Maio:
“Today, nowhere
is safe”
Rodriguez: “… it’s our job to
hear from the public”
Ronk: “… the many things
that unite us …”
KINGSTON – March is the month for the Ulster County Legislature chairman, majority leader and minority leader to outline their assessment of where the county is and where it needs to go. There were striking differences this year.
Republican Majority Leader Mary Beth Maio made it personal, noting the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote and focusing on today’s children. She referenced a local law up for adoption Wednesday night, addressing a very contemporary issue – cyberbullying.
“That a generation ago, home was a safe place for children who were bullied in school,” Maio said. “Today, nowhere is safe. We hope that this local law will protect the children from intimidation, harassment and fear.”
Maio ended her 11-minute message with hope that cooperation with the minority Democrats and the county executive can continue.
Democrat Minority Leader Hector Rodriguez was much more blunt in his 15-minute address, starting off by saying that during 2016, the legislature had done at best “an adequate job” but that, he said, is no longer good enough.
Rodriguez took a more global view of the legislature’s role in reacting to events at the state, and more significantly in recent context, the national level. He also referenced a much debated issue internal to the legislature:
“Much has been made of the legislature’s memorializing resolutions, yet these same resolutions inspire more public debate than anything else that we do,” Rodriguez said. “As a representative body, it’s our job to hear from the public, our job to be their voice. Sometimes, it means that voice has to carry beyond the walls of this chamber.”
A resolution prohibiting memorializing resolutions was on the agenda for first reading, which meant no discussion.
On the economic front, Rodriguez said the legislature has “miles to go” in realizing the county’s tech potential, including better utilizing Tech City, once a regional hub of the then-new computer age. He said the county legislature should create criteria for measuring economic success.
Chairman Kenneth Ronk, a Republican, took exception to one of “Rodriguez’s observations, saying Ulster County had a “great year” in 2016.
Ronk took particular pride in working with all parties. Two initiatives in particular, he said, were initially put together in haste, but now were ready for adoption. One was cyberbullying. The other, regulating pet sellers.
The key, Ronk said, was working with the stakeholders on both issues. That included bringing school officials into the crafting of the cyberbullying initiative.
“Now as a victim of bullying myself, along with countless others, this is a very important issue to me. So, we set to work on improving the law, making sure it’s acceptable to school administrators and assuring that we would avoid unduly punishing the youths charged with this offence, but instead, this law would be used to change behavior.”
Both the pet seller and cyberbullying resolutions were adopted during the regular meeting.
Ronk concluded his address with words of hope.
“And friends, I hope you will continue to join me in working on the many things that unite us rather than searching for the few that divide us.”
