The first Montgomery County Executive, Matt Ossenfort celebrated 10 years of the county’s form of government and delivered his annual State of the County address Thursday night.
Ossenfort, a Republican, was sworn in as the first elected Montgomery County executive in 2014.
Before Ossenfort took to the podium in Amsterdam, New York State Association of Counties Executive Director Stephen Acquario commented on the importance of the role Ossenfort assumed a decade ago. Acquario helped write the county charter.
“The first county executive must be able to effectively communicate, collaborate with various stakeholders, including local government officials, community leaders, citizens, businessmen and women,” said Acquario.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy also spoke.
“When I first met Matt, in 2014, when he first got elected, and he walked in the room, I go, ‘I'm gonna like this guy,’” said McCoy.
McCoy, a Democrat, highlighted a theme of the night – people over politics.
“It's about the legislation. It's about the people you represent. And try to leave the politics out of it. Now imagine that, a bunch of politicians in a room trying to leave the politics out of the philosophies out of it, it makes it tough,” said McCoy.
The 42-year-old Ossenfort is in his third four-year term. In a break from past speeches, he chose to focus on his journey in office rather than the past year — reflecting on initial goals to stabilize finances and improve infrastructure.
“If I could describe our infrastructure, it would be a rusted 1978 Chevy Nova with about 250,000 miles on it. It was not a pretty situation that we walked into. And it's not to say that there weren't great things done in the Board of Supervisors, and there's not currently great things done in other counties that have a Board of Supervisors. But I just think personally, this is a far superior form of government, because of that balance because of that ability to plan long term. And because you can be nimble,” said Ossenfort.
Ossenfort told stories that encapsulate his team-based philosophy. Here, he references county economic development director Ken Rose and county attorney Meghan Manion.
“My first meeting with a business or an entity with Ken Rose, and Ken has heard the story 30 times and he's rolling his eyes, but it's a true story. Here I am, green. Ken’s like, ‘Haha, look at this kid, he thinks he's gonna change the world.’ We meet with this guy. I got all the hope in the world that this guy is gonna come in, he's gonna help, he's gonna make everything better. And we find out the guy's a jerk,” said Ossenfort. “And we tell him, we have, you know, I think was $140,000 in taxes he owed. And, all right sheesh, he goes, the guy told me to go ‘blank’ myself. And that was my first experience in economic development in Montgomery County. But at that point, I knew, A, this guy wasn't doing jack. I knew the village did not have the capacity to do it. But, yet, I look at Ken Rose and his team, and I look at Meghan Manion, and I say, ‘Why not?’”
Ossenfort said Montgomery County is now a team of problem solvers. He spoke about the ongoing development of the former Beech-Nut baby food factory – now envisioned to house a cannabis cultivation facility. He spoke about expanding CDTA bus service to the Amsterdam area – with goals to bring it to the western portion of the county. He spoke about relocating county public services out of the flood plain. And most recently, he celebrated the March opening of a county ambulance service to address gaps in emergency response.
“After our one of our first meetings, I looked at the sheriff with my ‘blank’-eating grin. And I said, ‘Sheriff, we're gonna end up having a county ambulance.’ And he said, quote, ‘You are ‘blanking’ crazy.’ But, you know what? Even if it's hard, we step up to the plate,” said Ossenfort.
More than once in his 42-minute speech, Ossenfort grew emotional.
“We got this great team, it's going to continue to move things forward, and someone else will be able to put their stamp on it. And that's exciting. That's a good thing. Where I get choked up is the relationships, the people, you know? But…I'm gonna leave you with this. I'm just incredibly proud that, and to know, that we left this place better than the way we found it,” said Ossenfort.
Facing a term limit, Ossenfort will leave office at the end of 2025. For the remainder of his term, Ossenfort said he will turn his attention to what’s left unfinished, and he said he is beginning to turn his attention to employment beyond elected office.
“One thing I could see for sure is that I know that I'm not going to immediately go into any other elected roles. I would like to try my hand at being a normal human again, but I still don't know. And, hopefully I'll have some clarity on that soon, but right now, I'm really just trying to cherish the time I have left with the people that I really, truly love,” said Ossenfort.
It's just no different than the NCAA tournament, you know. Usually, the teams with the best players are going to win. And this has allowed me to recruit some really awesome people who are hardworking, passionate, and really dedicated to their jobs. And so, I feel really good about that, that I've been the coach of these great teammates. I think that, along with, you know, having changes in leadership with the term limits of the new form of government, I think are what makes it special. And it will allow it to continue to have the stability on the departmental level, but also have fresh ideas and new ideas and new energy on the leadership level.
