Laura Churchill

The proceedings began with the organizational meeting, including the pledge of allegiance and various appointments for the 2026 year, such as the parliamentarian, associate director of the OPAIR Board of Directors, and members to boards including Cornell Cooperative Extension and Green County Economic Development Corporation. Designations were made for official Republican and Democratic newspapers for publishing election notices and concurrent resolutions in 2026. Subsequently, the Health Services Committee convened. Key actions included authorizing agreements with the Community Services Board for mental health services and budget amendments related to mental health services. The committee also addressed agreements with the Green County Public Health Department. Minutes from the Medical Professional Advisory Committee for quarters 1 and 2 of 2025 were accepted. Appointments and reappointments to the Green County Emergency Medical Systems, Inc. EMS Board of Directors and the Medical Professional Advisory Committee were approved. A 2025 budget amendment concerning Green County Mental Health and the New York State Office of Mental Health was approved. Following the Health Services Committee, the document transitions to a presentation by the Executive Director of Community Action of Green County, detailing the organization's structure, funding (primarily Community Services Block Grant, subject to federal changes), accountability standards, and various programs aimed at poverty alleviation, including a thrift store, weatherization assistance, family and community services (emergency food pantry, mobile food pantry, assistance for housing/homelessness via HUD programs like STEP, RSP program, and Healthy Homes initiative), and victim services (safe dwellings and transitional apartments).

The document details proceedings from multiple committee meetings, specifically addressing an issue with a previous vote from the County Resources Committee that needs to be revisited and re-voted upon, concerning the appointment of legislative members. The Economic Development Committee meeting featured a presentation from the tourism agency representative, Tim Keller, who provided a comprehensive overview of 2025 tourism marketing efforts. Key areas discussed included creative concepting, website development (including plans for a new site launching in May 2026 incorporating AI curation), web traffic metrics, successful public relations placements in major publications, organic social media performance, highly effective email marketing results (39% open rate), data-driven influencer marketing focused on vetting visitor influencers, and targeted paid media advertising which significantly outperformed vertical benchmarks in click-through rates.

The primary focus of this document is the adoption of Local Law Number 2 Of 2024. This local law amends Section 6 of the Code of Ethics for Greene County, adopted in 1997. Specifically, the amendment increases the maximum term limit for Members of the Ethics Board from two full consecutive three-year terms to a maximum of three full consecutive three-year terms.

The agenda for this meeting includes the determination of quorum, education and training opportunities, and several planning and zoning referrals. The referrals are for Christopher Dickson (Town of Catskill), the Hunter Firehouse Relocation (Village of Hunter), the Windham Resort Master Plan, and Joseph Leung (Town of Windham). The meeting will also address unfinished business and new business items.

The meeting included the approval of the minutes from the October 2025 regular meeting. A key discussion involved Resolution 6-25, which authorizes the procurement for professional auditing services, as the previous contract term, which started with an RFP in 2020, had expired. The procurement process will seek audit results by the end of February to allow for board authorization by March 31st for Paris submission deadlines. The board also discussed launching microenterprise training sessions via Zoom from January 12th through February 2nd, which will be free of charge for the first run. Updates were provided on the EPA ground coalition assessment procurement and the final drawdown presentation for Great Willow scheduled for January 16th. The executive director also mentioned working on an internal roster of professional consultants.