survival,” he said.
As for developing the economy and creating jobs, the owner of Snyder Communications said he hasn’t seen government working together to reduce taxes. He said it was impossible to overlook the “tremendous tax disincentives” for New York businesses to invest and to hire workers. And passing on his publishing costs to retail advertisers won’t work any longer, he added, because storefronts are empty.
“It’s difficult for downtowns to revitalize when banks won’t loan money. Business development incentives may give us beautiful facades, but there are no tenants,” he said.
Even if he could afford the increased payroll taxes and employees’ benefits to hire them, Snyder said the pool of skilled workers is limited.
“What you have is companies that are already here, stealing from each other because there’s not a pool of employees to hire. We keep stealing the same employees,” he said.
McLoughlin said the defined work groups would be addressing new strategies to access capital and also boost education programs. Those attending eventually got down to the business of identifying, prioritizing and justifying various initiatives within in the following categories: Agriculture, energy, healthcare, infrastructure, technology transfer and development, tourism, downtown revitalization and business development and entrepreneurship.
The Southern Tier Regional Council will coordinate the economic development of Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins counties. Chenango County members of the Southern Tier Regional Council are Barbara J. Schindler, president chief operating officer of Golden Artists Colors, Inc. and Martin A. Dietrich, president and chief executive officer of NBT Bank.