Legislators will be holding six committee meetings, read agendas
By Andrew Harris
It will be a busy afternoon in Belmont NY as elected officials hold a half dozen public meetings. Today, all eyes will be on the Planning and Economic Development Committee as they will likely be deciding the fate of Allegany County’s contract with Alfred State College.
That contract, which provides the county with the services of Dr. Craig Clark, is set to expire at the end August 2022. Dr. Clark, currently the Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs at Alfred State, acts as the Director of Economic Development for Allegany County. Legislators appear to be undecided about the future of that contract and have less than two weeks to make the decision. Legislator Healy has recently called for that contract to be terminated, questioning the performance of Clark.
The decision before legislators has an added layer of complexity because Dr. Clark is also the Executive Director of the Allegany County Industrial Development Agency(ACIDA), a key element in county economic development efforts. The contract with Alfred State College has no direct link to the ACIDA, it is undeniable that these agencies work in partnership under the leadership of Dr. Clark. Legislators have to consider that dynamic along with the future of economic development in Allegany County.
Below you can access the posted agenda for each meeting and as always, all public meetings are live on the county Facebook page, unless the legislature uses the cloak of “executive session.”
The committee meetings scheduled for Wednesday, August 17, are as follows:
12:45 p.m. Human Services Agenda
1:00 p.m. Resource Management Agenda
1:30 p.m. Budget Agenda
2:00 p.m. Planning & Economic Development Agenda
2:30 p.m. Ways & Means
3:00 p.m. Committee of the Whole
