Is there a dock in the house?

By JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON–The Columbia County Board of Supervisors authorized student work opportunities, like the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), and requested state government permission to impose an Occupancy Tax on hotels and short-term rentals at its meeting April 10.

The SYEP has 12 positions where county departments have determined that “youth laborers are needed and necessary” during summer 2024. To be eligible, one must be 18 through 23-years-old, reside in Columbia County, and be enrolled full-time for the fall term in “a college, university, technical, trade, or mechanical school” that offers some in-person classes.

The 12 jobs run for up to 10 weeks, starting no earlier than May 28 and ending no later than August 30. All are full-time and pay $17.25 an hour. (Minimum wage in this part of New York is $14.20 an hour.) The student workers will get no union benefits and pay no union dues, but they will be eligible for the NY State Retirement System. There is one position in the Facilities Department, one in the Highway Department, one in the Solid Waste Department, and nine in other departments.

The SYEP anticipates filling the jobs by lottery. The deadline for applying to enter the lottery is Friday, April 26. Drawing is to take place Monday, April 29, with County Human Resources notifying applicants of the results that day.

The SYEP is not open to “those enrolled in on-the-job training.”

However, the County Board separately authorized practical-experience programs for nursing and public health students, at its April 10 meeting. One program is an “affiliation with SUNY Cortland” for students to work in Columbia County’s Department of Health at no cost to Columbia County. Another is for Wegman School of Nursing-St. John Fisher University “to provide a student intern” to work at the Department of Human Services “under supervision of a nurse practitioner.”

On another matter, the board passed a resolution formally asking the State Legislature for authorization to enact “a 4% Occupancy Tax on hotels, motels, and short term rentals (STRs) utilized for stays of less than 30 days,” starting about January 1, 2025, for the county outside of the City of Hudson. Other counties are doing something similar, as well as the City of Hudson, and the county “has been impacted in the last few years with numerous properties that have been converted or utilized as STRs.” The county is a “destination center” for tourists, who “aid local businesses and the economy” but also increase the need for public services. The occupancy tax could help cover the increased needs “without placing an additional burden on local residents.” In fact, the request states, the occupancy tax can even “help to promote tourism,” “by funding marketing campaigns.”

Also at the meeting, the supervisors:

•Adopted a Service Animal Accommodation Policy for the workplace (See separate article)

•Created, by Local Law, a County Office of Conflict Defender, with a Chief Conflict Defender and Assistant Conflict Defenders. These replace the positions of Conflict Defender, Second Conflict Defender, and Third Conflict Defender. The Conflict Defender’s Office provides legal representation for indigent persons when the Public Defender’s Office cannot do so because of conflicts of interest

•Appointed Karen Amana, Victoria McGahan, David Rosetti, and Keith Stack to the Community Services Board (CSB), for terms ending December 31, 2027. Ms. McGahan is county director of Public Health and Mr. Rosetti is executive director of the Mental Health Association of Columbia and Greene Counties

•Appointed to the CSB’s Mental Health Subcommittee: Brian Belt and Amy Meegan through December 31, 2025 and Kate Sprague and Lori Torgersen through December 31, 2026. Ms. Sprague is director of Clinical Services for the Columbia County Mental Health Center. Ms. Torgersen is with Twin County Recovery Services