Gary Bischoff, Ulster County Legislator

In the works:
Government Consolidation

Ulster County Legislator Gary Bischoff met with Legislature Chair David Donaldson and Pattern For Progress President and CEO Jonathan Drapkin on local government consolidation in mid September.

Bischoff Working on Government Consolidation.

UC Legislators Dave Donaldson and Bischoff reported on the efforts by the Ulster County Legislature to work with municipalities on shared services and consolidation efforts. Left to right Jonathan Drapkin, Dave Donaldson and Gary Bischoff. Pattern for Progress is a non-profit, public policy research and planning institute. Pattern serves a nine-county region which includes Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties. According to Pattern for Progress' web site, their mission is to "preserve and promote the social, economic and natural environments of the Hudson Valley region by building consensus for a pattern of growth that will insure a high quality of life."

Deborah Schneer took the oath of office as Ulster County Judge on Friday. Judge Schneer is the first woman to serve as Ulster County Judge.

Among those wishing her well at the swearing in and reception was Ulster County Legislator Gary Bischoff.

Legislative Happenings
Gary takes a look at health care reform
READ MORE

Mr. Bischoff goes to Albany
On June 3rd Legislator Bischoff attended a New York State Senate hearing on campaign finance reform. Bischoff wanted his voice heard on this very critical issue. Here is the statement he made before the committee Wednesday...READ IT

Gary encourages people who are interested in campaign reform get their ideas heard by clicking here

Gary on the jail harrassment case...
"There have been serious charges of sexual harrassment by four female corrections officers at the Ulster County Jail. I can not comment on the lawsuit that is pending in federal court. As a legislature, we need to make sure that we have policies in place that ensure all of our employees are treated with respect and that there is no tolerance for sexual harassment, abusive treatment or retribution by supervisors."
GB 5/21/09

Ribbon cutting at the grand opening of the Saugerties Farmer's Market May 30

Left to right
Caoilainn, Fiona, Bischoff, Jeannine Dirie, Village Board, Bob Yerick, Village Mayor, Fred Costello and Leeanne Thornton, Saugerties Town Board and Greg Helsmoortel, Saugerties Supervisor.

Ulster County ready to act on election costs
“What we came up with was a way of passing back a portion of the cost based on the real cost to the towns,” said Legislator Gary Bischoff.
Daily Freeman May 7

Bischoff has got a brand new bag !
He seeks to stop the increase of their waste
Here is a link to the proposed law
Public Hearing was held on
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Plan to charge fee for plastic bags draws 50 to hearing Daily Freeman May 7

This country has a serious solid waste problem with plastic bags. Last summer, on a trip to Ireland, Marge and I did some grocery shopping and were charged .22 Euro (about $.33 at the time) for each bag...READ MORE

Photographs Gary took of the great Hudson River event the greeting of the Flotilla at the Saugerties Lighthouse. Bischoff took these shots from his canoe on the river.

Take a look

Gary addresses the high costs of state mandated voting machines and how to distribute the costs in his
Legislative Happenings

Here are the things that I am working on with other Ulster County Legislators.

Evaluating a proposed Plastic Bag law which would require stores to charge for one time use plastic bags.
Looking into a law adding prohibitions on Texting and Twittering to the cell phone law.
Creating a law prohibiting spraying of toxic chemicals on County property.
Working on adding more land to agricultural districts.
Prioritizing and allocating stimulus money to various projects throughout the county.
Looking into a law that would increase penalties for The Throwing, Tossing Or Expelling Of Bodily Fluids.
Energy Retrofits of County buildings
Advocating for installation of solar photovoltaic system on county salt shed in New Paltz using federal stimulus money.
Working with Comptroller Auerbach on whistleblower law
Looking into revising mandatory fingerprint requirement for all county employee
Providing funding for continuing internet broadcast of Legislature meetings
Sponsoring a resolution supporting House of Representatives bill: The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009
Working on a policy to establish a pedestrian and bicycle policy which would require county to evaluate the possibility of improving pedestrian and bicycle access on all public works projects.
Negotiating a fair, equitable way of county and towns / city sharing election costs.

In the last two months:

We accepted settlement of Federal Lawsuits resulting from building of the jail.
Negotiated a contract and approved funding for The Solar Energy Consortium.
Negotiated a performance based contract for additional funding for Ulster County Development Corp. (our Economic Development arm).
Formally adopted Ulster Tomorrow, A Plan For Sustainable Economic Development
Passed a law requiring chain restaurants to post calorie content of menu items.
Passed a resolution supporting a reform and relief of property tax.
Negotiated agreement between towns and county on how election costs should be shared by county and towns

Dems announce candidates for 2009 Legislature election	From left to right Nicole Tucker, Alverta Jones, Marcy Goulart and Gary Bischoff

According to David Latourette, "We were part of a very large crowd. Even though we could not get close to the actual ceremony, we felt good to be a part of this historic event."	Saugerties High School History Club at Inauguration See the pictures HERE The SHS History Club traveled to Washington DC for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Ms. Nicole Tucker led a group of 41 students and 6 chaperons on a four day bus trip. Joyce Sylvester said, "We were all excited to be in Washington for the inauguration. There was electricity in the air when President Obama took the oath of office. We managed to navigate through big crowds." Ryan Van Schaack added, "This was great trip. We are glad that Ms. Tucker took the initiative to bring us to Washington. She worked very hard to make this happen, and the trip is going well because of her planning."
	Gary comments on the new County Government and (AVL) Automatic Vehicle Locators for vehicles... a unique idea in cost cutting LEGISLATIVE HAPPENINGS BEAT THE COLD! Read how you and your family can get the assistance you may need in Gary's Read More Ulster County Winter Watch pamphlet HERE Ethics Law did not go far enough Saugerties Times Letter to the Editor
	Gary addresses the new ethics law in his LEGISLATIVE HAPPENINGS Take a look at the new law here
Gary argues to keep conflict provision in the ethics bill.	Ethics bill "off to never, never land" listen to Gary Ulster County ethics proposal stuck in neutral Daily Freeman Read more about the ethics law in Gary's LEGISLATIVE HAPPENINGS See the proposed ethics law here
	Legislative Chair Dave Donaldson opens up the first Legislative webcast. The proceedings are scheduled to run for every meeting forward.