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Metzger, Quigley face off in special election for Ulster County Executive on Tuesday

Republican Jim Quigley and Democrat Jen Metzger in Ellenville October 28, 2022
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Shawangunk Journal
Republican Jim Quigley (far left) and Democrat Jen Metzger (far right) debate in Ellenville October 28, 2022

A former New York state Senator and the Town of Ulster Supervisor are facing off in Tuesday’s special election for Ulster County Executive.

Democrat Jen Metzger and Republican Jim Quigley are running to finish former County Executive Pat Ryan's term, which expires December 31st, 2023. Ryan, who endorsed Metzger, was elected to Congress in the 19th district, to serve the rest of the year and is running for a full term in the new 18th.

Metzger is a former Rosendale town councilor who served in the state Senate from the 42nd district for one term starting in 2019. Quigley has been Ulster Town Supervisor since 2010.

More than a hundred watched the two lock horns during a forum in Ellenville co-sponsored by Kingstonwire and the Shawangunk Journal.

Housing has been the talk of Ulster County, with spiraling rents and foreclosures and would-be homebuyers priced out of the market since the pandemic.

Quigley contends local decisions on planning and zoning are crucial to ameliorating the housing shortage.

“There needs to be additional focus is throughout the county on temporary and permanent housing for people who need it and under my administration, the county will bring together all the resources that it has, with my personal experience in being a leader in a town for getting these projects done,” said Quigley.

Metzger cites having affordable places for people to live as among her top priorities.

“We have to develop housing stabilization strategies to help people from getting into a situation where they have no housing," Metzger said. "And this goes for people who own their houses and you know, are in danger of foreclosures as well as renters. And really this, for the long term, we have to expand supply to address this issue.”

The candidates agreed the county is facing a serious mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic and that additional housing and intervention services are key to addressing the issue.

Quigley and Metzger offered different approaches to dealing with a countywide shortage of emergency services volunteers.

“For the last 13 years, I've worked closely with the emergency services units in our town," said Quigley. "This is a major issue. And it's becoming an increasing issue because there is a fall off even in the town of Ulster, in our volunteers. You take a look at the demographics in Ulster County and the young population is declining. I believe we are heading towards the creation of a paid county wide ambulance and EMS service.”

Metzger said while in the Senate she was able to bring EMS services together...

“But what I was really focused on, legislation that I was working on, was a role for the county, an opt in role, but a role for the county in providing those services for the municipalities who needed it, especially shared services and creating an EMS emergency services taxing jurisdiction to pay for it,” said Metzger.

When it comes to helping Ulster County residents cope with inflation, Quigley favors seeking business opportunities and making wise purchase decisions to help drive down the cost of government, while Metzger supports creating an Energy Assistance Services Office of the county to connect residents with state and federal resources to help with energy bills.

Quigley and Metzger both say they are ready for the job.

“From a long experience in private industry, I learned that you never make changes day one without analyzing what exists, what is good, what is bad," Quigley said. "You take time to learn about the people in the organization, you take time to learn about the problems of the organization. ‘Ready day one,’ to me, is a problem solving mindset. You gather the facts before you make agendas, and implement decisions.”

Metzger said “So I am ready to hit the ground running with any challenge that we face on day one. I know for a fact that we are leaving a lot of resources on the table at the federal and state level. And there are actually a lot more federal resources available for recent legislation that is passed. And one of the first things I plan to do, if elected as county executive is create a county grants office, we have no central ability that's happened to those resources to meet the challenges we face and reduce the impact on taxpayers. So that's day one.”

The candidates also gave their views on criminal justice reforms, public trust in government and taxes.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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