You gave an example in the address about brownfields, how everyone is now a brownfield expert.
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about.
So it is going to be those folks who, when the next challenge…
Yeah, you build that institutional knowledge, you know? And we were taking on a big issue, that, it was not necessarily a county issue, it was a village issue. But the county was able to step up, and use our resources to try to make a change, and we grew. And then we started to apply those lessons on smaller projects throughout the county. So, I think that's what being a good leader is and trying to help grow your team and give them the tools they need to be successful.
So, when talking about Exit 29, If you're driving on the New York State Thruway now you don't see the Beech-Nut plant…
Yeah, it's a very different situation. I think people are still getting used to it. But there's an eagerness, and there's hope, and you don't want that hope to go out. But, you know, when you talk about remediation of brownfields, and then also redevelopment, it's a long process. So, I asked for a little bit of patience, but regardless of what happens with the current projects, I think we're still slated for some real opportunity there because the site is so attractive, and it has all the infrastructure.
And just for background, that's the E29 Labs project, and there are some holdups, as I understand, with the licensing at the state capitol because the cannabis rollout has been slow to say the least.
Exactly. And, you know, a lot of the cannabis rollouts across the country have not gone perfectly. New York is no exception. But you know, right now, there's some real concerns there about how they're going about it. You know, last time I checked, there was a lottery system. To me, this isn't just a cannabis project, it's an economic development project that should be looked at on the basis of its merits, not take into a lottery system. So, again, I don't know how this is going to work out. I know that, you know, we're still having conversations and trying to find a path forward. But, we'll have to just take it as it goes. And it's a little frustrating. But, I just would say that I think the state needs to really think about these projects, not just as a cannabis project, as economic development projects. Because this project, which would employ 150 people is then the catalyst for the project on the other side of the creek on that site. So, if you don't have one, you don't have the other. So, I would argue that this is a particularly important project for a particularly visible site in upstate New York,
Talking about infrastructure, you compared it to, when you came in, a 1978 Chevy Nova. How are things looking right now? I mean, there's there's been a lot of work to move facilities out of flood plains.
Yeah, we've got all of our emergency management equipment, our DPW facility, our Emergency Operations Center, all out of the flood zone. We've made major investments in our equipment, our trucks, our cars, and a major investments in our people. So that all helps you provide a better service, provide a better response and try to be more efficient. And in that way, you're not replacing the vehicle, you're trading it in, and you only have to pay a little bit, because you're on a rotation schedule now. So, there's been a lot of work to get to where we are, but there's still a lot of work to go.
And we're looking at a little over a month of a county-run ambulance service.
Exactly. Which is, again, like I said, it's not something we wanted to get into because it's such a big responsibility. But when we looked at the detail, we saw that, you know what, there was situations where we did not feel that the response was appropriate. And it's no fault to our providers, they're stressed, they're doing the best they can, and sometimes you get seven calls at once, and you just don't have enough rigs. So, sometimes you haven't personnel issues. So to be able to be there as a resource to supplement the providers that are already there really just means I think everything because it's what's more important than someone showing up in a timely manner when you call 911? So, I feel particularly good about that initiative.
Is there anything that's on the table that you're worried beyond E29 that you may not be able to finish before you wrap up?
I think my list of things that I want to finish that maybe I didn't, is gonna be a lot longer than I had hoped. But I also think that we had some really high expectations. When you look back and see all the things that were done, all the improvements that were made, Jeff Smith basically, is our sheriff, has said to me, you know, “In the time that I've been here, we've gotten more done in the last 10 years than in my entire career.” And that means the world to me, because he's seen the change. So, as far as where we go from here, I think we're trying to finish projects that we have ongoing. I'm not going to, you know, really move to try to start new projects, I think there's plenty of work still to be done.
CDTA being one of them.
CDTA being one of them, phase two, and expanding to the western part of the county. It's critically important transportation is a is a difficult issue in upstate New York. And certainly Montgomery County is no different. So, anytime you can push the needle to have more services available, the better.
Any hints on your next move? I know you're looking ahead and see what’s coming…
Well, I can tell you this. I've started that process. I've had conversations and various different opportunities. One thing I could see for sure is that I know that I'm not going to immediately go into any other elected roles. I would like to try my hand at being a normal human again. And but I still don't know. And, you know, hopefully I'll have some clarity on that soon. But right now, I'm really just trying to cherish the time I have left with the people that I really, truly love.
