PUBLIC HEARING – CDBG

ESSEX COUNTY’S FARM WORKER HOUSING PROJECT

Monday, March 31, 2025 - 9:00 AM

Shaun Gillilland, Chairperson

James Monty, Vice-Chairperson

Chairman Gillilland called this Public Hearing to order at 9:00 am with the following Supervisors in attendance: Chris Clark, Derek Doty, Shaun Gillilland, Steve McNally, Jim Monty, Cathleen Reusser, Matthew Stanley, Davina Thurston and Ike Tyler.

Department Heads present: James Dougan, Judith Garrison and Michael Mascarenas.

Also present: William Tansey, Caitlin Wargo, Ben Breckenridge and George Sayward.

GILLILLAND: I will call this public hearing to order and we will start with the reading of the public hearing notice please.

GARRISON: Essex County will hold a public hearing on Monday, March 31, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. at the Supervisor’s Chambers, Essex County Government Center, 7551 Court Street, Elizabethtown, New York for the purpose of hearing public comments on the Essex County’s current Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) project: 382CVHR100-22, Essex County Farmworker Housing Project, $990,216.

The CDBG program is administered by the New York State Office of Community Renewal (OCR), and provides resources to eligible local governments for housing, economic development, public facilities, public infrastructure, and planning activities, with the principal purpose of benefitting low/moderate income persons. The hearing will provide further information about the progress of the ongoing CDBG project. Comments related to the effectiveness of administration of the CDBG project will also be received at this time. The hearing is being conducted pursuant to Section 570.486, Subpart I of the CFR and in compliance with the requirements of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended.

The Essex County Government Center is accessible to persons with disabilities. If special accommodations are needed for persons with disabilities, those with hearing impairments, or those in need of translation from English, those individuals should contact Judith Garrison, Clerk of the Board at (518) 873-3350, at least three days in advance of the hearing date to allow for necessary arrangements. Written comments may also be submitted to Anna Reynolds, Essex County Community Resources, P.O. Box 217, Elizabethtown, NY 12932 until May 2025.

Dated: March 4, 2025

GILLILLAND: Thank you. We don’t have guests. Are there any members of the board or members of the public that would like to say anything about this particular issue?

SAYWARD: I appreciate this opportunity to speak here this morning. My name is George Sayward I’m from Essex, New York. I’m a full time farmer I have been my whole life and I have some questions about this project. I was concerned about whether or not when this grant was being applied for if the person that was, Anna, was applying for the project the one thing if it was her idea herself to try to obtain this funding for the farm worker laborer or if some people had come to her and asked for that to be request of theirs to try to obtain that funding of tax payer money for their own private business? One thing that I would like to make sure that everyone here understands is that I have absolutely nothing against imported farm labor, nothing at all. In fact I truly understand the need for them to do the work that they do for a couple of reasons. For one thing, anybody who today wants to work and earn a wage and take that money and try to improve the standard of living for their family at home I have a lot of respect for that. I also have a lot of respect for these people because of the work that they do because I’ve actually done the exact same kind of work that they do every day working out in the fields under all kinds of conditions, doing hand work because I’ve picked corn and produce in my own produce business for 42 years so I know exactly and I also get up in the morning and go out to the barn and milk cows like a lot of these imported labors do so I know exactly the kind of work that they do and I appreciate the work that they do and I know the necessity of them. Around 85% of all dairy animals in the whole country get milked by imported help and that’s how vital they are to farming labor force. As a private self-employed business man it kind of concerns me a little bit that when you’re in business and you have to make business decisions for your own private business you have to look at the reasons to make those decisions whether it’s for efficiency or for production and most importantly something that it has to be and that’s profitability. So when you make these decisions you can sit there and to make these important economic financial decisions to try to improve your own private business there’s only two ways to look at it and that is one, can decide how you’re going to pay for it, you can either use your own management skills and your own business technics and your own hard work to be financial responsible for those decisions yourself or you can try to obtain those funds to make those capital improvements in your business by going to the tax payer and ask them to pay for that capital improvement for your own business. So in my opinion, this is a very nice chunk of money to be obtained of tax payer’s money and I know that in my community in Willsboro and in Essex there’s a lot of concern about the housing issues as I’m sure there is in every community there is in Essex County and it just seems to me that a private individual business and the individual citizens and taxpayer’s of Essex County could use this funding for housing within anybody’s community here in Essex County and get more community development which is the reason for this funding would be more productive by using it for young folks who are trying to buy a home and especially senior citizens which I have a strong personal feeling about that because in Willsboro we have a beautiful senior housing facility that’s been there a long time and the people that go there they love it there, it’s well managed, it’s well maintained and every time I talk to someone about that facility they say the same thing we need way more of that for our senior citizens in our town and in this county. I don’t care what community you live in that is a real need for a group of people in our society that absolute deserve to have that opportunity and when you can do something like that you kill two birds with one stone beucae I went to that facility for a function here just a few weeks ago and every single person except one in that residency was at that function and I looked around that room and I saw this woman she loved it there, she moved out of her house because she couldn’t take care of it anymore, she couldn’t afford the taxes and the insurance so she had to wait and wait and wait there’s a waiting list a mile long to get in there but she sold her house a young couple in town bought that house, raising a family in that house, sending their kids to our school in our community and that’s the kind of thing that I looked around that room and every single residence that was there it was the same thing, same story so if you ask me, for community development I can’t imagine a better reason to invest taxpayer money into some kind of housing like that than for imported labor force who have nothing to do with our communities never will, never have, don’t want to be a part of our communities and the other thing is these hard working people the money that they make doesn’t even stay here in Essex County almost every single nickel they make is sent home to help their families to better the lifestyle of their families at home. So there’s not even any economic impact from them working here to speak of. So that’s my own personal opinion and I don’t know if this project was discussed here by the board and I don’t what the state of this project is if it’s a done deal or whatever but I just could not stand by and not express my opinion on what I think is an extremely important issue housing period in this county to spend tax payer’s money on a private business for housing for imported labor and like I say, don’t think for one second that I have anything against imported labor at all because that is certainly a long ways from the truth. Thank you.

GILLILLAND: Thank you. Anything further from the public or the board on this issue? Alright, the public hearing is closed. Thank you.

As there was no further discussion to come before this public hearing it was adjourned at 9:15 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Judith Garrison, Clerk

Board of Supervisors