Hudson Valley hotel owners sue over emergency declarations issued in May 2023
By Andrew Harris, images from Allegany County livestream
Shortly after the mass emergency declarations by upstate NY counties were issued, two lawsuits were filed against those counties. The first complaint was made in state court by New York City, naming thirty counties who had issued emergency declarations. The second was by a group of Hudson Valley hotel owners, who cried foul over the language in the declarations which limited the ability of hotels and motels to accept migrants. The first lawsuit didn’t name Allegany County, but the second lawsuit did include Allegany County in the legal complaint.
The reason that the legal action taken by New York City didn’t include Allegany County is the same reason county officials expect to be dismissed from the list of those defending the action by the hotel group: Allegany County did NOT include the language which prevented hotels and motels from accepting migrants in the emergency declaration.
Unfortunately that didn’t stop the Hudson Valley group from including Allegany county in the legal complaint. With the argument being presented in court still unknown, the county is turning to longtime civil litigation firm Colucci and Gallaher of Buffalo NY to handle the matter.
Allegany County Attorney Allison Carrow was scheduled to provide the full legislature an update on Wednesday during the Committee of the Whole meeting. That update didn’t happen due the schedule of the day but Carrow did indicate the discussion was best behind closed doors as an attorney-client priviledged conversation.
Carrow also discussed the ending of the emergency declaration and the counties readiness to re-instate the order if necessary. The attorney stressed that the county has not recieved any communication or notice from the state indicating that migrant refugee populations will be coming to Allegany County. Should some sudden emergency appear that is of concern to Allegany County, her office will have a new emergency order that can be implemented in a matter of hours.
